“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 …”

With these immortal words the American nation was born.  As the American people celebrate the 240th birthday of our nation it is appropriate for us to consider the principles upon which America was founded.

Thomas Jefferson was a member of the Committee of Five appointed by the Continental Congress to draft the Declaration of Independence.  Jefferson and the other members of the committee could have based their argument for American independence on whatever principle they wished.  It is very telling that they chose to assert that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.  Jefferson based the Declaration of Independence on the fact that the rights of the American people are a gift from our God.

The fact that our nation began with the argument that we are given rights by our God that we can not be justifiably be denied clearly establishes that the founders intended that our government be based upon Christian values and beliefs.  Likewise, over a decade later during the constitutional convention, Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the greatest mind in the history of America made the following statement, “I have lived, Sir a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men.  And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”

Benjamin Franklin was also a member of the Committee of Five who drafted the Declaration of Independence.  Given these quotes it is beyond reasonable argument that our nation was intended to be and was founded upon Christian values and that its founders intended it be governed according to those values above all others.

The First Amendment was drafted by James Madison, the fourth president of the United States and “the father of the Constitution”.  It is very significant that the first right granted to the American people in our Bill of Rights is a guarantee that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …”.  The importance placed on the freedom of the American people to worship our God and be guided by Christian principles can not be overstated.

However, it is very important that we as a people understand what the First Amendment was intended to do.  The First Amendment was clearly intended to keep the government out of the Church, but it was never intended to keep God out of the government.  Over much of the last century the liberal left has continually argued that the principle of separation of church and state was intended to prevent Christians values from being the basic principles upon which our nation is governed.  In reality nothing could be further from the truth.

The fact that the United States of American was founded on Christian values is beyond reasonable argument.  A plain reading of our nation’s founding documents and an accurate study of its history make it clear that Christian values were intended to be the basis of our government.  The arguments that prayer should not take place in public schools, that Christmas should not be celebrated by governmental agencies or that monuments erected on public property should not reflect Christian beliefs are beyond ridiculous and should be viewed as such.

President Obama infamously said that “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just.” In doing so he admitted that he and the others like him recognize that America was founded on Christian values. Perhaps the greatest service any American can give our country and its children is to support the return of the government of the people to a government that embraces our founding Christian principles.

Ray Garrett is an Oxford attorney. Contaact him at ray@garrettfridayandgarner.com.