The
Author of Liberty or Not?
By
Steve Farrell
Is
God the Author of Liberty, or not?
A
valid, and need I say, vital question.
But
in this age of secularism, humanism, and socialism, just try
mixing God and government in the same breath and get ready for
the snickers, sneers, hisses, and guffaws for daring to exercise
one’s free speech as regards this off-limits, dangerous, homophobic
subject.
Yet
the right to free speech and freedom religion is ours, and the
question, a must for all to at least consider.
Seven
years ago, the dean of a Social Science Department scolded me
in big red letters, highlighted by a big with emotion lecture,
for infusing God and morality (via quoting the Founders) into
a paper that laid the historical foundation in a group discussion
on ethics in American government.
The
report was “very well written,” he condescendingly noted, “but
inappropriate! No American university would accept your approach
as valid!” The grade, a GPA destroying D minus.
I
had no doubt about his assessment of America’s universities. (1) Admittedly, I half expected the
unfair grade from this ‘ethical’ liberal who put political prejudice
ahead of academic honesty. I was, after all, outspoken in class,
hard-hitting in my school newspaper columns, and decidedly Christian
and conservative. Here was his big chance to make an example
of me, to frighten others into submission. He took it.
And
it hurt, and he won, or so he thought.
But
what of it? Early on, I decided that when it came to ‘getting
ahead,’ my religion and morality would come first, and so I
would be honest, come hell or high water or D minuses.
Pooh!
on his humanistic ethics! “Thou shalt not bear false
witness,” is an uncompromising command from the Deity—not something
to be abandoned to appease such professors, politicians and
other weak-kneed reprobates, nor to settle scores, and teach
Christian conservatives lessons.
With
ethics, however, you can do far worse, and not think twice about
it. Because with ethics, the ends justify the means; utilitarianism
outbids God-given rights; morality (if the word hasn’t been
outlawed) mutates into relativism; and so we have the kind of
religion the mass murdering French and Communist revolutionaries
practiced—and in full fellowship, the secular religion of the
American courts, where without conscience men and women abandon
their oath of office, to promote perversity and socialism, the
very things at odds with our way of life, because ‘it’s ethical.’
And
so it is.
That’s
why we need something more solid to steady the ark of liberty
than ethics, something that can stand the test of time against
the unremitting onslaughts of crisis, propaganda, social change,
and wars, something that will not give in, nor give up, something
that feels no necessity to succumb and adapt and support the
loudest voice, the strongest arm, or the golden calf opportunity.
George
Washington knew what it was, and so do you.
“Providence
has connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue.”
(2)
Virtue,
that is, to Higher Laws. Thus,
“Of
all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable supports.” (3)
He
knew it. He saw and felt God’s miraculous hand aiding the colonists
throughout the revolution and guiding her in the establishment
of the best constitution the world had ever known.
In
his First Inaugural Address, he noted:
“No
people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand
which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character
of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by
some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution
just accomplished in the system of their united government the
tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct
communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared
with the means by which most governments have been established
without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble
anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to
presage.” (4)
With
that in mind, he understood that “it would be peculiarly improper
to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications
to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides
in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can
supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate
to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States
… and may enable every instrument employed in its administration
to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge.”
(5)
He
was turning over the watch care of the nation to the Being whose
right it is to preside, who was “the Great Author of every public
and private good.” (6)
And
why did he say this?
“These
reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced
themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed.” (7)
He
believed it. He believed it with every fiber of his being. And
why should you or I or any haughty and wicked instructor or
government official or supposed patriotic legal organization
take it upon themselves to suppress the truth about America, from the very mouths of the men who founded this nation?
“In
vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should
labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness—these
firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.” (8) He noted
in his Farewell Address.
That
is the truth about the issue. No greater enemy of the state
is there than those who labor to hide from man a view of whence
cometh freedom, or who likewise labor to subvert the moral codes
and Higher Laws that the very Author of our Liberty has laid
down to keep us free.
Until
we come to grips with this, and do and say more then we do and
say presently (as is our right and duty, regardless of personal
cost), one wonders how much we deserve to be called “citizen,”
“child of God,” “honest, and moral man.”
Contact Steve
Meridian
Columnist Farrell is associate professor of political economy
at George Wythe College, press agent for Defend Marriage (a
project of United Families International), a pundit at America’s
News Page, NewsMax.com, and author of the highly praised inspirational
novel, “Dark Rose.”
Footnotes
- His assessment seems to be generally true of the
university system, and less true of a sizeable (minority)
corps of individual professors, who do their best—in an atmosphere
increasingly hostile to faith, morality, the Founders, the
Constitution, and capitalism—to be honest.
- Washington, George. “Farewell Address.”
- Ibid.
- Washington, George. “First Inaugural Address.”
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- “Farewell Address.”
