This past week three of my articles were written around the theme “Bringing Back the Bible into the Schoolhouse”. We have had some excellent comments from blogger Jonathan. In this article we will look at more comments from Jonathan, an excerpt from an article I recently read which relevantly quoted John Adams on the subject, as well as a brief citation from a review about a new book on George Washington.
Let’s start with some of Jonathan’s latest comments made regarding my last article on this subject, which he made on Sunday:
“Needless to say, there is no evidence that the majority of signers were "born-again" committed Trinitarian Christians. Only evidence that they were formally affiliated with Christian Churches.
"And we do have evidence that the men who actually wrote the darn thing --Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin -- were theological Unitarians, who fervently denied the Trinity and other key tenets of orthodox Christianity.”
I continue to disagree with you Jonathan. Would a Unitarian make the following statement as referenced in the following excerpt from a superb recent article, which I read in Alain’s Newsletter? If he was a Unitarian, didn’t he at least recognize what the majority of his peers believed?
“Americans must clear their minds of the psychopolitically-induced mind paste which prevents them from seeing the truth, which is that America was founded by God-fearing patriots who chose Christian principles on which to achieve independence. In the words of John Adams, “The…principles on which the fathers achieved independence were…the general principles of Christianity.” (Works, Vol. x, pp. 45-46, to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1813) . . .
“If we wish to remain free, we must turn back to and rededicate ourselves to the source of our freedom and personal liberties: God the Creator and the principles of Christianity. Parents must protect their children . . . And as a people united by the principles of freedom and personal liberty, we must commit ourselves to the long and arduous fight to recapture every square inch of our culture, laws, and government. . .”
I just read a review of the new book by Dr. Peter Lillback, who begins his new book about George Washington's faith, titled George Washington’s Sacred Fire . Part of the review reads:
“. . . with a cursory review of a few recent authors describing our first president as a "lukewarm Episcopalian," a "warm Deist," "not a deeply religious man," "not
particularly ardent in his faith," and "one who avoided, as was the Deist custom, the word 'God.'"
“Lillback aims to set the record straight in his comprehensive study. . . . he explores every aspect of the president's faith in order to verify that he was, indeed, a devout man who practiced his Christian faith.
“The purpose of George Washington's Sacred Fire is to prove definitively that George Washington was indeed a devout, practicing Christian, and that quickly puts revisionist historians on the defensive.
"The book builds a compelling case for the Christian faith of Washington by relying on the president's own thoughts, words and deeds. Lillback's evidence stronglya upports his premise that Washington was not a deist, but a strong practitioner of the Christian faith. Further, he aptly illustrates that this fact is critical for understanding the founding of America and for insuring the future strength of America as "One Nation under God."”
I think that the fact that a few of the early fathers were Deists, Unitarians or whatever, does not diminish the fact that I believe that the overwhelming majority were, in fact, true born-again believers in Jesus Christ and in God. The revisionist try to wish away or even attempt to rewrite history to fit into their wished for deam of America, which differs greatly from that of the majority of those who Founded this great nation as well as from those of us who want to keep that truth alive.
