I would like to support the column by Barney Beeksma (Whidbey News-Times, Nov. 27, Sound Off) in which he responds to the letter, “American doesn’t equal Christian” (Whidbey News-Times, Nov. 20).
At issue is the statement that our nation’s founders, “were not only non-adherent to Christianity, but were only marginal deists.” These claims have been circulated for a number of years, but I would like to have the founders speak for themselves.
George Washington’s prayer for the nation, in part: “Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the heads of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of sub-ordination and obedience to government, and entertain a brother-affection and love for one another and for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large. … Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
John Adams at the signing of the Constitution of the United States: “Our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is totally inadequate for the government of any other.”
Alexander Hamilton in reference to the Bible: “The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged from among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature by the hand of Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”
Benjamin Franklin, in 1787, when the Constitutional Convention was at an impasse over state rights as opposed to individual rights: “Gentlemen, I have lived a long time and am convinced that God governs in the affairs of man. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.’ (Psalms 127:1). I move that prayer imploring the assistance of Heaven be held every morning before we proceed to business.”
The motion was adopted, and the problem was quickly solved by representatives being elected according to population, two senators elected for each state and the President elected by the electoral college.
Thomas Jefferson, on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial: “God who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
These are only a few of the statements on record. They prove that the founders were not only Christian, but that they included their Christian faith in the affairs of the nation.
John C. Wilkens
Oak Harbor
