American society based on Christian foundation

America is unique in the history of nations. Our society was based on God’s word and the Christian principles found in it.  The very words of the founders and our founding documents prove this; in fact, the evidence is overwhelming.  Still, much confusion exists because of the various types of nations throughout history. Ancient Israel is the only nation which can be properly identified as a true theocracy, all others with church-state entanglements can correctly be referred to as Ecclesiacracies.  An Ecclesiacracy is a nation where heresy is considered a crime against the state.  In order to be fair, it must be noted that America struggled with this at differing junctures in her history. 

Our nation was birthed with the Declaration of Independence.  It is the Declaration that espouses our theologically based national creed and in the end makes an appeal to “the Supreme Judge of the World.”  The U.S. Constitution was an integral addition to our newly incorporated nation, and serves as the bylaws of our nation. In it we find a reference to the birth of our Savior and a day of rest. The evidence of an orthodox world view continues with the Treaty of Paris.  The Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the war with Great Britain, begins, “In the name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity, Amen,” and was penned by John Adams, John Jay, and Benjamin Franklin.

It has often been stated “the living can make the dead do any tricks they find necessary.” Consider Ben Franklin; Franklin, rumored by some to be a Deist, stated in his autobiography: “I believe in the existence of God; that he made the world, and governs it by his Providence; that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter.” Because Franklin is silent here regarding Christ’s atoning death on the cross for our sins, we cannot with certainty maintain his orthodoxy.  However, we cannot consider him a Deist either, because Deists simply do not believe in a god who is active in the affairs of men and nations.

James Madison, an Anglican, and the chief architect of the Constitution, said: “Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess, and to observe the religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yielded to the evidence which has convinced us.  If this freedom be abused, it is an offense against God, not against man.  To God therefore, not to men, must an account of it be rendered.” Madison had no intention of building an Ecclesiacracy, but neither did George Washington.   In his First Inaugural Address, Washington laid his cards on the table:  “We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” In other words, if we the people forget God’s eternal rules of right and order, our experiment with the Republican model of Government will fail. 

Hope resident Diane Wheeler is the director of education for the Samuel Adams Institute.