When our founding fathers decided they had suffered enough injustice and indignities of a tyrannical king, they, filled with a fiery patriotism for their new home on the American continent and stirred with a spirit of rebellion, were ready to break the bonds that united them with their motherland. It was a dangerous decision to make for they well knew England would not relinquish its control over them. Yet, they began to dream of a new nation on the American continent, free and independent of all outside powers. It would be a nation free of political tyranny, free of a rigid state church and free of an aristocracy that favored a few. They envisioned a government that derived its just powers from the consent of the governed, the people--a government wherein justice would prevail for all, and all would have an equal opportunity to become all they wanted to be according to their own ability and ambition.
These ideals were incorporated into the Declaration of Independence thus: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Contrary to popular opinion, not everyone was in favor of declaring independence. Some were afraid they would get hurt--physically, financially or politically. But, independence was declared by the Continental Congress, and a long hard war was fought and won, and our early patriots' dream began to become a reality.
In drawing up a Constitution, it is evident our founding fathers will knew the scripture: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, and the people whom He hath chosen for His inheritance." Psalms 33:12. In it is incorporated the best concepts of morality, liberty and justice the Bible teaches. In the 229 years since independence was declared, not won, we have emerged the freest, most powerful, most prosperous and most charitable nation on earth.
Let us listen to Moses exhorting Israel after being freed from Egyptian bondage: "What nation is there so great who hath God so near them, as the Lord our God is in all things we call on Him for? What nation is there that hath statues and judgements as righteous as all our law? Take heed to thyself to keep them diligently, and to teach them to thy sons and thy sons' sons." Deuteronomy 4:7-9.
Have we not a similar situation? We also know we have a small minority of people that will not be happy until they see God confined to the churches or completely removed from public life. Such would try to turn the great American dream into a nightmare, and they will be the ones "crying for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them" when the god they hate or reject sends his son back to call all the redeemed by his blood from this sin cursed world to be with him in the place he has gone to prepare. John 14:3.
I believe God had a hand in the establishment of our nation so let us prove ourselves worthy of being called "A nation under God" and capable of governing ourselves as such as a free people. That was the great and grand dream of our founding fathers in 1776 when they adopted the Declaration of Independence, which we will be celebrating July 4.
May the God that brought us into existence as a nation abstain us until the consummation of the ages.