Tuesday, December 1, 2009

God and Government

Here's a portion of a proclamation by George Washington on October 3, 1789, while he was President:
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have . . . requested me to recommend to the public Thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, . . . . Now therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be . . . .

Read the whole proclamation here.

If anyone can read this and still think that the First Amendment can be interpreted so as to take God completely out of government, then I have to think that that person is simply a moron.

For your convenience, here is the First Amendment in its entirety:
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.

One of the same men who came up with the Constitution writes of God, "that great and glorious Being," and proclaims that we as a nation should acknowledge Him and his "favors," for the part God played in the establishment of our nation.

Obviously the Founding Fathers meant for God to be a part of our government. A big, important part.
.

2 comments:

Rev. CMOT TMPV said...

You have the makings of a great blog post, a great debate, but you didn't analyze it and comment on what you wrote. This could be a great post with lots o' traffic with a bit more.

PS: I agree. But if there's a debate I will disagree on principle.

Sue Wacvet said...

I'm not much of a debater.