Is Teaching the Christian Heritage of America Dangerous?

How do we reach the next generation with the Biblical American view of law and government? Have you ever asked that question?

During my travels for IOTC, I am almost regularly sharing in public education institutions.

The general question people ask is, “How are you getting into the public schools?”

My response is, “I am normally invited by a teacher, school board member, parent, donor, or administrator. So I start by arriving, opening the door, and walking in.”

It is not complex, but it does come with the occasional challenge.

I have never been asked to stop my presentations. I have never been kicked out of a school. The response has always been exceptionally positive. The challenge is when people are afraid they may get in trouble for referencing the Christian foundations in America.

The tragedy, of course, is there should be no challenge at all to teach the original intent of our Founders, which happens to include the Biblical underpinnings of American Law and Constitutional Government.

Noah Webster, named the “Schoolmaster of America” who authored scores of school textbooks, including the famous dictionary that bears his name, asserted:

The Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things that children under a free government ought to be instructed.

Webster again declared:

The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. All of the miseries and evils which men suffer from; vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from the despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.

Signer of the Declaration and President of Princeton University, John Witherspoon, declared:

Whosoever is an avowed enemy of God, I hesitate not to call him an enemy to his country.

The Father of America, George Washington, concluded his first presidential inauguration with the following exhortation:

It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe… No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.

In fact, it was Delaware, the first state in our union, that mandated:

"Every person...appointed to any office...shall...subscribe...'I...profess faith in GOD THE FATHER, and in JESUS CHRIST His only Son, and in the HOLY GHOST, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration.'" (emphasis added)

Pennsylvania, home to our first Congress, was operating under its 1776 Constitution, signed by Ben Franklin, which stated:

"Each member, before he takes his seat, shall ... subscribe ... 'I do believe in one GOD, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, the Rewarder of the good and the Punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration.'"

Written in numerous letters and legal documents we find the source of American liberty is unequivocally the God of the Bible. Shouldn’t we teach, encourage, and celebrate it?

We must conclude…if teaching this is dangerous or wrong, then our detractors must believe that our history and our heritage of liberty is dangerous…and that is un-American.

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Video Column:  https://youtu.be/dbAM-aMHiMM