QUICK LINKS
Is There A Growing Christian Consensus In America?
Alexis de Tocqueville, a French scholar and historian, was so impressed with America’s culture and constitutional system, that in 1831, he published an exhaustive, two-volume description of our nation.
He wrote: “On my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America, I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country. I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion – for who can search the human heart – but I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.� (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. I, 1945).
Benjamin Franklin said in 1787, “Atheism is unknown [here] and infidelity rare and secret.�
Not all embraced Christianity in a personal way in the early days of America, but all recognized and embraced or at least tolerated the “Christian consensus� or as the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer described it; the “Christian worldview� that prevailed not only among those who drafted and approved our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but other documents as well.
In the years that followed, people like Mr. Alexis de Tocqueville, recognized “the great political consequences� of this consensus. He was so impressed with America’s obvious blessings that he also said, “Christianity, therefore, reigns without obstacle, by universal consent; the consequence is, as I have before observed, that every principle of the moral world is fixed and determinate, although the political world is abandoned to the debates and experiments of men. Thus, the human mind is never left to wander over a boundless field.�
About fifty or sixty years ago, a small minority of Americans who did not share the “Christian consensus� that had made America great began a secularist, humanist assault on American life. Following the removal of prayer from school, Roe v. Wade, values clarification, political correctness, “The Tolerance� movement, and the big lie regarding separation of church and state, there was indeed a time when the collective human mind of American leadership was “left to wander over a boundless field,� with perhaps the low point being reflected in the Clinton years.
Now a new poll says Americans want politicians with religious convictions to be true to their beliefs. The poll, conducted by Public Agenda, was seen by Public Agenda’s Ruth Wooden, as a diminished tolerance on the part of Americans to see their elected leaders compromise. She also concluded that American’s want to see their leaders voting on religious view more. Looking deeper, she said, “I see this report is actually showing quite a bit of respect for ‘conviction’ politicians, and those that act according to their religious convictions and demonstrate honesty and integrity in their roles as elected officials.�When asked the follow-up question, “Would you want your elected officials to base their decision on their religious views even if they differed from yours,� those who said “yes� rose dramatically. (The Public Agenda Website contains the actual survey).
The tide is turning. John Witherspoon, the 6th President of Princeton and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, once said, “It is a man of piety and inward principle that we may expect to find the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen, and the invincible soldier.� Then he prayerfully added, “May God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable, and that the unjust attempts to destroy the one, may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both.�
His prayer was answered in the early days of our country and I believe it is again being answered in the early days of the 21st century.
To receive these blogs in your email box, click here.
Comments? Click here.
_______________________________
Gary Randall
President & Chairman
Faith and Freedom Foundation
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home