Last week, I introduced a new series, titled: The Price of Liberty. In this series, I address the troubling changes occurring in our country, why they are happening, and what to do about them.
America, in her generosity and kindness, has always opened her doors to immigrants like me. I am most thankful and appreciative for that. I also want to assure you that many modern-day immigrants want the America envisioned by her Founding Fathers.
We want the America of which George Washington said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”
We want the America of which Abraham Lincoln said, “The only assurance of our nation’s safety is to lay our foundation in morality and religion.”
We want the America of the Founding Fathers who said, “When the importance of religion is diminished … so is the effectiveness of government.”
We want the America of which the Supreme Court in 1844 said, “The Bible, and especially the New Testament [should] be read and taught as divine revelation in the [schools, otherwise] … where can the purest principles of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament?”
We want the America of which New York Supreme Court Chief Justice Kent said in 1811, “We are a Christian people, and the morality of the country is deeply engrafted upon Christianity, and not upon the doctrines or worship of those imposters [other religions].”
We want the America of which the Supreme Court of New York in 1811 also said, “Whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of the civil government … because it tends to corrupt the morals of the people, and to destroy good order.”
We want the America of which Daniel Webster said, “The principles of all genuine liberty and of wise laws and administrations, are to be drawn from the Bible and sustained by its authority. The man, therefore, who weakens or destroys the divine authority of that book may be an accessory to all of the public disorders which society is doomed to suffer.”
Webster’s words are all too prophetic. And many immigrants, myself included, want to see a return to the America Webster’s words described—an America that looks to the Bible for guidance and direction. Today, far from heeding the words of earlier courts, our present-day courts have been busily striking at the Christian foundation of our nation. Moreover, the education bureaucracy is busy rewriting American history.
Growing up in Egypt, I had a better grasp of American history and the Christian basis for its foundation than most students in American schools. Today, American children learn little about actual American history as a wide variety of grievance groups have conquered prime space in our children’s history textbooks.
Textbook content is often influenced by pressure groups that inflict their agendas on children, taking up valuable space for feminism, environmentalism, Islamic advocacy, and other special interests.
The most disturbing trend in textbooks is their treatment of Islam, where misinformation is used to portray it in the most favorable light. Islamic extremism is glossed over—even to the point of omitting the terrorists’ Islamic faith when covering the 9/11 attacks—and jihad is explained as simply an internal struggle to please God.
Such historical revisions should be repulsive to all Americans, but especially to Christians since they undermine the very principles on which America was founded.
Who is responsible for those actions—and what can we do to change the situation? A leading educator clarified the issue when he noted, “If a foreign government had done to the nation’s schools what we have done, we would have considered it an act of war.”
The media, too, does its best to make anyone who says positive things about the God of our Founding Fathers appear fanatic or stupid. People—especially the media—are careful not to say anything negative about Mohammad or Buddha or Krishna, but a person can blaspheme the name of the Lord continually, and no one will consider him politically incorrect. Such blasphemy is deemed part of a new era of enlightenment. In reality, it signals a return to the dark ages.
For a moment, let’s look back at history. On July 4, 1776, one of the most important documents in the history of the United States was signed. This document marked the birth of this great nation, which, under God, was destined for world leadership. Although this document was called the Declaration of Independence, it was really a Declaration of Dependence. While America’s forefathers sought independence from the British crown, they signed a declaration of dependence on Almighty God. Further, while they desired freedom from foreign domination, they chose to surrender to the Creator of the universe. Their intentions are clearly stated in the closing words of the Declaration of Independence:
“With firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
The 56 courageous men who signed this important document knew their words represented far more than high-sounding rhetoric. They realized that if they succeeded, they would experience years of hardship and struggle to maintain this new democratic phenomenon. If they failed, they would face a hangman’s noose as traitors.
These men were willing to pay the ultimate price because they believed that this country was, as the Pledge of Allegiance states, “One nation under God.” They knew that to be born free is a privilege, and to die free is an awesome responsibility. In light of the dedication of these men, don’t we have the responsibility to uphold the standards they set in place?