Though there are varying and heated debates as to whether or not we were once a “Christian nation,” there is no doubt that many of our founders relied heavily on God’s Word, His divine direction, and His providential intervention in establishing the United States of America.
Recently on Middays, I spoke with pastor and bestselling author, Robert Morgan about America’s Christian history, of which he has studied extensively.
I asked Robert if modern historians, biographers, and members of the media are purposely trying to minimize the role the Bible played in the lives of our forefathers. There is enough evidence to make one believe that this is true. For example, Robert recently read a 600-page book on Woodrow Wilson—for whom faith was a prominent reality—and yet that lengthy book on Wilson’s life made almost no mention of his active and engaged faith.
Calvin Coolidge once said,
“The foundation of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.”[i]
President Franklin Roosevelt said,
“We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a Nation without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic.”[ii]
Whether our modern society likes it or not, the Bible played a significant role in our nation’s development. Robert Morgan also shared that America was born between two great revival movements—the first and second Great Awakening. It is our great hope and prayer that God would grant us another great revival. Our nation’s future depends on it.
Pray with us, will you? And let’s thank God together for the freedoms we enjoy and for those who paid with their lives to secure it for us.
God is patient with people and nations because He wants none to perish. But there comes a time when people and nations are forced to reckon with their irreverent and godless behavior. I believe we are on the brink of such a time. If we don’t appeal to God for His mercy, we will soon find ourselves under His judgement.
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
[i] Newt Gingrich, Rediscovering God in America (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009), 50.
[ii] Franklin D. Roosevelt, Statement on the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Printing of the English Bible,” The American Presidency Project, October 6, 1935.
America’s Christian history
