“ Today , we still have the form of a free nation , but we are rapidly losing the character necessary to sustain it .” standards of judgment which are written large upon these pages of revelation . . . . Let no man suppose that progress can be divorced from religion , or that there is any other platform for the ministers of reform than the platform written in the utterances of our Lord and Savior . America was born a Christian nation . America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture .” 3
Following this speech given to 12,000 people on May 7 , 1911 , Wilson wrote a personal note to a friend , Mary Ellen Hulbert Peck , in which he stated : “ The Bible . . . is undoubtedly the book that has made democracy and been the source of all progress .”
Today , we hear a lot of talk about the United States being a pluralistic society . If by this we mean that many different beliefs make up the population , we are indeed a pluralistic group . We are a place where people of all religions and persuasions ( including atheism ) may freely believe what they choose . But if we mean by pluralism that a single belief system , in particular , a Bible-based system , should not be the basis of our laws and civil institutions , we are taking a totally opposite direction in our thinking than the Founding Fathers had in mind .
Some may think morality can be brought back into our nation without bringing back the Bible and the principles it contains . But George Washington said , “ Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle .” 4
Where do you think the “ religious principle ” Washington had in mind came from ? In none other than the Book the Founding Fathers quoted more often than any other — the Bible . The Book President Abraham Lincoln affirmed by declaring : “ In regard to this Great Book , I have but to say , it is the best gift God has given man . All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book . But for it we could not know right from wrong .” 5
Now , why would John Adams say our constitution is “ wholly inadequate ” for the governing of any other than a moral and religious people ? It is because these kinds of people know how to govern themselves under God , and people who govern themselves under God do not need kings , dictators , or potentates to regulate their actions . People who are morally responsible internally do not need the external strong arm of government to tell them what they can or cannot do . People with self-government under God , or self-control , understand what is required of them to live at peace with others . Furthermore , self-control is not just a matter of restraining evil impulses but of initiating good without being manipulated to do so . The essence of genuine moral self-government is to be motivated by internalized principles of godliness .
Strong , external governmental control was precisely what the Founding Fathers were trying to get away from and what they did not want repeated on the west side of the Atlantic . But with a “ moral and religious ” population , a government “ by the people ” might just work . If the people had moral self-government under God , it could bring peace , order , and , as Washington put it , “ political prosperity ” to a new kind of governmental system . This was a revolutionary , biblically-based idea . Freedom could be entrusted only to such a populace .
Daniel Webster summed it up this way : “ Our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment . Moral habits , they believed , cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle , nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits . Living under the heavenly light of revelation , they hoped to find all the social dispositions , all the duties which men owe to each other and to society , enforced and performed . Whatever makes men good Christians , makes them good citizens .” 6
Today , we still have the form of a free nation , but we are rapidly losing the character necessary to sustain it . Our civil freedoms can only survive as long as the people are able to govern themselves in a morally responsible way . While no freedom-granting government can keep people morally
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