Returning to Our Roots – Part 2

Continuing Michael's message, he asks: Where did we loose our moorings and how do we get them back? The Emerson decision in 1947 argued by the ACLU presented a decision by Hugo Black that mentioned that there was a "wall of separation between church and state" and that America was a secular nation. 

The constitution says: The church... shall be separate from the state and the schools from the church. However when secularists cite these words they are quoting the wrong constitution. These words appear in the constitution of the USSR, not America. When they argue for the wall of separation  this phrase does not exist in the US constitution. The "wall of separation between church and state" first appeared in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist's in Connecticut.  This was not a governmental document but a private letter.  The Bill of Rights was written to protect the people from the government and not vice versa.  Washington said the government is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

What if there were a two way wall of separation between the government and the press and the press and the government?  What kind of nation would America be if the press couldn't say anything about the government nor the government about the press?  The intent of the "wall of separation" was to separate the churches from the government but not the government from the moral, decent, and righteous influence of the church.  It was intended to restrict the power of the government from the people but not vice versa.

What was intended by the first amendment regarding religion? In 1835 Chief Justice Story who was appointed by Madison said, "the general sentiment in America is that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state so far that it is not incompatible with all Americans' freedom of worship. An attempt to level all religions would have created universal indignation. The real object was not to advance other religions by excluding Christianity but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects and to prevent ecclesiastical establishment (of one denomination over another.)"

The original constitution, the Mayflower Compact written by the Pilgrims said that the founding of this nation was for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian Faith.  If barbarians are knocking at the door we must as Christians recommit ourselves to the goal for which the founders were wiling to give up their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor: firm reliance on Divine Providence to uphold the unalienable God given rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...the blessings of liberty according to biblical virtue.

When a nation sets its face in moral opposition to God's law, God is faithful to his Word and will judge a nation accordingly.  God will honor the believing faith when America as a nation turns its heart back to the truth of the Word of God. 

Your brother in Christ, Michael