‘ONE NATION, UNDER GOD’ IS SOLID BASE

J. Grant Swank, Jr.


Our Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among those are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”


George Washington stated: “. . .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 pillar of human happiness — these firmest props of the duties of man and citizens.”


Washington stated on another occasion: “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true that virtue and morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”


Further, Washington stated that there be a national day “of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.”


Thomas Jefferson prayed “that infinite power which rules the destinies of the universe” would come to the aid of the country. Why? “To lead our councils to what is best.”


Thomas Jefferson also said: “Can the liberties of a nation be thought to be secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the mind of people that these liberties are the gift of God?”


John Adams said that the Untied States Constitution mandates a “religious and moral” citizenry.


James Madison said “we have staked our future . . .upon the capacity of each of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”


Abraham Lincoln said that it was his “constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should on the Lord’s side.”


Lincoln also set aside Thanksgiving Day to “set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a Day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent father who dwelleth in the heavens.”


Franklin D. Roosevelt said about Nazi Germany: “They know that victory for us means victory for religion. And they could not tolerate that. The world is too small to provide adequate ‘living room’ for both Hitler and God. In proof of that, the Nazis have now announced a plan for enforcing their new
German, pagan religion throughout the world — the plan by which the Holy
Bible and the Cross of Mercy would be displaced by Mien Kampf and the swastika and the naked sword.”


John F. Kennedy said “the rights of man come not from the state but from the hand of God.”


Robert F. Kennedy said that “at the heart of . . . Western freedom and democracy is the belief that the individual man, the child of God, is the touchstone of value. . .” Further, he said that “we must recognize the full human equality of all our people — before God, before the law, and the in counsel of government.”


George W. Bush said “the liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world, but God’s gift to humanity.’


“One nation, under God!”