Organization: Virginia Department of Health
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Sat, 2 Jan 1993 17:45:07 EST
From:         "Michael A. Kline" <MKLINE@VDH.BITNET>
Subject:      Christian Nation 2-2

                          Our Founding Fathers:
            Did they intend America to be a Christian Nation?
                          John Ankerberg Show.

    Part 2-02 ---------------------------------------------------------->

    John: Next, if Franklin did call the Constitutional Convention to
prayer, did it work? What happened?

    David: Johnathan Dayton writes about what happened after Franklin's
speech, and there are many that wrote about it. But Dayton noted that for
the next 3 days, the Constitutional Convention, in mass, went as a group,
fasting and praying, and visiting every church they could find in
Philadelphia. The entire Constitutional Convention, in mass, went from
church to church to church, set down inside, brought the minister out and
said "Preach to us. We need to get our mind renewed, we need to get our
thinking turned around." For 3 days, the Constitutional Convention, in
mass, as a single body, went from church to church, listening to sermons.

    When they reconvened, Johnathan Dayton said it was the first time in
6 weeks that every unfriendly feeling had been expelled. It was the first
time in 6 weeks that we weren't fighting and arguing and bickering. We
actually got along. You see, for 5 1/2 weeks they could get nothing
accomplished. Then they seriously set their mind towards seeking God for
3 days, as the Constitutional Convention, and after that point, the
delegates said, "This was the turning point, the speech by Franklin,
calling us back to prayer was the turning point."

    And it is amazing that prior to that point they could agree on
nothing, and after that point, they came up with the document that's now
lasted 200 years. You see the delegates themselves pointed to that speech
by Franklin, calling for prayer, as the proof that that was the turning
point of the convention.

    Now, here is the least religious of the Founding Fathers calling us
to prayer. So how is it likely that the Founding Fathers did not want
religious principles involved in government activities, and public
affairs, when  even the least religious were the ones promoting it?

    John: Now maybe you say, "Okay, I didn't realize that Benjamin
Franklin was so spiritual. I didn't realize that he believed in God, and
even organized prayer meetings in Congress. And I certainly didn't know
it was Franklin who pressed Congress to hire chaplains to call both the
House and the Senate to prayer before they went to work each day. But
there can't be many others like him, can there?"

    Well, how about George Washington? Did he think we should keep God,
the Bible, and morality in all aspects of Government?

    David: Are there any other Founding Fathers that would have input on
whether we should have religious principles in public affairs. I think
certainly George Washington is qualified to voice some opinion. He is
the president of the Convention that gave us the Constitution. He is the
President of the United States who over saw the formation of the Bill of
Rights and its ratification. He is the man who gave 45 years of his life
to public service to see America strong, established as an infinite
nation. He's called the Father of our Country. Certainly, his opinion
should count for something.

    Well George Washington has very strong opinions on whether religious
principles are part of public affairs. He voiced those opinions in his
final political speech, his farewell address. After 2 terms in office,
he's leaving, and he calls America and says "America, this is what has
brought us to this point. This is what we must do to keep going."

    Now his farewell address is 12 very succinct, clear warnings to the
nation on what we must do to stay on track. They were so important that
for decades and even over a century in America that farewell address was
a complete textbook. Students memorized Washington's Farewell Address for
history class, for speech class, we studied it thoroughly because here
they were taught was the most significant political speech ever delivered
by a US President.

    An amazing thing, we have not been find George Washington's Farewell
Address in most textbooks in the last 4 decades. Prior to WWII, you could
find it in every textbook. It's disappeared since. Why in the world? So
many of the warnings he gave us 200 years ago, we need today.

    One of the warnings he told us then was "Don't ever let the
government get into deficit spending." That's a wonderful warning. We
could use it today, but we can't find his Farewell Address in textbooks.
Why? Because of his 12 warnings, 4 warnings were very clearly religious.
One of his warnings, he said there's only 2 supports for political
prosperity in America. He said that's religion and morality.

    He said "Therefore don't let anyone claim to be a true American
patriot if they ever try to separate religion and morality from politics.
That's a strong statement. He said "Of all the habits and dispositions
which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports." He said "In vain would that man claim that
tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars."

    If you try to separate religion and morality from politics, you can't
be called an American patriot.

    John: Now think of the politicians that over the years you've heard
say, "Well people can be moral without being religious."...

    MAKS> Good point to break this.

Maks.
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