Your God or Mine?

“Liberty wasn’t guaranteed by the Constitution. It was only given a chance.”

-Stephen Chapman, Chicago Tribune

The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. The American Constitution was signed in 1787. The Bill of Rights was ratified in the year 1791. Over two centuries ago, the founding fathers created an establishment that would not only lay the groundwork for America’s success, but set a standard of equality and individual freedom against which law making and legal interpretation would henceforth be measured.

Although remarkable in many ways, their brilliance is glaringly evident in the Declaration’s first sentence:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

This nonsectarian view of God, allowed the group to proceed with matters of state and leave the theological debate for other venues. Although religion had historically been the crux of hostility and holy wars, the founders reduced the divisive matter of “God” to a basic premise upon which they could all agree. Dr. Thomas L. Krannawitter, Professor of Political Science at Hillsdale College, defines the Declaration’s “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” with three points of constructive concurrence:

· The world is greater (larger/bigger) than humankind

· There is a natural order to the world that is knowable and predictable

· We (humankind) did not create this order therefore something greater than man must have created it

Much like our modern day conservative movement, the founders were a diverse assemblage with definite opinions on religion, morality and government. But unlike today, they found a way to agree on the essential components that in turn allowed them to build upon the common foundation of liberty and freedom by which they could ultimately express and defend their individual theological conjecture. George W. Bush, in his 2003 State of the Union address declared “Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world; it is God’s gift to humanity.” While conservatives continue to squabble over “your God or mine,” core fundamental principles are being threatened. If individual freedom is encroached upon, whether by radical terrorists or government mandates, then little else will matter. Liberty must not be compromised.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 11:23 am and is filed under Uncategorized.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.