We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The U.S. Founding Fathers recognized that our rights come from God and that government should exist to protect our rights. However, if there is no God basis, then our rights can only come from the generosity of the state and its leaders. If the state gives us our rights, then the state can take them away.
What Makes Liberty Secure?
Thomas Jefferson, in his Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781, wrote:
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God.”
In addition, if there is no God, then men are not “created,” and they are not necessarily “equal”: Charles Darwin declared that man evolved and was not created and that some are more evolved than others. The state in essence can become the new god. Darwin wrote:
“The civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world. . . The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as the baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla.”
America has always recognized the existence of a higher authority than the state (based presumably on Genesis 9). This accountability is expressed in all three branches of the U.S. government:
President’s oath of office: “So help me God”;
Congressmen and Senators’ oath: “So help me God”;
Witnesses’ oath in court: “To tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God”
Many of our rights are being taken away. The state has been systematically stealing the rights of individuals and groups.
- The rights of tens of millions of the unborn have been stolen.
- The right to question evolution (academic freedom) in many universities is forbidden and persecuted (see the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed).
- The right to display the Ten Commandments in many public places has been banned.
- The right of our military personnel to say “God Bless you” at military funerals is under attack.
How Did This Happen?
Over decades of systematic training, our children have been bombarded with the secular humanistic worldview in public school systems in many countries. They have been taught that there is no God, there are no moral absolutes, they are products of evolution, and there is no clear meaning/purpose to life.
This humanistic worldview has become the dominant worldview in the public education systems. But is the state really being neutral with regards to religion by eliminating Christianity and the Bible from public schools and universities? Not at all! The state is really replacing a Christian heritage with the religion of humanism.
Religion can be defined as “a set of beliefs.” The word belief is defined by Webster’s as “opinions, convictions—thoughts upon which one bases their actions.” Therefore, the state is not trying to be religion neutral, but, in fact, it is promoting a non-deity-based secular belief (religion).
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Abington Township v. Schempp (1963), decided that:
The state may not establish a “religion of secularism” in the sense of affirmatively opposing or showing hostility to religion, thus “preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe.” . . . Refusal to permit religious exercises thus is seen, not as the realization of state neutrality, but rather as the establishment of a religion of secularism.
Furthermore, the U.S. District Court, in Crockett v. Sorenson (W.D. VA. 1983), wrote:
The First Amendment was never intended to insulate our public institutions from any mention of God, the Bible or religion. When such insulation occurs, another religion, such as secular humanism, is effectively established.
How Can We Reclaim America’s Heritage?
The Christian worldview begins in the book of Genesis with the words “In the beginning God created. . . .” The key to returning America to a biblical base is to build from that solid foundation of Genesis 1:1. In other words, the strategy is to build from the bottom-up.
Help us continue to make an impact
AiG is at the forefront of a massive battle over the Bible’s authority (and indirectly, your right to teach its truths to the next generation). Join us in contending for the faith. Please pray with us for restoration and partner with us financially as the Lord leads.The Bible teaches, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Christian teachers, pastors, and youth leaders need to be trained to have a complete biblical worldview without compromise. This includes the doctrine that God did create in six literal days a few thousand years ago; there was a literal Adam and Eve who fell; there was a real worldwide Flood that covered all the high mountains; there was a real Tower of Babel; Jesus (God) really did come to earth as a man, suffered, and died on the cross providing redemption for mankind, was raised from the dead, and is coming again.