This is the very essence of our Americanism!

1787 - The Constitution was written to "...secure the Blessings of Liberty..." and in "...the year of Our Lord.

1787 - George Washington re the Constitution: "Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God."

Thomas Jefferson, on his memorial: "God who gave us life, gave us liberty." "Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that the liberties are the gift of God?"

11 COR 3:17 "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty."

1787 - At an impasse of several weeks at the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin rose and said, "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 man. 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" He then moved they resort to prayer and thus their problems were then solved.

1787 - Washington's Inaugural Address: "... the propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained, " All inaugural addresses and State constitutions refer to Almighty God, the author and sustained of our liberty.

1789 - Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation: "Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor... "

1797 - Washington's Farewell address: "and let us with caution, indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion."

Patrick Henry: "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."

John Quincy Adams: " The first and almost the only Book deserving of universal attention is the Bible." The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: "it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of Civil Government with the principle of Christianity."

John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States 1789-1795: "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

1843 - Emma Willard, Educator and historian: "The government of the United States is acknowledged by the wise and good of other nations, to be the most free, impartial and righteous government of the world; but all agree that for such a government to be sustained many years, the principles of truth and righteousness, taught in the Holy Scriptures, must be practiced. The rulers must govern in the fear of God, and the people obey the laws." "A nation cannot exist without religion. France tried that and failed. We were born a Protestant Christian nation and, as such, baptized in blood. Our position ought to be defined as that."

Circa 1861 - Abraham Lincoln: "It is the duty of all nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord."

1863 - Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: "...that we here highly resolve... that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people....... shall not perish from the earth."

1892 - The Supreme Court of the United States after citing 87 precedents decided: "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of Mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise: and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian ... This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation ... we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth. These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation."

1983 - Oct 4, 1982 Joint Resolution of Congress: "Whereas the Bible, the Word of God, has made a unique contribution in shaping the United States as a distinctive and blessed nation and people. ...Whereas Biblical teachings inspired concepts of civil government that are contained in our Declaration, of Independence and the Constitution of The United States. ...Whereas that renewing our knowledge of, and faith in God through Holy Scriptures can strengthen us as a nation and a people. Now therefore be it resolved ... that the President is authorized and requested to designate 1983 as a national "Year of the Bible" in recognition of both the formative influence the Bible has been for our Nation, and our national need to study and apply the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. "

February 3, 1983, President Ronald Reagan issued the above requested proclamation. President George Bush declared 1990 to be the International year of Bible reading.

Considering the small sampling of evidence presented, it is no wonder that our motto "In God We Trust" is found on all of our coinage, engraved on the walls of both houses of Congress, and that every session begins with a prayer by its Chaplain, that a prayer room is in the Capitol with a glass window depicting Washington in prayer surrounded by a quotation of Psalm 16: 1. The Ten Commandments are emblazoned on the wall in the Supreme Court just over the head of the Chief Justice as a symbol of the source of all our laws. Biblical quotations are etched on and in the Washington Monument, the Lincoln memorial, the Library of Congress and many other official buildings. Our Pledge of allegiance is to the flag of " One Nation under God."

Surely, with even these few stated facts, no intellectually honest person can deny that our nation exists on the bedrock of Biblical Christianity and has so prospered. But strangely, and in spite of our strong spiritual heritage, as so often happens when man becomes prosperous and feels self sufficient, he ignores his early teachings and begins to create for his own pleasure, an immoral society. He turns his back on God. And thus it is that we find ourselves living in the presently decadent, pornographic, licentious, violent and often Godless society in fear for our own safety. If you doubt this, just read through your daily newspaper. There are always evil forces willing to contribute to the expedition of the downturn in spiritual and moral values. America was no exception.

Early in this Century some of the "intellectuals" in our society became enamored with philosophical bantering of some European philosophers of the last century. They read the doctrines of Freudians, the Materialism of Forbach, Nihilism of Nietsche, Dialectic of Hegel, the Communism of Marx, and of Behaviorism, Socialism, Existentialism, (do your own thing), Rationalism, Fabianism and Humanism,,. From this gathering of intellectuals was formed the Intercollegiate Socialist Society and in promoting socialism they became advocates of the ideology of Karl Marx. Chapters of this organization now the League for Industrial Democracy were formed in 125 colleges by the 1930's.

They were joined by John Dewey who became president of the Organization in 1941. John Dewey, the "godfather of progressive education" was also a member of the American Humanist Association and signed its Manifesto in 1933. Humanism teaches atheism, autonomous man, amorality, evolution and one-world socialism. Through Dewey's influence at Columbia University, the teachings of Humanism permeated our educational system and excluded from our textbooks the moral and Biblical teachings which were so much a part of our American Culture. Now after two generations of Americans have been subjected to this "Godless" philosophy through our schools, what are the results?

It has created a spiritually apathetic society that hardly murmured when in 1962, citing no precedents, a liberal Supreme Court abolished prayer from the public schools and the next year abolished Bible reading from the schools. The American public was conditioned to accept this and so from that time there was a startlingly great rise in teenage pregnancies (up 556 %), venereal disease (up 226%), Family divorce which had declined for 15 years then tripled each year since. S.A.T scores previously stable, declined remarkably. The high principles that made America great were lost.

A 1982 survey of top discipline problems in the public schools listed : Rape, robbery, assault, burglary, arson, bombings, murder, suicide, absenteeism, vandalism, extortion, drug abuse/ pushing, alcohol abuse, gang warfare, pregnancies, abortions and venereal disease. Contrast this with discipline problems in 1940: Talking in class, chewing gum, making noise, running in halls, getting out of turn in line, not putting papers in waste baskets. What happened to our children?

Very simply, proper standards and respect for rules, all religious and moral teaching had been removed from our schools. Meaningless courses in "values clarification" and the tenets of Secular Humanism (classified as a "religion by 1961 Supreme Court) were substituted. People said morals changed. But God makes morals and He didn't change His mind. Then these Children grew to become the parents, teachers, political leaders, news media people, playwrights, actors, entertainers, clergymen, business and professional people. They often found themselves ignorant of the great moral and religious strengths of our country and thus unable to impart these to the new generation.

People try to blame television programs, family breakdown, drugs, alcohol and many other things as the cause of this decadence. But this thinking is too superficial, it doesn't go deep enough. We must recognize that those who create, participate in and accept the raw-sex and violence of TV., movies, magazines and books , the casual attitude towards family breakdown, drug abuse, uncommitted sex, sodomy, drive-by shootings, wholesale murders, child molestation, racism, gay bashing, greed and scandal in politics, business and practically all the ills of society are products of the amoral, permissive educational system and the two generations of people produced by this system and now they determine the moral tone of society. There is no other cause for society's breakdown. Think it through!

It will be interesting to see all the artifices and contortions some will go through to try to deny the truths of this study. Perhaps it takes someone more than two generations old (such as I) to note the drastic change from the peaceful, neighborly, spiritually conscious society in which I grew and was taught.

Only when enough Americans resolve to restore our national character can we hope to see a society wherein people of all classes, colors and religious beliefs can live together in peace and harmony. It is going to take a generation but we had better begin right now.