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.
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– George Washington, Farewell Address, Sept. 19, 1796
George Washington would be saddened by the recent, disturbing news stories – homosexual scandals in Congress, multiple school shootings, women bragging about their abortions in Ms. Magazine – but he probably would not be surprised. In his prophetic Farewell Address to our nation on Sept. 19, 1796, President Washington warned us that "reason and experience" both dictated that our "National morality" could not survive if cut off from "religious principle." Few in our country would dispute that our national morality is deteriorating, but can America continue to "indulge the supposition" that rejecting God has nothing to do with that deterioration?
To get a sampling of the current state of our national morality, one need only pick up a recent newspaper or turn on the evening news. We have a Republican Florida congressman, Mark Foley, admitting he is a homosexual after resigning for making sexual advances on young, male pages via the Internet. Of course, our former Democrat president confessed to sexual misconduct in the Oval Office and a subsequent confusion of the meaning of "is." But what it really "is," is a loss of morality shared by both parties.
Just last week a milk truck driver stormed a small Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania, murdering several young girls before killing himself. The Pennsylvania shooting followed other fatal school shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin, prompting one Wisconsin legislator to suggest that teachers in his state should start carrying guns to protect their students. It may not be a bad idea, but what does the mere suggestion indicate about the state of our nation?
Ms. Magazine, never a proponent of family values, is proudly publishing a list of names of women who have had abortions and apparently want to brag about it. While confession is good for the soul, shamelessly flaunting your sin is not.
During such times when all news is bad news, we tend to ask, Why is there so much evil? Why do people do such terrible things to one another?
Since Adam's first sin in the garden, mankind has an ingrained tendency to reject God and His moral standard. Theologians call it our "sin nature" or the "fallen nature" of man.
Man's moral imperfection requires external controls by civil government to punish evil and reward good. As James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 51, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." But while government can punish the actions that arise from the evil in man's heart, government cannot change the heart and spirit of man. Such is the province of God alone.
Thus, man requires internal government in addition to external government, and in a republic especially the vitality of the latter is dependent upon the effectiveness of the former. The moral and religious foundation of a nation will necessarily determine its greatness. Thomas Jefferson went so far as to say, "No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be."
Since the 1960s, our judges have done their best to remove every vestige of God and Christian faith from our lives. The U.S. Supreme Court expelled prayer, Bible reading and even the Ten Commandments from our classrooms, and has mandated that our children be taught that they are descended from apes, not created by a loving God. Public displays of our faith have been systematically removed from the public square, and our sacred Pledge of Allegiance has been declared unconstitutional because it says we are "one nation under God." Now the Boy Scouts are no longer welcome in many cities, and our national motto "In God We Trust" is under attack.
America needs God and His true religion to restore national morality, a pillar of our society. Washington knew that those who oppose religion undermine the national morality of this great country when he said:
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.
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