Founding Fathers Friday

Founding Fathers Friday

For the first time in a generation, the Supreme Court is revisiting an issue that has divided, confused and angered Americans for many decades: What’s in and what’s out when it comes to prayer at government meetings? Please consider that this statement is from the original writer of his takes on the National Prayer Breakfast that took place yesterday in the Nation’s Capitol.

The justices will hear arguments Wednesday in a case from Greece, N.Y., where, according to plaintiffs, the prayers before City Council meetings are so overwhelmingly Christian that the city government has essentially “affiliated” with Christianity, and has thus violated constitutional prohibitions against government favoring one religion over others.

There can be no doubt what religion, if any, that the writer took with word usage such as “prayers before City Council meetings are so overwhelmingly Christian that the city government has essentially “affiliated” with Christianity, as for us it seems like this person has a personal problem.

First we believe that we should either take a long look at what is overwhelming Christianity; furthermore, and it is high time that people who are enjoying their personal liberties should take note — that in this blessed Nation Christianity, or those who believe in the theology of Judeo-Christian beliefs are still the majority and we would add that most Christians are tired of being the back-end of every unpleasantry that may bestow an individual.

Attacking Christmas, Easter, the Nativity, where some writings are displayed or not, leads many individuals wondering — what could possibly could be so wrong in a life that the only thing they can think of attacking beside what has already been mentioned are: Crosses planted to commiserate an individual’s specialness, valor, or honor; worse still are those who condemn organizations like The Salvation Army during the holiday season. It is just plain rude.

“The Americans Who Risked Everything: Our Lives, Our fortunes, Our Sacred Honor.” What happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence. Probably not taught. I didn’t learn this in school, even back then. You learned the big names. Didn’t learn about everyone.

“What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason against the crown? To each of you, the names Franklin, Adams, Hancock and Jefferson are almost as familiar as household words. Most of us, however, know nothing of the other signers. Who were they? What happened to them? I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised at the names not there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry. All were elsewhere.

“Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen were under 40; three were in their 20s. Of the 56 almost half – 24 – were judges and lawyers. Eleven were merchants, nine were landowners and farmers, and the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and politicians. … These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was death by hanging. And remember, a great British fleet was already at anchor in New York Harbor.

These patriots were willing to make the effort and sacrifice they did because they understood a fundamental that seems to be forgotten today: that the rights of man are either God-given as part of a divine plan or they are granted as part of a political plan. Reason, necessity, and religious conviction and belief in the sovereignty of God led these men to accept the divine origin of man’s rights. To God’s glory, and the credit of these men, our nation had its unique birth.

How prophetic that pledge was to be! Consider with me some of the sacrifices made by these signers. Only seven were over sixty. The youngest, Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, was twenty-six and a half, and the oldest, Benjamin Franklin, was seventy. Three of the signers lived to be over ninety. Charles Carroll died at age ninety-five. Ten died in their eighties.