Constitutional Principle 4
Without Religion the Government of a Free People Cannot be Maintained
Americans of the twentieth century often fail to realize the supreme importance which the Founding Fathers originally attached to the role of religion in the structure of the unique civilization which they hoped would emerge as the first free people in modern times. Many Americans also fail to realize that the Founders felt the role of religion would be as important in our own day as it was in theirs.
Northwest Ordinance (1787) Article 3:
Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.
Notice that formal education was to include among its responsibilities the teaching of three important subjects:
Religion - which might be defined as a “fundamental system of beliefs concerning man’s origin and relationship to the cosmic universe as well as his relationship with his fellowmen.”
Morality – which may be described as “a standard or behavior distinguishing right from wrong.”
Knowledge – which is “an intellectual awareness and understanding of established facts relating to any field of human experience or inquiry.
Washington Describes the Founders’ Position
President Washington’s Farewell Address:
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports…. And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion….Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle.
It is substantially true that virtue and morality is a necessary spring of popular government.
Franklin Describes the Five Fundamentals of “All Sound Religion”
Several of the Founders have left us with descriptions of their basic religious beliefs, and Benjamin Franklin summarized those which he felt were the “fundamental points in all sound religion.”
Benjamin Franklins letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University:
Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion.
The “Fundamental Points” to be Taught in the Schools
The five points of fundamental religious belief expressed or implied in Franklin’s statement are these:
1. There exist a Creator who made all things, and mankind should recognize and worship Him.
2. The Creator has revealed a moral code of behavior for happy living which distinguishes right from wrong.
3. The Creator holds mankind responsible for the way they treat each other.
4. All mankind live beyond this life.
5. In the next life mankind are judged for their conduct in this one.
Alexis de Tocqueville Discovers the Importance of Religion in America
When the French jurist, Alexis de Tocqueville, visited the United States in 1831, he became so impressed with what he saw that he went home and wrote one of the best definitive studies on the American culture and Constitutional system that had been published up to that time. His book was called Democracy in America. Concerning religion in America, de Tocqueville said:
On my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things.
He described the situation as follows:
Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it must be regarded as the first of their political institutions…. I do not know whether all American have a sincere faith in their religion-for who can search the human heart?-but I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or to a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.
Religious Principles Undergird Good Government
What doctrines were Americans so anxious to teach one another in order that they might remain united and well governed? These religious precepts turned out to be the heart and soul of the entire American political philosophy. They were taken from the books of John Locke, Sir William Blackstone, and other great thinkers of the day, who took them directly from the Bible. Thus, religion and the American institutions of freedom were combined. In fact, the Founders had taken five truths we have already identified as “religion” and had built the whole Constitutional framework on top of them. The sanctity of civil rights and property rights, were all based on these religious precepts. Therefore, having established the general principle that “without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained.”
Summary
I must first explain that one of the five principles of Benjamin Franklin where it says that we will be judged for our conduct is incorrect. Yes we are to act morally and with virtue, but all of us were judged at the cross of Christ. The only judgment that God will conduct is on non-believers. What is this judgment? Non-believers will be judged for not believing who God says He is and what He has done for us in His Son Jesus Christ. We must believe in the death, burial and resurrection in Jesus Christ and that He was our punishment.
It is obvious to a person with common sense to see that there is no separation of religion and government. They were to work together in union so that our form of government can work. If people, who lack morality and virtue, don’t believe in God our Father, then our government system will not work.
The federal government is not to interfere in religion, nor set up a national religion. They are not even to make any decisions over religion and left it up to the local state government.
Quit listening to godless people who only want to control you. They also will enslave you. Go find out what the truth is about why this country was established, and why we wanted to get away from England and any European governmental system.
Source of this article is from “The 5000 Year Leap” and “The Bible.”
