Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, both critical of Christian patriots such as Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry, could have tried to ground their argument in man's will rather than God's. Adams, Henry or John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian minister, could have insisted on explicit recognition of Christ in the document. Either attempt, however, would have provoked divisive debate at a time when unity in facing London's aggression was essential.
Today, the question Adams hurled at British lords equally challenges the goals of Beltway bureaucrats: "Were the talents and virtues which Heaven has bestowed on men given merely to make them more obedient drudges, to be sacrificed to the follies and ambition of a few?" Today, conservative evangelicals and conservative secularists need to coalesce against liberals who, like their 18th century British counterparts, are wedded to higher taxes and lower vices.
To work in coalition, old-line Republicans and evangelicals need to see each other as colleagues, not aliens. Republicans who follow the Declaration's example will support life and liberty, and attack imperial Washington, in a way that promotes coalition rather than exclusion.
Evangelicals who work for such commitments will be showing their understanding of what Witherspoon and Adams knew: Coalition is not the same as compromise. For example, we need to honor prophetic voices and at the same time find ways to save lives now from abortionists. As Franklin said, if we do not hang together, we will all hang separately.