PATRIOTISM AND THE DECLINE OF A CHRISTIAN NATION - PART III

The grand words of the Declaration resonate within our souls: "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, that among those are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." And they signed the document putting their lives on the line in resistance to a state church and the divine right of kings. As John Adam said just before signing: "All that I have and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, I am now ready to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration."

One might wonder then at the frequently announced decline of a Christian America. The number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has greatly increased. Mainline Protestant churches have been losing millions of members. The number of self-proclaimed atheists has tripled in recent years. Fewer people think of America as a Christian nation, including former President Obama. A high percentage of the population say religion is losing influence in American life.

However, the Christian principles and traditions were highly influential in the founding of our republic. On almost every page of our founding fathers' writings are references to God, to Jesus, to the great prophets and principles of the Bible. It was Christianity--not Islam, not Buddhism, not Hinduism, not even Judaism--but Christianity that was foundational in the formation of our country.

But it was also the Enlightenment, the belief in the God of nature, and in the authority and ability of human reason to ascertain the appropriate laws and customs for a nation. Our rationalist founding fathers like Franklin and Jefferson wanted no king clothed in the erroneous notion of "divine right" to dictate to them. Nor did they want any clergyman or state church cloaked in sanctimonious piety or authoritarian self-righteousness dictating the "will of God" to the populace.

Rather, they advocated liberty, freedom of thought, debate and discourse to ascertain the best ways for the republic. But they did not mean that God and religion were to be treated as a private hobby as Yale Law School's Stepen Carter laments in his book, The Culture of Disbelief. Rather, churches and religions should have access to the public square. In his excellent book, Why Religion Matters, Huston Smith agrees. The laws and courts of the land should not thwart and restrict the free exercise of religion.

True patriotism, true love of country, surely does not mean one religion or another should be imposed on our citizenry. Nonetheless, the great liberating ideas of individual liberty, political democracy, the infinite worth of the individual, the rule of law, human rights, and cultural freedom came out of the Bible and Western Civilization--not out of Africa, not out of Iraq or Iran, not out of Saudi Arabia or Egypt--but out of Europe, America and the Bible.

What does it mean then to speak of the decline of a Christian America? It means the decline of moral power and influence on the general culture. It means the erosion of integrity on Wall Street, the evaporation of ethical responsibility in Congress, and the arrogant, blatant failure of corporations designated as "too big to fail." But fail they did, and the nation and the whole world is paying the price, especially the middle and poorer classes.

In contrast to the atheists and secularists, patriotic Christians in America need to do what they can to promote good laws, good order, sensible peace, quality education for all, equal opportunity, creativity and accountability in government, and honesty and fair play in business. We long for an America more just, ethical, girded with integrity and transparency and responsibility, sensing we are one nation under God.