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October 15, 2005
– From our
Declaration of Independence - the first true moment of America's
existence - through the crafting of a Constitution and almost
two-hundred and twenty years of existence, trust in God has been the
central tenant of American democracy.
There is no question that many of our
founding fathers, and a great many of us since, came to America
because of a shared love of God and a desire to worship him.
From the Pilgrims who sought to build an orthodox religious state,
to Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin who reveled in the
freedom of religious thought America gave them by exploring things
like Deism and Unitarianism which were forbidden in the England from
which their families came, America's greatest strength and appeal
has always been that it is a safe haven for God and God worship.
Around the world and throughout history,
governments and men appointed by them clamped down on God worship.
They would dictate the extent to and manner in which God must be
worshipped.
Then came America, a nation that would
trust in God like no other. Humble under the Creator, America
became the first expressly religious nation to trust only directly
in God. The human squabbles between sects, denominations, and
differing creeds were conquered for the first time in the world's
history. America rose as "One nation, under God," not one
thousand separate Godly nations under one roof.
To many in the world the notion is
incomprehensible. One united nation of Episcopalians and Jews,
of Muslims and Deists, Southern Baptists, atheists and Unitarians,
Catholics and Protestants? Weren't all
these groups supposed to hate, kill, arrest, punish, and try to
ultimately conquer one another?
Humbly, as servants of God are wont to
be, America decided not to put the power to decide who or what is
right or wrong in the hands of men. Instead, America simply
put its trust in God to work it all out. "In God We Trust,"
America said. E Pluribus Unum.
America is and has always been a nation
in awe of God and His "immense power and wisdom," as the Declartion
of Independence states. We claimed our birthright as something
God had given us, that no man or nation could take away since our
estate had been "endowed by our Creator." We stood weak and
poor before the mightest of the world and said we are not afraid,
for we are giving control of our land and our fate over to God.
And we grew and grew in strength as God
worshippers of all varieties came to the only place where they could
freely grow their relationships with God without the interference of
man or law. And so, sung by the voices of a thousand disparate
words and books and methods and specific thoughts, practices, and
beliefs, America's voice sang in unison, "In God We Trust."
As one nation uniting all who sought to
live under God, America exploded from hapless colony to the
mightiest nation in the history of the world.
America's democracy is bred straight out
of Samuel. We can have no King, no ruler, no man that we
worship, no religious human or government that dictates for us what
is right or wrong, for as the Lord told Samuel, people who do so,
"...have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."
America's religion is not in one
particular book or interpretation of a book; it is not in a certain
type of public show of worship; it is not in forced governmental
boasting of ties to God or of those who govern to claim to know
God's path. Quite the opposite. America's religion is
that of people who sit humbly in awe of the "immense power and
wisdom" of our Creator, and who put their trust in Him to protect
and guide us.
America's religion is the first uniting
religion known to man. For in trusting God, we are not so
arrogant to think it our ability, never mind place, to speak in his
name nor to hear perfectly his voice. We are simply a united
religious nation of all those who try to listen for God's voice, as
well as of those we trust God has good reason for leaving deaf or
disinclined to listen.
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