As of late I have seen people claim that the United States is not a Christian nation. Even the president went on record to say in a trip to Turkey that Americans “do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Muslim nation, but rather, a nation of citizens who are, uh, bound by a set of values.” Well that's not how this citizen considers our nation. And what are the set of values that Barack Obama is speaking of if not Christian? And where did the values come from that bind us? I would like to say that the set of values are Christian values. So why does our country want to remove these things from the public places? And why do we want to deny that the values that bind our nation together are Christian? Do we no longer want to be a cohesive nation? Are we to no longer let teachers pray at school with children. Why have we taken God out of anything that is publicly funded? Is this what was intended by the ones who fought so hard to be sure we would have liberty that are a "gift of God" as Jefferson said?One of the last bastion of Christianity in the public domain is the public acknowledgment by our leaders of Thanksgiving. What is the Thanksgiving holiday and how does it show our Christian heritage and values that bind us together as a nation? lets look at the start and trace the history of our country and the intentions for why it was founded.
So here is an early declaration of the intentions of the people who came here. The first Charter for Virginia 1601: "We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God. We do, by these our Letters-Patents, graciously accept of, and agree to; their humble and well intended Desires." So their intention was based on spreading Christian values.
So here we will look at the first declaration of Thanksgiving and it is not the Pilgrims of Massachusetts. On December 4, 1619, thirty-eight English settlers landed by ship at Berkeley (Hundred) in Charles City, Virginia to become Pilgrims in our new world. As stated and required by their charter, Charter Berkeley Hundred, “We ordain that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.
So now we will look at the intent of the Massachusetts Pilgrims that we so often associate with the holiday. The Mayflower Compact: "Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politic." So again their intention was to be a people who not just are bound by Christian values but to advance Christian faith.
Then once there they had a celebration to give thanks. The original purpose for the Pilgrims in 1619 and in 1621 was to give thanks to God. Being thankful for a safe voyage, bountiful harvest or surviving a brutally cold winter it was all still giving thanks to God. They saw God in the circumstances. It was not lost on them that by some crazy chance there was an Native American already living there who spoke English and who had been taken as a slave to Europe by white men but somehow was willing to help them. Without his help they would have died. They totally understood that that was a coincidence that was hard to explain without God in the explanation.
So now as these people began to organize a union of groups that have settled the "Americas" what values did they use and hold by and with what intent?
The fundamental orders of Connecticut, under which a provisional government was instituted in 1638-39, commence with this declaration: "Forasmuch as it hath pleased the Almighty God by the wise disposition of his divine prudence so to Order and dispose of things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield are now cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River of Connecticut and the Lands there unto adjoining; And well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and vision of such a people there should be an orderly and decent Government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasions shall require; do therefore associate and convey ourselves to be as one Public state or Commonwealth, and do, for ourselves and our Successors and such as shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter, enter into Combination and Confederation together, to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel of our Lord Jesus that we now professes, as also the discipline of the Churches, that according to the truth of the said gospel is now practiced amongst us." So they unified into a "public state" to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel of their Lord Jesus.
So that is a state but what about the nation as they bonded together?
Samuel Adams wrote this about the rights of colonists in 11-20-1772, "The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift." Thomas Jefferson wrote this in his Summary Of Rights in 1774. “The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.” Alexander Hamilton wrote this in an essay in 1775: The Sacred Rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the Hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.
So the values that Barack Obama says bind us start with these men that obviously believe in a God and that all men have rights that come from God and not from a state. These men then declared our independence from England because these "God given rights" were being violated. And the Declaration of Independence recognizes the presence of Divine in human affairs in these words:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights... appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions... And for the support of this Declaration, with firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." So the values that bound them (and us) were that there was a such thing as a self evident truth, that there was a Creator or God, and that our rights come from God, and that this God is the Supreme Judge of the world, and that God gives us divine protection if we ban together in these values.
So here is a state constitution from the same time. What is their intention and what are their values that bind them together? The Constitution of Delaware, (1776), which required all officers, besides an oath of allegiance, to make and subscribe the following declaration: "I, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore, and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration." Apparently they felt that you are not qualified to be a leader if you don't follow Christ. Here is what John Jay the first Chief Justice of the United States said in 1977: "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and the interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." The judicial branch of the new government is telling us we should be a Christian nation.
In 1777 the First Continental Congress called the Bible “the great political textbook of the patriots” and appropriated funds to import 20,000 Holy Bibles for the people. That does not look like separation of church and state. It looks like the intention of the founding fathers was to spread the Gospel.
Thomas Jefferson wrote this in his Notes on the State of Virginia 1782: Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?"
Benjamin Franklin’s Speech to the Constitutional Convention June 28th 1787 "I've lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing Proofs I see of this Truth - That God governs in the Affairs of Men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that except the Lord build the House they labor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this, - and I also believe that without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel." So these founding fathers have an intention of inclusion of Christian values for fear of the failure of our nation. That our liberty would not be secure if this were not the case and that our foundation would be weak and fall.
So the Constitution that these men crafted states that it is to “secure the blessings of liberty” that the founders believed are a gift of God and it is signed “in the year of our Lord”
George Washington at the constitutional convention 1787 said "Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God."
George Washington’s first inaugural address April 30th 1789 said this "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." So he believes that is we disregard the rules that heaven has ordained (Christian values)God will not smile on our nation. So our first president decided to establish in our government the tradition of Thanksgiving that was already a part of society.
George Washington’s Thanksgiving proclamation 1789: "Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:" "Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations." So an official proclamation by the government to worship a Christian God. Somehow I am not seeing the intention of the founders of this country to separate church and state.
Here is George Washington’s Farewell Address 1796 "Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." So it appears that he is promoting Christian values to keep us a strong nation.
Another founding father James Wilson, a signer of the Constitution and an original Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court said this "Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine....Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other." Not separation of church and state, but mutual assistants.
John Quincy Adams the 6th President of the United States said this: "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were . . . the general principles of Christianity." "Duty is ours; results are God's. The first and almost the only Book deserving of universal attention is the Bible.” “It is no slight testimonial, both to the merit and worth of Christianity, that in all ages since its promulgation the great mass of those who have risen to eminence by their profound wisdom and integrity have recognized and reverenced Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of the living God." "… Posterity — you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." So the president is stating that the principles of our country are Christian, so how could they be separate when it is the essence of what our government is based.
And as we as a people traveled west we continued to be about the same values. The Constitution of Illinois of 1870 stated, "We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political, and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and transmit the same unimpaired to succeeding generations."
The Supreme Court stated this in 1892 more than one hundred years after our county was founded, after sighting 87 precedents. "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind. It's impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian... This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation... we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth... These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation."
The President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln said this in 3-30-1863, "Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation."
"And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."
"It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
"Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace." So with the blessings of the Senate the government was organizing a day of national prayer. Does not look like separation of church and state. instead it looks like there is still the intention to be a people bound together by Christian values.
So here again is the Thanksgiving holiday and the government mandating it a a Christian value that we as a nation should partake in. The first official national declaration of the Thanksgiving holiday by President Abraham Lincoln on 10-03-1836, "To expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwell in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union." And it continued on as a part of our Christian heritage that we a Christian nation continued on to today.
1961, 1962 and 1963 Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamations by John F. Kennedy: "More than three centuries ago, after a year of hardship and peril, humbly and reverently set aside a special day upon which to give thanks to God for their preservation and for and for the good harvest from the virgin soil upon which they had labored. Yet by their faith and their toil they had survived the rigors of the harsh New England winter." and this "Over three centuries ago in Plymouth, on Massachusetts Bay, the Pilgrims established the custom of gathering each year to express their gratitude to God."
So who are we this thanksgiving? Are we no longer as Barack Obama said considering ourselves to be a Christian nation? What are the set of values that are going to bind us? Remember that when we take God out of the equation then who do our rights come from? As Thomas Jefferson said, "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?"
Well over three centuries ago in Plymouth, on Massachusetts Bay, the Pilgrims established the custom of gathering each year to express their gratitude to God...I choose to continue to consider myself part of a Christian nation no matter what anyone else says. And I choose to see the fact that we have been blessed as a nation because of the values that have bound us. So this Thanksgiving lets see it for what it is. Lets be a people that celibrate the values that have made us a strong nation and blessed us. Lets eat some turkey but lets give thanks and hounor those that have come before us and their intentions and beliefs that have given us the liberty that we enjoy
