Did you know that the language contained in the national motto of the United States and the Declaration of Independence are unconstitutional and violate the "separation of church and state"?
I didn't either, but that's what Principal Dawn Kastner of Westview High School in California told math teacher Bradley Johnson.
According to WorldNetDaily, Johnson has had a 7 feet by 2 feet banner in his classroom for 25 years that included the words "In God We Trust," "One Nation Under God," "God Bless America" and "God Shed His Grace On Thee," and a second banner which quoted the Declaration of Independence: "All Men Are Created Equal, They Are Endowed By Their Creator."
How such despicable and sectarian language could have been allowed all this time, we can only guess! So what if this language is in our national motto and our Declaration of Independence: they sound religious!
All kidding aside, it is either sad or despicable that a school principle would be so ignorant or malicious that they would fail to understand or honor our nation's history and heritage.
Contrary to modern assertions that a "separation of church and state" exists (there is no such language in the U.S. Constitution, our nation was set up to have neither a state-run church or a church-run state.
That is why the First Amendment says
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion
That same First Amendment also goes on to condemn what this principle is trying to do
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
While our founders understood the wisdom of avoiding a state church or official state religion, they by no means intended the public square to be devoid of religious and moral influence.
Exactly the opposite is true. Consider these facts and statements by the founders:
During the colonial period and for many years after the American Revolution, the New England Primer was the most-used textbook. This textbook was more full of Christian teaching than most religious texts today; check it out at the link above.
Gouverneur Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence, said, “Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man towards God.”
Samuel Adams said, “Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, united their endeavours to renovate the age, by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity…in short of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.”
Benjamin Rush, another signer of the Declaration of Independence, said, “In contemplating the political institutions of the United States, I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes, and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess to be republicans and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government. That is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible.”
Rush also said, "...the only foundation for...a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments."
Charles Carroll, another signer of the Declaration of Independence, said, "Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."
James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration and one who helped write the Constitution, said, "Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine .... Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other."
That Declaration which these and more signed starts with the recognition of God, and that our freedoms and rights come from Him:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed
That Declaration also ends with a statement of "firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence."
John Witherspoon, another signer of the Declaration, said, "Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy to his country…God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable and that the unjust attempts to destroy one may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both."
Patrick Henry, the first governor of Virginia and one of the greatest proponents of independence, said, "The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible."
We have Benjamin Franklin, one of the least religious of the founders, to thank for our still-standing tradition of opening congress and other government meetings in prayer when he said, during the drafting of the Constitution:
“…how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly appealing to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible to danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard and they were graciously answered… And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance?...I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel...We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages…I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business…”
In his inaugural address, President George Washington said
...it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes...No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States...the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained
When Washington was approached in 1779 by the Delaware Indians who wanted their children to be taught in American schools, he told them in 1779: "You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention."
John Jay, First Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty...of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
Thomas Jefferson said, "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."
Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, appointed by James Madison, said
We are not to attribute this [First Amendment] prohibition of a national religious establishment to an indifference to religion in general, and especially to Christianity (which none could hold in more reverence, than the framers of the Constitution)
He also said, "The real object of the [First A]mendment was not to countenance, much less to advance, Mahometanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity; but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects."
Story also tells us regarding the authority of the States, many of which had state churches: "The whole power over the subject of religion is left exclusively to the State governments to be acted upon according to their own sense of Justice and the State constitutions."
Noah Webster said, “In my view, the Christian Religion is the most import and and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed…no truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian Religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, one of the nation’s first important statutes, says in Article III: “Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
George Washington said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports…In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.”
John Adams, our second president, said, “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.”
He also said, "[W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Adams also said, "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were…the general principles of Christianity."
Both James Wilson and Judge Story made it clear to us how to interpret laws and the Constitution: as they were intended.
Wilson said, "The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it."
Story said, "The first and fundamental rule in the interpretation of all instruments is to construe them according to the sense of the sense of the terms and intentions of the parties."
It's really not that hard to figure out. That is, unless you don't like what the law and the Constitution say, and you're looking for a way to get around what they say. Unless you're looking for a way to, um, rewrite history.
With education officials like the one who slammed the national motto and the Declaration of Independence, no wonder we're seeing so many "minds of mush" being produced by the education establishment who think the United States is a nation built on a total divorce between Christian values and the public square.
One might be tempted to overlook the ignorance of an average citizen, but such ignorance (or duplicity) on the part of a government official charged with the good education of American youth is reprehensible.
Fortunately, the Christian Post reports that San Diego federal judge Robert Benitez has upheld the teacher's display of these banners.
Some sanity yet remains not only in government, but most remarkably in our court system.
Thank God!
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