One Nation Under ????

Recently, President Obama made a startling statement to the people of Turkey regarding his perception of the religious beliefs of the U.S: “I've said before that one of the great strengths of the United States is, although as I mentioned we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.” This is a startling statement coming from a U.S. President. Although it is true that our Constitution does not advocate or endorse any specific religion, it has always been very clear that we were a nation founded under God and detailed readings of the Founders reveal that many of the Founding Fathers strongly believed that a faith in God was the backbone that would keep our democratic republic intact. One must ask themselves why Obama would make this statement. Clearly, the only reason is to curry favor with the Muslim world and appease them by making a “feel good” statement that clearly misrepresents the founding of our nation and the present state of religion and belief in God in America.

The more interesting question is what President Obama meant when he stated that “we” (meaning him) consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values. What ideals? What values? Where do we originate and develop these ideals and values and why are they the “right” or “moral” ideals and values? Equally important, do our ideals and values and the inclusion or exclusion of a belief in God matter to the health and survival of our country?

As a general principle, individuals establish their ideals and values from either their faith in God or their own adoption of a moral code based on their reason. The choice to believe in God or to believe in one’s own reason is a profound one because it greatly influences an individual’s perspective and decision making regarding the proper role of government in society.

An individual that adheres to a belief in a moral code based upon their reason believes man is the only true “god” in the universe and adheres to the principle of meliorism (man is capable of perfection and unlimited progress). Such a belief in one’s self springs forth a belief that “education, positive legislation, and alteration of environment can produce men like gods.” This results in the meliorist choosing to deny that man has a natural tendency toward sin or moral degradation. This “aspiring to be perfect” man soon develops contempt for tradition and concludes that formal religion is an archaic burden limiting the advancement of the “perfect man.” The meliorist relies instead upon “reason, impulse, and materialism” as a means to exact policies regarding social welfare. This type of man becomes a man “in love with change.” The meliorist focuses on abstract reason as a means of directing social order and concludes that man’s downfall has been the corruption by traditional institutions and the archaic traditions of mankind that he believes were based upon myth. Such a man seeks “liberation from old creeds, old oaths, old establishments.” “Political power (or the destruction of existing political power) becomes the most efficacious instrument of reform.” Such a man concludes that his purpose in the world is to indulge his appetites and enact his “social reform” in order to create a more perfect human existence.

Individuals that establish their ideals and values based upon a faith in God believe that political problems are essentially religious and moral problems. An individual that believes and exercises a faith in God makes decisions for himself and others with the understanding that he will one day account for his conduct to God, not just his constituency. An individual with a sense of accountability acts in prudence: “If our world indeed is ordered in accordance with a divine idea, we ought to be cautious in our tinkering with the structure of society; for though it may be God’s will that we serve as instruments of alteration, we need first to satisfy our consciences on that point.” This individual believes a universal equality among men exists: equality in the ultimate judgment of God. Additionally, this individual has contempt for the notion of human perfectibility and believes that “poverty, brutality, and misfortune” are the consequences of our depravity and evil heart, not of erring institutions or misplaced legislation. The religious individual believes “pride, ambition, avarice, revenge, lust, sedition, hypocrisy, ungoverned zeal, disorderly appetites – these vices are the actual causes of the storms that trouble life. Religion, morals, laws, prerogatives, privileges, liberties, rights of men are the pretexts for revolution by sentimental humanitarians and mischievous agitators who think that established institutions must be the source of our afflictions.” Burke believed that a man governed by a devotion to God would make decisions based upon tradition, tempered by expedience: “A man should be governed in his necessary decisions by a decent respect for the customs of mankind; and he should apply that custom or principle to his particular circumstances by a cautious expediency.”

Americans have long heard that our country is great because of the principles that our country were founded upon. It is settled history that an overwhelming number of the Founders had a definite belief and practicing Christian faith or closely related faith in God. My argument, derived largely from the writings of Edmund Burke and others, is that the belief in God and one’s decision to conform one’s life in accordance with a belief in God creates an attitude and philosophy of prudence and humility. In contrast, the meliorist or humanist lives a life seeking to fulfill his ambition and passions through his arrogant decision making with the belief that his decisions hold no threat of providential accountability. The meliorist philosophy enables man to view himself as a god and emboldens him to seek more and more power to enact his social order for the “perfection” of mankind.

Burke succinctly summarized the plight of a society with no belief in God: “If we are adrift in chaos, then the fragile egalitarian doctrines and emancipating programs of the revolutionary reformers have no significance; for in a vortex of chaos, only force and appetite signify.”

Do our ideals and values and the inclusion or exclusion of a belief in God matter to the health and survival of our country?