Reviews2

American Gospel cont.

Our founding fathers did not come to a new

land

to get away from God. They were all men

of faith

who came from a Christian heritage,

their

Christianity was deeply embedded in

their

minds

and

souls.

They were here to form

government

that would

not get involved with

how they

worshipped

God.

The first to implant their faith and worship were

the Puritans, who adhered very

strictly to their

codes

of faith. They received strong objection

from the

founding fathers. It was their argument

that they left

Europe to free up

their religious

traditions to provide “inalienable rights” to this

new land. Yet, when

came down to writing

these inalienable rights down

on paper,

there

was much controversy as to

how to word this

important

freedom.

So they prayed. They prayed to God. They

prayed “in the name of Jesus.” Those who

claimed to be

agnostic acknowledged a

“Nature’s God.” But prayer

was

always a part

their lives, their worship.

They all believed in

prayer as

universal binder to religious

freedom.

Even though they were struggling to offer

freedom

to practice their own

religious views,

there was a

period where anyone serving this

new country in

offices had to be a church

attendee. This issue

caused controversy and

had to be dealt with.

Each generation faced new issues. For

example, when slavery became rampant in

America, some

believed in slavery, quoted

scripture as proof, and fought this issue, but

those also quoting scripture

gave more

credence to freedom for all. It was not with

out

its pain and suffering as a nation, but

PRAYER

was present in the mind and heart

Abraham

Lincoln when he wrote his

Emancipation

Proclamation.

There was never a

time in the history of

America

where Christianity was the

pro

claimed

ruler of

lives, but because of each

man’s

background

and faith

journey, Christian

teaching was present

everything they wrote

and in their speeches.

Each generation had its struggles with new

immigrants who

brought their faith values

with

them. Catholics were regarded as

outsiders

and

initially settled, with permission,

in Maryland.

And Catholics began to leave a

legacy. Jews

were outsiders and initially

settled, with

permission,

in New

York. And

Jews began to

leave a legacy. The founding

fathers had to write

the “American

Gospel” of

inalienable rights to

accept all new faiths and

ways of

thinking, but

they did so based on

the

basic teachings of

Christianity of the

most

important commandment

of Jesus – “Love

and serve God and love your

neighbor as

yourself.”

The United States evolved into a Judeo-

Christian

nation, and it only seemed natural in

the 1950s

to include “under God” in our pledge

of allegiance

to this great nation of diverse

people.

To our founding fathers, “God” covered ALL

manifestations and beliefs

and understanding

of an Almighty Power, Heavenly Creator, or

Intelligent

Designer. His name could be “God,”

“Abba”

“Jesus”, “Mohammed” etc

but

allegiance and praise and discourse was to

include PRAYER,

publicly to a

“Nature’s God,”

and privately to an individually-loved Almighty

Power. The message to

all religious was to

practice “loving a God and their neighbor as

themselves.” The challenge for the

founding

fathers was to keep the government from telling

everyone when, how, who, what or why to

worship

in detail.

Each new generation took its own faith journey

living up to providing

religious freedom to all.

Public servants have relied on PRAYER to an

Almighty

Creator for wisdom, understanding

and

protection to make the best decisions for

the

good of the people of this nation. The

founding

fathers

relied on it,

preached it, may

not have

always practiced it in their own daily

lives, but

ALWAYS felt a

need to call out for

divine

assistance when setting up the laws of

the

land.

And they were not

ashamed to do so.

They

believed our country had to be

foremost

morality and character to create

lasting and

true

freedoms. Therein lies the struggle of

every

generation.

American Gospel

offers powerful thoughts

for

discussion on religious freedom in

America.

cham did extensive research

in obtaining

actual quotes from the founding

fathers and other

well-

known historians of our

country. One can

feel the religious

temperament of each

generation by

reading

the actual quotes of

Thomas Jefferson, John

Adams, George

Washington, Abraham

Lincoln,

Thomas Paine,

Benjamin Franklin, Harry

Truman, and Franklin D.

Roosevelt, Dwight

Eisenhower, John Kennedy,

and Ronald

Reagan

, to name a few. In reading

these

quotes

throughout the history of America, it

apparent that presidents and other statesmen

humbled

themselves to ask for the wisdom and

guidance of an almighty power. Faith and

morals

were

discussed, honored, and

respected.

cham writes with such clarity about our

country’s leaders keeping faith in

a higher

power

while

they also struggled not to exclude

those

who believed

differently. They created a

nation

ruled by the

majority but with a checks

and

balances system of judicial, executive and

legislative branches that

would prevent entire

domination by any one particular sector of the

population.

cham is objective while being informative

about the political cultures of the time. The

struggles

of our forefathers were similar to the

struggles our present leaders face when they

work to change

laws that are not good or to

make

new laws to improve and keep our

freedoms

moral and upright. It

only strengthens

the

conviction that PRAYER should always be

foremost in maintaining a

government that is

good for all

I am convinced that it is not only my inalienable

right to practice religion and prayer, but my

duty

to offer prayer and praise to God, et al for

wisdom and guidance if I am to practice sound

faith

and morals. It is then I can be a part of a

journey to keep the freedoms we have.