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How the Growth of Atheism Endangers Our Republic
by Pastor Mark Shaw
The romantic notion of specific cultural trends and beliefs can cause some to entertain them without thinking them through to the end. Such is the worldview of atheism. What I want to explore regarding atheism is how this worldview affects our constitutional republican form of government. Many may not see the danger because they do not realize that our Declaration of Independence is a part of our government structure.
To simplify, the Declaration is the “why” we have government, and the Constitution is the “how” we have government. That basis of “why” must always inform the premise of “how.” That means that the principles of the Declaration of Independence support that framework the Constitution offers us. If you remove the premise of government, you change the framework, or at worse, you ruin the framework.
If the primary premise of government is that we are creatures of Almighty God and that He endowed us with certain inalienable rights, then we begin to understand that our Constitution is meant to protect those rights. So, anything that removes the premise also destroys the design. We conclude that if there is no Creator, then there are no inalienable rights. Suppose there are no inalienable rights for the individual. In that case, the framework of the Constitution is built upon nothing and is subject to collapse.
Consider the ramification of the belief that there is no God. Since God reveals to us both good and evil, the absence of God removes all notions of good or evil. The atheist, then, has no foundation for good or evil. Surprisingly though, according to the Humanist Manifesto which is atheist at its core, man is actually good. Yet, they have no basis upon which to proffer that assertion.
God gave every individual dominion over the earth. From that, we logically deduce that no human can claim sovereignty over another dominion endowed human. This is the basis for the inalienable right of liberty. Now consider that without every man being given dominion by their Creator, the atheist has no basis for freedom equality. Thus, anyone can take anyone’s freedom away. Our founders understood how necessary it was to have a working knowledge of God if this republic were to be successful.
“Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe[God]: And if a member of Civil Society, who enters into any subordinate Association, must always do it with a reservation of his duty to the General Authority [God]; much more must every man who becomes a member of any particular Civil Society, do it with a saving of his allegiance to the Universal Sovereign [God]. We maintain therefore that in matters of Religion, no mans right is abridged by the institution of Civil Society and that Religion is wholly exempt from its cognizance.” –James Madison
How many of our politicians understand what Madison said? Government is unassertive toward Religion, and Religion is exempt from the government’s awareness. In other words, it is from the Christian Religion and its Author whereby we are endowed with rights that government has no authority to give or remove. Who would want to live in a society where individual rights are nonexistent? When one’s beliefs have no concept of God, they define their morals to suit themselves. They have become moral relativists, and this is the irrational and dangerous worldview of the atheist.
Is it any wonder then that Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao were all atheists? If we do not know the worldview of our representatives, then We the People are endangering our freedoms. Suppose we do not care to vote or become involved in politics. In that case, We the People are threatening our own liberty and that of the whole nation. Madison also stated that the people of this great republic would need to possess a special vigilance to maintain those rights. Let us be a vigilant people who believe in their great Creator who endows every individual with certain inalienable rights, even those who do not believe in Him.
Religion and Freedom
by Susan Snelling
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
Those words were written by Patrick Henry, one of the Founding Fathers.
Under the umbrella of Christianity, people have the freedom to worship as they please. The Founding Fathers wanted people to worship within whatever religion they chose, except the freedom of that worship was never meant to be at the denigration and restriction of Christianity. It is because of Christianity that people enjoy the kind of freedoms that they have.
The Founders’ writings were clear that the principles in the Bible were at the foundation of America, and that the neglect of those principles would bring disaster. Noah Webster was born during the founding era and later was called the “Father of American Scholarship and Education.” He captured the Founders’ beliefs when he wrote:
“If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”
The Founding Fathers were in agreement regarding the importance of Christianity in the formation of this constitutional republic and of the Constitution. It is what drove our forefathers to weave it throughout the fiber of every aspect of America. Daniel Webster, also born during the founding era and who later became an attorney and a statesman, wrote about the importance of Christianity:
“Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil. political, or literary.”
Those who would have us believe that Christianity should play no role in American life outside of private expression that does not go beyond the home or church have no regard for the essence of America. They seek to destroy the very fabric of society and this constitutional republic. They want to relegate the Constitution as an outdated, outmoded insignificant document. It defies the thoughts and held beliefs and intents of the Founding Fathers and that of our forefathers. It seeks to dismantle the very heart and core of what made America great and free. The Founding Fathers were so adamant in their belief that the people were knowledgeable of the Biblical principles as the basis of America that they did not think America would survive without it.
The removal of God from the public square puts America on a slippery slope. The Founding Fathers understood this. It is Christianity on which America was founded that brought civil liberty and freedom to the world. It was not attributed to any other worldview, ideology, or system of beliefs, but to Christianity. This is what is good about America, what others give up everything to be a part of.
Noah Webster said:
“The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government.”
According to Noah Webster, it is adhering to Christian principles that make the people prosperous and happy, and what gives us our Constitution. When the people ignore the divine commands, as Webster puts it, they elect bad people to “make and administer the laws.” Let us get back to the divine commands and elect God-fearing people with courage who understand what is at stake, people who are not afraid to apply those Biblical principles that the Founding Fathers revered and that led to our covenant with God through the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.