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Religion and morality: the indispensible supports

These were the founding fathers’ indispensible supports for


good government, political prosperity, and national well
being.
The founders understood that self-governing nations are
built upon self governing individuals, and personal self-
government is achieved only by adherence to moral and
religious principles. In fact, they believed that our form of
government, despite its worthy documents, was insufficient
for governing immoral or irreligious citizens.
As President John Adams proclaimed:
“We have no government armed with power capable of
contending with human passions unbridled by morality and
religion…Our Constitution was made only for moral and
religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government
of any other”.

John Quincy Adams proclaimed:


“Three points of doctrine, the belief of which forms the
foundation of all morality.
The first is the existence of a God; the second is the
immortality of a human soul;
And the third is a future state of rewards and punishments.
Suppose it possible for a man to disbelieve either of these
articles of faith and that man will have no conscience, he will
have no other law than that of a tiger of the sharks; the laws
of man may bind him in chains of may put him to death, but
they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy”.
Scripture: psalms 73:22
So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
Ecclesiastes 3:18
I said in mine heart concerning the state of the sons of men
that God might manifest them, and that they might see that
they themselves are beast.

Our founders as well as subsequent courts and congress –


believed intensely that religion in general, and Christianity in
particular, produced the public morality without which civil
government would not long survive. On this basis, they
neither created nor tolerated acts diminishing Christianity’s
effects; to have done so would have been to invite the
demise of good government. No rational government would
intentionally commit suicide by destroying its very
foundation.
While the over effects of religion on a society were well
understood, there were also specific benefits of Christianity
which were enumerated by the founders. For example,
Thomas Jefferson noted:
“The precepts of philosophy, and of the Hebrew code, laid
hold of actions only, Jesus pushed his scrutinies into the
heart of man, erected his tribunal in the region of his
thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain head”.

According to Jefferson, Christian principles unlike those of


other religions went beyond merely addressing and
attempting to regulate or restrain outward behavior.
Consider murder as an example: civil law prohibits it; how
can Christianity contribute anything more?
Unlike civil statutes, Christianity address murder before it
occurs- while it is still only a thought in the heart (see
matthew 5:22-28). Civil laws cannot address the heart, which
is the actual seat of violence and of all crime.
The true effectiveness of the teachings of Christianity were
that, as Jefferson expressed it, they” purified the waters at
the fountain head.”
John Quincy Adams similarly explained why this aid from
Christianity was so necessary to civil government. He
declared:
“human legislators can undertake only to proscribe the
actions of men: they acknowledge their inability to govern
and direct the sentiments of the heart; the very law styles it
a rule of civil conduct, not of internal principles…it is one of
the greatest marks of Divine favor…that the Legislators gave
them rules not only of action but for the government of the
heart.
To hate is not legally a crime, yet it often leads to a crime
(assault, murder, slander,etc).
Similarly, to covet is not legally a crime; yet it too often
leads to a crime (theft, burglary, embezzlement, etc)
Only religion effectively provides what John Quincy Adams
termed “rules for the government of the heart” and thus
prevents the crimes which originate internally.
This aspect of personal, internal self-government was long
understood to be direct societal benefit resulting from the
widespread teachings of Christianity.
As Zephaniah Swift explained:
“Indeed moral virtue is substantially and essentially enforced
by the precepts of Christianity and me b considered to be
the basis of it. But in addition to moral principles, the
Christian doctrines inculcate a purity of heart and holiness of
life which constitutes its chief glory. When we contemplate it
in this light, we have a most striking evidence of its
superiority over all the system of pagan philosophy which
were promulgated by the wisest men of ancient times.”
Disregarding the direct societal benefits which result from
the promotion of religious principles, government utilizes
extensive and expands massive financial sums attempting to
restrain behavior which is the external manifestation of
internal chaos and disorder.
If human behavior is not controlled by the internal restraints
provided through religion, then the only others means to
restrain misbehavior is the threat of shear force.
As founder James Otis queried:
“When a man’s will and pleasure is his only rule and guide,
what safety can there be either for him or against him but in
the point of a sword”.
Speaker of the U.S. House Robert Winthrop best summarized
this principle when he declared: “Men in a word, must
necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by
a power without them; either by the word of God or by the
strong arm of man; either by the bible of by a bayonet”.
In fact so much were these religious teachings considered to
be a fundamental part of a well-rounded education that the
founders feared what might transpire if education no longer
included these teachings as Benjamin Rush warned:
“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 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 means of the Bible”.

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