Bjcorbin's Blog

As a journalist, I spend a lot of time on my computer at home and generally my kids know not to interrupt me when I’m working; so it was a little surprising when my oldest son (Tim) came in recently to talk about something that was troubling him. As an extremely precocious eleven year old, with a naturally inquisitive mind, his concerns are rarely what you’d expect from a kid his age and such was the case in this instance. He explained that his teacher had taught them that the United States was not a “Christian Nation” and that it never really had been. This bothered Tim because we’d taught him that Christianity was an essential part of our national heritage. I tried to give him a quick answer about how it all depends on how you define the term “Christian Nation”, but that clearly didn’t resolve anything for him; so I decided to set aside my latest article and spend some time with him on this issue. Our conversation went something like this:

“If your teacher was simply saying that not every one of our forefathers was a Christian or that Christianity was never the official religion of America, then I agree with her. But if she was saying that Christianity, the Bible and God weren’t an essential part of what made this country what it was, then I’d disagree with her” I explained.

“But how could I prove that?” he asked.

After thinking about it for a minute, I replied, “As a reporter, I’ve found that the best way to get the real story is to go to the people who were there. If we could get an eyewitness account, we could probably arrive at the truth of the matter.”

Tim rolled his eyes in frustration, saying, “It’s going to be a little hard to get an interview with guys who’ve been dead for a couple hundred years.”

“It might be easier than you think,” I answered with a smile. I quickly keyed in an internet search of famous quotes from that time period and added, “We can chat with them on-line. You ask me your questions and I’ll try to get you a good answer from one of our forefathers”.

Though he looked skeptical, Tim eventually asked, “My teacher says that the early Americans left Europe to get away from religion, is that true?”

After scrolling through a few quotes, I said “Oh look, John Adams, the second president of the United States said, ‘We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion’; and Daniel Webster, another one of early America’s most influential leaders said, ‘Let us not forget the religious character of our origin’. And check this out; during the framing of the constitution, Benjamin Franklin quoted the Bible, saying, ‘Lest the Lord build the house, they labor in vain’ and when they were finished, James Madison added, ‘Without the intervention of God there never would have been a constitution’. These hardly sound like the words of people trying to get away from religion.”

Tim nodded in agreement, but then added, “My teacher admitted that many of the early American’s were from the Christian tradition, but she also said that they were careful not to include the teaching of the Bible into our laws. She said that they made sure that there would always be a separation of ‘Church and State’; is that true?”

Again I scrolled for a few seconds and replied, “John Quincy Adams, who was the son of John Adams and who became our sixth president said, ‘The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one dissoluble bond the principles of civil government, with the principles of Christianity. From the day of the Declaration, they were bound by the laws of God, which they all and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct’; and James Madison said, ‘We stake the future of this country on our ability to govern ourselves under the principles of the Ten Commandments’. Not so many years later, President Andrew Jackson added, ‘The Bible is the rock upon which our Republic rests’.”

Tim smiled slyly, saying, “It sounds like she was wrong about that too! She said that America’s success as a nation has nothing to do with morality, that it’s really just because democracy is such a good system of government. What would the forefathers say about that?”

I smiled at his enthusiasm and said, “Well, I’m sure they’d agree that democracy is a good form of government, but John Hancock said, ‘all confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on that God Who rules in the armies of Heaven, and without Whose blessing the best human counsels are but foolishness-and all created power vanity.’ Daniel Webster said that, ‘If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity!’ And in the 1800’s, a man from France, named Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to study what made democracy work and he said that, ‘Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power’. He went on to conclude that, ‘America is great because America is good’.”

Tim smiled triumphantly and declared, “So my teacher was wrong, America is a ‘Christian Nation’!”

As much as I wanted him to believe that, I had to be honest and say, “Not necessarily son”.

A wave of confusion washed across his face, as I went on to explain, “Just because it was a part of our heritage doesn’t mean that it is who we are today. Mr. De Tocqueville said that if America ever ceased being good, it would also cease to be great; and when a historian asked the famous American poet and diplomat, James Russell Lowell, how long the American republic would endure, he replied, ‘As long as the ideas of the men who founded it continue to dominate’. Just like God’s people in the Bible, we can lose our freedom if we decide to live by our own ideas.”

Tim was clearly troubled by this and with his face slightly twisted, he asked, “How do we convince everyone to follow God?”

“The good news is that we don’t have to; God told the Israelites that, ‘If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” I replied.

“So if we follow God with all our hearts and pray, God will bless our country?” he asked.

“That’s the way I understand it” I replied. The smile returned to Tim’s face as he said, “Cool, I’m going to make sure I pray for that every day.”

“Good man” I replied; and as Tim headed out the door, he spun around and added, “I think I better pray for my teacher too.” I smiled back at him and said, “That’s my boy!”