In Turkey last week, Barack Obama told the world that whatever America once was, it is no longer a “Christian nation.”
“We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values,” he said.
For starters, I would like to object to the way Obama believes that, as president, he has somehow earned the right to speak for all Americans. He doesn’t. That power is not one of those ascribed to the presidency in the Constitution or anywhere else.
Obama needs to understand his limitations as president. It’s a big enough job running the executive branch of the federal government, a job for which he is wholly unqualified and very likely constitutionally ineligible. He doesn’t need to take on any more than that – like spokesman for 300 million people, most of whom did not vote for him.
But, that aside, let me address this main issue: Is America a Christian nation?
I would tend to agree with Obama that America is no longer a Christian nation. It certainly once was. All you need to do to understand that is to read the original constitutions and other founding documents of the states.
If you want to go further, you can read the writings of the founders.
However, that was then. This is now. America has unquestionably lost its Christian moorings. That is a tragedy that costs America dearly every day. It is a tragedy illustrated by senseless death, immorality, confusion and, most recently, the loss of prosperity due to greed, corruption and government’s efforts to fill the void of God and individual responsibility in our lives.
So, in one sense, I agree with Obama about the fact that we are no longer a Christian nation. But it is another of Obama’s statements that I would like to explore more deeply.
“We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values,” he added.
What are those ideals?
Will Obama spell them out?
Would those ideals have been spelled out in the Declaration of Independence?
Would those ideals be self-evident, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”?
Would those ideals also be embodied in the preamble to the Constitution?
Would they have anything to do with establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity?
Would those ideals we share recognize the Constitution as the supreme law of the land?
Would they absolutely prohibit the federal government from meddling in matters specifically reserved as matters for the states?
I really wonder which ideals and values Obama believes hold us together.
My guess is that they are ideals found nowhere in our founding documents – nebulous, amorphous values like “diversity,” “multiculturalism,” “economic fairness,” and the virtually unlimited power of government to rule over its subjects.
Do I have it about right?
While it’s true that America has abandoned its Christian roots, it’s also true that we are reaping the whirlwind as a result.
There are no more restraints – except those that government makes, and there are more and more of those.
There is no more self-government – because we are a people incapable of governing ourselves.
There is no more liberty – because we have traded it for the illusion of safety and security.
But I want to stand up today and express my total revulsion for the ideals and values Obama believes we all share. We do not share them. I know I speak for many Americans when I say I have not abdicated nor traded my unalienable, God-given human rights for Obama’s vision of the common values and ideals that supposedly bind us together.
I choose to stick with the values and ideals spelled out in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
