America: One Nation Under God

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln stepped to the podium at the consecration of the new cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Four and a half months had passed since the bloody three-day battle there, which left 51,000 men wounded, dead or missing. Most of those who were killed were buried around Lincoln and the crowd of onlookers who waited for him to address them. The main attraction of the day was Edward Everett, one of the most popular speakers in America. He had delivered a two-hour address, and finally sat down to wait for Lincoln to conclude the dedication.

Lincoln had only been invited three weeks before, almost as an afterthought, to make a “few appropriate remarks.” He pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket and began to read:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us –that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

His speech only took two minutes. The crowd was accustomed to two-hour speeches, so they didn’t realize he was finished. They sat in stunned silence as Lincoln retreated to his chair. He leaned over to a friend and said, “That speech won’t scour. It is a flat failure.” However, posterity has judged otherwise. That speech became one of the most memorable statements in history.

Every American has heard these words. Most assume that they mean little more than a right to vote for government leaders. However, there is a much deeper truth implied. It portrays a great responsibility for every citizen. A government “of the people” and “by the people,” is one that reflects the values and attitudes of the people. No government is simply imposed on us. We get what we deserve. If the president has no character, it is a reflection of the lack of character in the people. If the president has character, it is because the people have character. We must recognize that good government requires good people—and good people tend to have good government. Virtue is a responsibility.

Personal Accountability

We can find all kinds of opinions about how believers should relate to politics. Too many Christians feel that they should do nothing at all. Over the two national elections in 1996 and 2000, voting among evangelicals dropped 40 percent. Many others were not even registered to vote. Only about one out of every four Christians vote!1 Evangelicals turned out in record numbers for the 2004 elections, mainly because of their passion over homosexual marriage. It has generally required a debate over some moral issue to get them excited.

Such apathy has been a serious problem in America.

Scripture identifies a direct connection between a government and its citizens that cannot be ignored. First of all, recognize that no government exists without God.

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. -- Romans 13: 1, 2 Peter reiterates the same thing, adding that we should submit to authority for the Lord’s sake.

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.  -- 1 Peter 2:13,14Unfortunately, too many Christians read these verses, without looking at the context, and adopt a fatalistic attitude. It doesn’t matter what I do, God will put whoever He wants into office anyway. Let us establish a basic principle before continuing.

God never does anything that absolves us of personal accountability.

We are always responsible for decisions that we make. The death and the resurrection of Jesus made it possible for us to escape the consequences of sin, but even then, we are responsible for making the decision to accept His sacrifice.

God never imposes anything on us that we do not allow, not even government. God establishes governments, but He makes it clear how He chooses them. It is based on the people. Each of these commands to submit to government authorities is in the context of righteousness. Paul encouraged the Romans to live righteously. The verses preceding chapter 13 deal with the attitudes of godly people. He encourages them to love without hypocrisy, to abhor what is evil, and to cling to what is good.

Paul gave advice to Titus regarding submission to government, in respect to virtue or moral character:  Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. --Titus 3:1-2 NIV

The conduct of the people is inseparable from the government.

By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. --Proverbs 11:11God cautioned Israel to be careful how they lived, not only because sin would defile them—but it would also defile the land: Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled.... --Leviticus 18:24-25The graphic imagery of the Old Testament portrays what would happen when the land was defiled. The result of sin is expulsion: ... lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. --Leviticus 18:28Consequently, the first responsibility of a citizen may be the most important, even though it does not require that you run for office or involve yourself in politics in any way. Virtue and morality are absolutely essential.

The Founding Fathers and Virtue

It is no wonder that there are so many references to virtue and morality in the writings of the early leaders in America—those who put their lives on the line by signing the Declaration of Independence and those who framed the Constitution. A limited survey indicates just how much importance they placed on the quality of virtue.

It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.

John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Second President of the United States

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

John Adams

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.

George Washington First President of the United States

The federal government...can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy, or any other despotic or oppressive form so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the people.

George Washington

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without virtue in the people is a chimerical idea.

James Madison Fourth President of the United States “Father of the Constitution”

Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.

Samuel Adams Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Our liberty depends on our education, our laws, and habits. It is founded on morals and religion, whose authority reigns in the heart, and on the influence all these produce on public opinion before that opinion governs rulers.

Fisher Ames Framer of the First Amendment

It  is  certainly  true  that  a  popular  government cannot flourish without virtue in the people.

Richard Henry Lee Signer of the Declaration of Independence

The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no  virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.

Benjamin Rush Signer of the Declaration of Independence

These are just a few of the multitude of quotes that could be given. Not all of these men were paragons of virtue, as we will see when we study some of them individually. However, even the most ungodly of them understood that no government, not even one as carefully and brilliantly designed as America’s, could work without the bulk of the population believing in a divine standard of right and wrong that governed the affairs of human beings. To fail in that belief would guarantee corruption.

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, expressed it this way: There are three points of doctrine, the belief of which forms the foundation of all morality. The first is the existence of God; the second is the immortality of the human soul; and the third is a future state of rewards and punishments. Suppose it possible for a man to disbelieve either of these three articles of faith and that man will have no conscience, he will have no other law than that of the tiger or the shark. The laws of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy.

The Rights of Man

The French Revolution provides a notable example of   a nation that abandoned a biblical and moral foundation. Starting in 1789, just a few years after the American Revolution, the French Revolution patterned itself after the Americans in a number of ways. “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” became the rallying cry in the streets of Paris. A document was passed, by the National Assembly on August 27, 1789, called the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It was introduced by Lafayette, who had served in America with distinction under George Washington. Inspired by the American Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, Lafayette, along with many others, wanted a similar statement to be a part of the new French Constitution.2The American influence was obvious. Article I said, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” Article 2 echoed the words of the Declaration of Independence, “The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.”

The great difference between France and America was the approach to worship.

America’s Founding Fathers declared that nothing would be allowed to infringe on the right to worship. The French National Assembly determined to eliminate religion entirely. Church property was confiscated. Priests were imprisoned. The Cathedral of Notre Dame was renamed the “Temple of Reason.”3On November 23, 1793, all Christian churches in Paris were ordered to be closed.4 The new Revolutionary calendar, imposed in September of 1792, created ten-day weeks instead of seven and abolished Sundays.5The result of abandoning biblical virtue was that the French Revolution degenerated into the horrors of “The Terror,” where the French beheaded 40,000 of their own citizens on the guillotine, often for such trivial offenses as wearing a royalist cockade.6

Without the stabilizing influence of a biblical view of right and wrong, the Declaration of the Rights of Man quickly became a bloody sham.

The most basic rights of man were trampled underfoot by the patriotic rhetoric. Make no mistake, the same principle holds true for any nation. Every government reflects the values of the people.

Perhaps de Tocqueville said it best: I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world of commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went to the church- es of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness, did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.