America's founding, and its Founders

For Tuesday Skype study on 2/19 and 2/26, our brother Chris Moran put together two excellent studies on America's founding, and its Founders. In the public schools, it has long been taught that the Founders were at best "deists", men who believed that there is a god out there somewhere but he didn't do anything in the past, doesn't do anything now, and isn't going to do anything in the future. The Founders' own writings, however, prove that this is a lie.
1 Nephi 3:139-140, 144-148, 152 ... are pretty obviously, from our hindsight point of view, about Christopher Columbus; and Columbus himself claimed to be doing what he did guided by the Holy Spirit.
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1201-1500/columbus-landed-in-america-11629896.html
The Pilgrims emigrated here because of religious restrictions in Britain, which required people to attend the Church of England and pay taxes to it or be heavily penalized.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims_(Plymouth_Colony)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower_Compact
From the Founding Fathers:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington
http://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/milestones/thanksgiving_about.html
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Adams
http://www.mtgriffith.com/web_documents/adams.htm
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Madison
http://christianity.about.com/od/independenceday/a/foundingfathers_2.htm
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin
http://ringthebellsoffreedom.com/Quotes/sadamscontent.htm
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry
http://christianity.about.com/od/independenceday/a/foundingfathers.htm
These quotes from, and about, our Founders proves by their own word that most of them not only believed in God but believed the Gospel of Christ.
I find John Adams' quote about the Constitution especially telling, in this day of moral relativity:
“. . . we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Consider similarities between the Preamble in the Declaration of Independence and Christian principles:
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.
Mosiah 11:153 – “153 And there was a strict command throughout all the churches, that there should be no persecutions among them, that there should be an equality among all men; that they should let no pride nor haughtiness disturb their peace”
2 Nephi 1:119-121 – “119 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. 120 And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil: 121 For he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.”
2 Nephi 1:11-15 – “11 Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. 12 And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; 13 Wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity: if so, it shall be because of iniquity: 14 For if iniquity shall abound, cursed shall be the land for their sakes; 15 But unto the righteous, it shall be blessed forever.”
2 Nephi 7:18 – “18 And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles: and there shall be no kings upon the land, which shall raise up unto the Gentiles.”
[The Book of Mormon has some stern warnings of what is to happen when this nation departs from the Gospel. The decline has been happening for a long time, but 2012 saw a political party wilfully omit God from their platform, and then, when they realized that didn't look good they tried to reinsert Him; only to have the re-insertion voted down three times, and when it was ramrodded thru anyway, the Creator was roundly "boo-ed". Mosiah 13:37 and Alma 8:28 and 33 are relevant.]
From Alexis de Toqueville, French commentator:
“There is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America – and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.” (de Toqueville also said "America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.")
Consider similarities between the 1st Amendment and Christian principles:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Alma 16:8-10 – “8 Now there was no law against a man's belief; for it was strictly contrary to the commands of God, that there should be a law which should bring men on to unequal grounds. 9 For thus saith the scripture, Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. 10 Now if a man desired to serve God, it was his privilege, or rather if he believed in God, it was his privilege to serve him; but if he did not believe in him, there was no law to punish him.”
Consider also some of the Ten Commandments against the laws and beliefs we live by in America (unfortunately, this is rapidly changing).
Regarding the concept of "separation of church and state", Thomas Jefferson wrote this in 1802:
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State. (Letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT., 1 January 1802)
This statement is the origin of the often used phrase "separation of Church and State".
The intent of the original statement by Thomas Jefferson was to convey that via the 1st Amendment, the religious rights of the population should not be infringed upon, keeping Government out of the religious beliefs of its citizens and their right to practice that religion. Unfortunately, this statement has been incorrectly interpreted to mean that religion should be kept out of all public and Government institutions (opposite of the original intent). Furthermore, this is simply a letter written by Thomas Jefferson, and not a law of any sort. It is not part of the Constitution, yet the Supreme Court has repeatedly cited this phrase in judgments that it makes.
The Christian heritage of our founding is also represented on many of our monuments.
On the east face of the Washington Monument’s aluminum capstone is the inscription “Laus Deo” which means “praise be to God” in Latin.
Inside the Washington Monument are 193 commemorative stones, donated by various governments and organizations. You can see each of the stones here (some are very interesting):
http://www.nps.gov/wamo/photosmultimedia/Washington-Monument-Stones.htm
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_contents_of_the_cornerstone_of_the_Washington_monument
...the cornerstone of the Washington Monument contains a Bible, among other things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Monument_to_the_Forefathers
The Supreme Court building contains various references to Moses and the Ten Commandments both inside and outside.
On the east top of the Supreme Court building is a sculptured frieze that consist of a line of the world’s various law givers and philosophers. Front and center is Moses holding the Ten Commandments tablets. Others on the left and right look in towards Moses. The Ten Commandment tablets appear on both the brass exterior doors and the inner courtroom oak doors. Inside the courtroom is a frieze that shows the development of law. Near the middle is Moses holding the Ten Commandments.
http://chaplain.house.gov/religion/prayer_room.html
Inside the U.S. Capitol is a room called the Congressional Prayer Room. The room was set aside for congressmen to pray in 1954 and is not open to the general public. Inside this chapel is a kneeling bench for those who want to kneel, and a Bible in front of that which can be used to read the Scriptures. Over this area is a stained glass window with General George Washington in the middle, kneeling in prayer.
Above George Washington appear the words “This Nation Under God” from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Around Washington are the words from Psalm 16:1 – Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-hill/historic-rotunda-paintings/embarkation-pilgrims
http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-buildings/cox-corridors
Works of art depicting America's religious heritage. There is also a painting called “The Baptism of Pocahontas” and other artwork/murals with other miscellaneous religious references.
When House and Senate wings were added in 1851, Senator Daniel Webster gave a speech that was deposited in the new cornerstone. According to the United States Senate website:
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Capitol_Cornerstone_Dedicated.htm
“And all here assembled, whether belonging to public life or to private life, with hearts devotedly thankful to Almighty God for the preservation of the liberty and happiness of this country, unite in sincere and fervent prayers that this deposit, and the walls and arches, the domes and the towers, the columns and the entablatures now to be erected over it may endure forever.”
“In God We Trust” is chiseled into the Marble in the House of Representatives chamber above where the Speaker of the House sits.
In its early days, the Capitol building was not only used for governmental functions. On Sundays, church services were regularly held there - a practice that continued until after the Civil War. According to the US Library of Congress exhibit "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic" – "It is no exaggeration to say that on Sundays in Washington during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809) and of James Madison (1809–1817) the state became a church. Within a year of his inauguration, Jefferson began attending church services in the House of Representatives. Madison followed Jefferson's example, although unlike Jefferson, who rode on horseback to church in the Capitol, Madison came in a coach and four. Worship services in the House—a practice that continued until after the Civil War—were acceptable to Jefferson because they were nondiscriminatory and voluntary. Preachers of every Protestant denomination appeared. (Catholic priests began officiating in 1826.)"
The White House is the larger of two dining rooms contained in the White House. The 1902 mantel was restored during the Kennedy renovation and includes the inscription placed there by Franklin D. Roosevelt, from a letter by John Adams to his wife Abigail written immediately after he first moved into the house in 1800:
“I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this House, and all that shall hereafter inhavit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”
I'm sure we would give that a hearty "amen".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Federal_Hall_NYC_29.JPG
The Federal Hall National Memorial has both a relief of George Washington praying on the side of the building and also a statue of George Washington from his inauguration ceremony (with hand out to Bible).
http://www.thinking-catholic-strategic-center.com/church-and-state-in-art.html
There are statues of both Moses and the Apostle Paul in the Library of Congress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_memorial
The memorial includes various quotes from Thomas Jefferson; some with references to God.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Memorial
The memorial has inscriptions of the Gettysburg Address and the entire second inaugural address from March 4, 1865. In this address are allusions and quotes from Genesis 3:19, Matthew 7:1, Matthew 18:7, Psalm 19:9, Psalm 147:3, and James 1:27.
http://www.jmcenter.org/pages/van_orden.html
Outside of the U.S. District Court Building is a three-sided monument. At the top of one side is a depiction of praying hands with a cross and the Ten Commandments.
http://egnorance.blogspot.com/2012/01/finally-atheists-make-schools-obey.html
The Ten Commandments are included in the floor pattern of the National Archive building at the entrance.
And our nation's currency, at least for now, carries the national motto: "In God We Trust"
Other references:
www.wallbuilders.com
http://www.tct.tv/watch-tct/watch-live/tct/faith-in-history
And the movie "Monumental".
Thank you Brother Chris ... excellent topic.