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Subject: A Review of the book What if America were a Christian Nation Again?

(Thursday, December 16, 2004)

(approx.. 5290 words, 9 pp.)

The recent Presidential election is over, and America’s Christian Evangelicals turned out in record numbers and played a large part in Bush’s re-election, no doubt, and in fact about 25% of the population is said to be serious Evangelical and to so vote for traditional values and traditional understandings of the Constitution, and so forth. However, of course, to be fair, many people in the elite media think this is not a good thing for America. And as Chicken Little in the children’s story, they, with this turn of events, go about crying, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" But is the sky really falling? Maybe America’s major networks and newspapers, etc., are right about this, but I personally do not think so. To see traditional American values and traditional understandings of the Constitution re-introduced into America's public discourse is in fact probably a good thing. This is, of course, to understand "Christianity," as such, not in a narrow doctrinal, specifically sectarian "religious" sense, but in a broader cultural foundation and historical "philosophical" sense.

"What if. . ."

In this recent book What if America were a Christian Nation, Again? popular television minister D. James Kennedy of the Coral Ridge Hour TV program raises the question "What if America were a Christian nation again?" And, indeed, this is the title of the book. It may sound a little ominous to some, but in truth no one is advocating an effort to re-unite Church and State, and in fact, in most all ways that particular question was settled with the nation's founding, if I am not mistaken. In fact, the argument that Christians seek to unite Church and State or seek to set up a national Church are flatly absurd, but they are an emotional appeal to moderates by the far left to stir up anti-Christian sentiment, no doubt, and to divert the discussion of public discourse away from traditional or classical values and virtues as found in Christianity and in the Western heritage more generally and in the American heritage in particular. In fact for Mr. Kennedy, the question, "What if America were a Christian Nation, Again?" comes across more as a simple rational or philosophical question of historical analysis than anything else. And, in fact, it is something of a hypothetical question. But, regardless, the title of this book is not, What if America were a Christian Nation? Rather the title is What if America were a Christian Nation, again?

In Dr. Kennedy's mind this means the issue is really re-discovering our historical roots as a nation, and then considering in something of a rational manner what the impact of this new understanding would be for our nation at large. Not only is the sky not falling, such re-discoveries may even be a good thing!

The book is divided into three Parts, and the Parts make a smooth transition into one another by way of the subject content of the chapters as presented by Mr. Kennedy. (One must do a good bit of reading or writing or studying to appreciate this fact or accomplishment, in my opinion.).

Part I gives some details of America's actual Christian historical heritage and ends by giving the original and true and classical notion of political liberty as opposed to license as the founders understood these things. Part II is then about our current mess or problems as a culture and society in the related areas of not just mis-defined "liberty" but mis-defined "tolerance." In Part II Dr. Kennedy looks at various social problems ranging from marriage, family life and divorce to issues of abortion, right to life, education, gambling and even our seeming meltdown in media and entertainment generally (from "Beaver to Beavis and Butthead," he calls it.). Finally in Part III Mr. Kennedy ties together our original vision and heritage as a nation with our current social problems by showing how a change of individual hearts to the Gospel of Christ can not only change people individually but nations as a whole when we each truly find the Lord's plan for our lives in renewing salvation and whole-heart service. This review today will look at each of these three parts in turn in some detail, and then end with a brief summary comment.

Part One gives actual historical details, one after another, of God's sovereign hand in the founding of America with numerous miraculous events from the time of the first Pilgrims up until the Revolutionary War, and Mr. Kennedy even gives a number of miraculous events in that war which allowed Washington and our troops to secure numerous victories. This is a truly fascinating section of the book, especially for those who do not believe in the intervening hand of God in history generally and in America's founding in particular.

Mr. Kennedy gives numerous examples not only of the actual philosophical and religious beliefs of the founders but of God's miraculous intervening in battles and with ships sailing or failing to sail in order to deliver pilgrims and patriots time and again. Though Mr. Kennedy concedes that a miracle in history is (often) a coincidence in which God chooses to remain anonymous, such coincidences can be no less a miracle. He gives numerous examples of where it rained or did not rain just in time for our army to survive or a fog rolled in or rolled out just in time to give our troops the victory. When America's first settlers came he says a disease had killed every hostile Indian in the area of New England where the Pilgrims landed, but in no other places of New England, and those hostile Indians which had died where the Pilgrims landed had even gathered a supply of corn which sustained the Pilgrims in those first years. And on and on such stories go. In fact, so many were the once well-known instances of God's delivering of the early American people that according to Mr. Kennedy, George Washington once remarked that anyone who is ungrateful to God for America is quote "worse than an infidel." (p. 18) You probably do not get that quote in your public schools too often these days, or much of any other school?

Kennedy also points out how King George III, in essence, forced the colonists' hand, and into revolution, by revoking their charters, and this left them little option, as a practical matter but to declare independence. The Brits, I do believe to this day, hold that King George "lost the American colonies," so to speak, by the incompetence and utter folly of his kingship, but that is not really the subject of this book.

In Part I Mr. Kennedy also looks at some length at the myths, or actually false liberal-humanist myths surrounding Thomas Jefferson. Along at times with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson is, of course, almost the sole person among the many founders whom the Liberals or Humanists today, in our time, can cite as possibly being in their camp. But, unfortunately, for the Liberals and Humanists on this matter, as even I was taught in my youth in a public high school, no less, even though Jefferson and Franklin were apparently not overtly evangelical Christians as we think of that term today, they were certainly not "liberals" or "atheists" either, as we think of those terms today. In fact in a more general religious sense, Jefferson and Franklin were devout men who believed in the wrath of a sovereign God in history on nations (something that one does not want to bring upon one's country, or self, no doubt), and Franklin in particular believed in the power of prayer for the survival and prosperity of nations (which is something individuals as well as nations should avail themselves of, if at all possible, I would say).

As I re-call, if you go to Monticello (that is Jefferson's famous home in Virginia), they even have a copy of the infamous New Testament which Jefferson is said to have cut all of the miraculous passages out of. The good Dr. Kennedy points out this well-known Bible or New Testament with the miraculous passages cut out was not so much a statement of unbelief (as is commonly held), but rather it was an attempt to render the New Testament and the sayings of Jesus into a pure, distilled book of "perfect" moral instruction, without one's being distracted by the secondary questions of the miraculous (which were causing such a problematic stir at that time in the secular Enlightenment).

The idea of Jefferson's cutting out the miracles was that we can, for example, all agree that "we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us, etc." without agreeing or arguing about whether Jesus really walked on the water, and so forth. And further, of course, for Jefferson (and the other founders) we should teach our children in public schools such moral precepts as the Golden Rule ("Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.") not only without arguing the question of the miraculous, as such, but also without arguing questions of denominational doctrinal differences, where the state is to take no stand, etc.

Mr. Kennedy's points, comments, and observations about Jefferson and the American founders are so obvious that it took our United States Supreme Court almost 200 years to be able not to see them! But one must say after 200 years our dear United States Supreme Court has apparently almost zero idea about what Thomas Jefferson actually believed, or why, let alone any of the other founders? It truly seems our entire highly revered and honored liberal Establishment whether in education, entertainment, media, politics or law does not know, and it does not care, what these great men, these founders of America, really believed, or why they believed as they did.

The Liberal has in his own words (quote) "evolved" (unquote) past the so-called (quote) "intolerant moral views" and the so-called "superstitious religious" views of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, let alone Washington, Madison, Adams, and so forth, and so on. On a very related note I saw a noted Liberal on TV discussing the movie The Passion of Christ recently, and he said we do not need yet another movie about religious "superstition," if you can believe a person could still say such a thing in the 21st century or even be on television for that matter. You might say, the average America's "religion" is the average Liberal's "superstition." This is truly a very tragic state of affairs. Or, in the context of this book, one might say, the average American's Constitution is the average Liberal's dead document, that is by the Liberal's own statements on this matter, if you, my dear reader, have bothered to turn on the television in the last 30 or 40 years.

Really the question of the beliefs of the Founders as well as the original meaning of the Constitution is part of a larger well-known question involving the Natural Law of God and the Revealed Law of God.  Mr. Kennedy also explains in Part I of this book this once well-known distinction between the Natural Law of God in nature and the Revealed Law of God in Scripture, and how these two things relate to the founding of America and to law generally, or at least used to relate to law generally in America, and he explains why the Declaration of Independence was simultaneously both a religious act and a secular act.

Mr. Kennedy also addresses the fallacy of the secular Enlightenment idea that traditional morality and virtue can be taught without "God." Eighteenth century Enlightenment thinkers as well as today's Liberals, Atheists, and Humanists are certain that virtue or morality can be taught without a corresponding notion of God, but in truth it cannot be as George Washington (himself) pointed out over 200 years ago. It simply will not work to try to teach or instill morality in children or the populace without a notion of God, period. As George Washington famously said, "[Not scripture but] reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles". (p. 41) One might even be tempted to ask why this is so and the answer is, because the very notion of morality or true virtue necessarily entails quote "God" and vice versa. Or, as even the pagan thinkers Plato or Socrates would say, God is the moral absolute good and the moral good is God. And it is God to whom we are ultimately accountable for our actions, be they good or evil, moral or immoral.  Washington also thought understanding accountability before God was important, even crucial, for good government. The Bible, of course, talks more of the righteousness of God than of the morality of God, but it is the same general idea, nonetheless. (The word "righteous" appears 225 times in the King James Version according to my concordance and the word "righteousness" 289 times, but the word "moral" or "morality" not at all! There are reasons why the Bible does not use the word "morality" of God, as such, but that is something of another subject for another day. The specific word "virtue" fares little better than "morality" and is usually meant to mean good or good power or strength, more or less.)

In any case, George Washington himself held that it was this absolute moral goodness and righteousness of God which would one day judge our immortal souls and because of this one should at all times and in all places do one's duty and never fail because if you are not true to your place of service or public office, the consequences for you in the next life are not pleasant to contemplate, at least according to Mr. Washington. Thomas Jefferson is, of course, much more known for preaching the wrath of God in this life and in history and not in the afterlife, and Jefferson stated quite correctly that God was not amused by the peculiar institution of slavery and that the consequences for America would not be pretty, indeed the consequences would be catastrophic because of the sovereign judgment of God. And, of course, Jefferson proved to be an accurate modern day prophet about the judgment of God on America concerning the issue of slavery because as Jefferson said God gave us liberty and "I tremble for my country, when I reflect that God is just; (and) that His justice cannot sleep forever." These are clearly not the words of a Deist, and I doubt seriously one gets that fact in most of today's secular textbooks? That is, Jefferson prophesied or predicted that God would severely judge America for this our particular national sin of slavery, and God did with our nation's worst war, no? (Using Jefferson's reasoning, one almost shudders to think what we may have coming for the abortion holocaust, if we do not repent?)

The undeniable point here is Washington, Jefferson, and the founders generally believed in a literal God and a literal judgment of God for individuals and nations whether in this life here on earth, or in the next life in heaven or hell. And one could add on here this matter, as virtually all the Founders no doubt would, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, is it not?

The transition chapter out of Part I is on License, or Licentiousness, as (supposed) Liberty. The book transitions out of Part I, which is about the early history of America and God's repeated deliverance of our forefathers, and about their almost universally held deep religious beliefs and faith, by having the last chapter of Part I be on the traditional definition of "liberty" versus the traditional definition of "license" (or licentiousness) and how these notions of liberty and license, (or virtually licentiousness, actually) were understood by the founders and in fact how these notions were understood for centuries in philosophy up until the last 3 or 4 decades of American history, no less. Quite possibly, for Mr. Kennedy, it is this slide of Liberty into License (or licentiousness) in our time which is the distinguishing mark or defining characteristic in our shift in worldview thinking as a people, since without an underlying worldview of moral theism (or such a foundational social cultural consensus for our nation and our law), one has no basis for true or proper or real rights and liberties as classically understood. (No kidding?) That is, if no moral theism, then no classic rights and liberties, right?

One would not want to hit this point too hard, but this necessary foundation of moral theism for law, society, and a just Republic was pretty well understood by the best of the Greeks and Romans as well as the Hebrew prophets as well as by all Christians in modern European times as well as by the great thinkers of the founding era as, say, exemplified in Blackstone's legal Commentaries which were considered the one foundational philosophical-legal work of the colonial period, as Mr. Kennedy correctly points out. But, of course, all that 3000 year legal history is now "Gone with the Wind" after the last 40 years of cultural civil war, so to speak, as is 'gone' for the most part the truly fulfilling life of virtue and Christian family values which went with it.

It is as if we have had a 40 year cultural, legal, educational, historical-truth "civil war" in America in order to destroy or re-write 3000 years of world culture, history, and philosophical understanding and in order to re-define the good society, and the good personal life which goes with traditional values and virtues based on a moral theistic worldview. (The question which keeps coming to my mind when I read a book like this is, What is truly a happy and fulfilling life properly understood, and how does it really relate to having a good society? But I digress with that question.)

I think you can say for Mr. Kennedy that the America which once was for almost 200 years is gone, and we are now almost nothing we once were, whether one sees this as good or bad. Whether this is an overstatement by Mr. Kennedy or not, I think there is a general consensus today (among all social commentators of the left and right) that we are in at least something of a moral, social, cultural, legal, Constitutional, and political decline if not outright wasteland, but "Why are we?" Is that not a fair question?

The answer is because as Mr. Kennedy correctly says, "You can only legislate morality." And all rules and regulations, as it were, are just a matter of "whose morality" or actually "what morality" (would be the proper way to say it) one is going to legislate. All that "morality" is is what one sees "good" and "bad," or "desirable" and "un-desirable" to be, is it not? And for Mr. Kennedy we have increasingly over the last 40 years legislated a false morality or worldview, one that is no longer traditionally morally theistic in its foundational principles, but rather morally liberal and relative and even atheist, and we have, hence, inevitably mistaken licentiousness for liberty in our (liberal) folly of doing merely what is right in our own eyes and in our rejecting traditional notions of God, good, morality, freedom, and even rationality (if I do add that last one myself).

Historically moral theism was seen as the most rational and enlightened position one could hold, but that is another subject for another day. Here we can say, we in America had a foundation of moral theism philosophically in this nation because individuals almost unanimously believed the Bible was true, and we did not have the moral theistic foundation merely for philosophical reasons (as say a Jefferson). Simple enough? And that belief in holy Scripture produced in America a classically defined Republic based on universal rights and liberties where the definitions of these terms were given by classical moral theism, and, in our case, Biblical moral theism, as such, and not really the latest opinions of a handful of judges on what universal and timeless human rights should be. (Not really that complicated?)

I think you could sum up Part I of this book by saying the entire liberal effort to re-write America's history, founding principles, and generally Christian worldview foundation, as well as efforts to re-write the Constitution outright, are clearly well-intentioned, to be fair to liberals and atheists, but highly "misguided," to make perhaps the greatest understatement ever uttered in the long and eventful history of mankind. Indeed, that might even continue to stand as the greatest understatement in the history of mankind for the next 1000 years. You never know with these sorts of understatements? But we need to move on to Part II or we will never finish this review, understatements or no understatements!

Part II: The current Crisis in American Society in its various facets

In any case, after establishing once and for all that liberty is not license or, that is, is not licentiousness (and indeed to so re-define or mis-define liberty utterly destroys the meaning of the word, as our forefathers correctly understood), Mr. Kennedy goes on to look at 5 specific examples or areas of social, moral, or cultural decline, associated with this re-definition of liberty into license and with this re-definition's rejection of a moral theistic worldview or theory of the universe as found in the Bible with the Bible's descriptions of humankind, rights, man's nature, God, good, liberty, etc.

Specifically in successive chapters Mr. Kennedy looks at the issues and problems surrounding our faulty license-notions in the area of so-called "tolerance" and how we have mis-defined that word specifically as well as liberty, and then in another chapter he looks at problems in marriage, family life, and divorce, and then in another chapter he looks at abortion and right-to-life issues, and then in another chapter at our current somewhat nutty (politically correct) educational system, and then he looks at the scourge of gambling and how the gambling industry is often, in effect, running America, and then he has a chapter on media bias and our entertainment crisis and our decline "from Beaver to Beavis and Butthead" (as the good Dr. Kennedy calls it). If any of these issues interest you, it would be worth the price of the book for you to purchase it for yourself, and read what Mr. Kennedy has to say on these matters.

In the final chapter of Part II Mr. Kennedy looks at the threat of radical Islam and the left's inability to understand its morally evil nature. Mr. Kennedy even points out that in the nation of Saudi Arabia (who is our good ally most would say) there is not one legal Christian church, not one, at least that is Mr. Kennedy's comment. If you think about it, if there is no religious freedom in a country, it is hard to see how one can have political freedom? Right? Religious freedom is the right to think about the ultimate matters of life as one wishes, is it not? If you cannot do that, how can one have a free society generally? And if you have been killed, beaten, or arrested for your religious beliefs, "allies in the war on terror," probably means little to you?

Though this is not in the book, clearly some today criticize this current political administration in America for their business dealings with the Saudis (and others), but in truth if we are going to buy oil, we are going to have business relationships with the Saudis, or others. However in our dealings with the Communists and others we have frequently pushed the issue of religious and political freedom, human rights, and the persecution of Christians and other minorities etc. but never a word seems to be heard on this matter from our US State Department for the oil rich countries generally and in this case for Saudi Arabia in particular, and this is certainly troublesome. The Saudis, for example, may indeed be our military ally in the War on Terror, but they certainly appear to be great enemies of political and religious freedom and of good republican government in the Middle East. One would think the Saudis could establish religious freedom overnight, if they wished to, as well as limited, open local government. But maybe they do not "wish" to? In any case, the final Chapter of Part II deals with radical Islam and our often general failure to understand it, just as a practical if not religious matter.

Part III: A Bright Hope for Tomorrow?

The third and final part of the book has only four Chapters, and it deals with practical solutions to our getting back on track as a nation and as a people, or you might say Part Three deals with our re-discovering true liberty and morality as foundational or fundamental national concepts in a manner they were understood by our founders in order to displace our current faulty foundations of liberty defined as liberalism or moral relativism, license, and licentiousness. The key here is, though our problems in America at times involve politics, our national, social, and cultural problems are for Mr. Kennedy, at heart, not exactly "political problems," as such. (In fact, so seeing all life as merely "political" or "economic" was one of the temptations of Jesus in the desert, if I am not mistaken.)

In any case, politics, and political and economic fights are, for Mr. Kennedy, just one sign or aspect of our overall cultural decline and problems. And he is, in my view, correct about this, and in the final 4 chapters in this third part of this book he makes 4 major points about our needed reforms in order to solve our many grave problems as a nation, whether personally in our own lives individually or socially in the society as a body politic. And without these needed reforms (in Mr. Kennedy's mind) we will perish in our individual souls as well as perish as a people and nation in history. Specifically these 4 points in these 4 chapters address actual solutions to re-establish our nation on truly good, righteous and just principles as well as our individual lives on such personally fulfilling principles.

The first thing we need personally and individually Mr. Kennedy says is true religion, where one's heart is truly changed to the things of God. This new heart is called a re-birth by the Holy Spirit of course, and this spiritual re-birth gives the Spirit's presence in our hearts in order for us to have true (spiritual) peace and purpose in our lives. Christianity or even religion generally without this particular spiritual re-birth is of little practical or ultimate value for the individual or for the good society, Mr. Kennedy says. But at the Cross Christ defeated the power of Satan's dominion over us and reconciled us to God and brought us into the new spiritual Life of the Kingdom of God. (Rare is the 20th century church in which you hear that sermon!)

The second thing we need to do is to understand that America was clearly founded as a Christian nation, but Mr. Kennedy says we need to understand exactly what that means, which is we are to have no official state church, but we can and indeed must acknowledge God as a nation (as we did in generations past, like on the money, or even with the general principles of the 10 Commandments, for example), that is, we must do this general "acknowledgment," if we are ever to turn things around.

And in the third chapter of the last four chapters Mr. Kennedy say we need to pray and humbly seek God's deliverance for our land and our lives personally. (That point is so obvious that it really needs no further comment here?)

And in the final chapter of the book the good Dr. Kennedy says we must individually get involved with building the Kingdom with some area of outward social involvement and service whether in Evangelism as such, or with more worldly secular or cultural matters. He points out, for example, that quote, "For a secular American citizen to fail to register and to vote is a failure to fulfill a patriotic civic duty." But, he says, "For a Christian American citizen" not to register and to vote "is not only to fail in that way (of not doing one's civic duty), but (it is) also to sin against God." Apparently the good Dr. Kennedy thinks on that Final Judgment Day the good Lord himself is going to ask us not only if we voted, but for whom we voted (whether for good and Godly men and women, or not) and presumably we do not want to give the wrong answer, that is on the Final Judgment Day? (But that is indeed another subject for another day, some years hence no doubt.)

Many people simply have no idea that there really is a God Who loves them but also Whom they will also have to face on that ominous Final Judgment Day, but, praise God, the loving Father sent a Savior to die upon a Cross for all mankind 2000 years ago in order to set us free from bondage to Satan, at least according to Mr. Kennedy, and it was this belief in a literal God (a Creator Who intends us to have true rights and liberties in government) which so inspired America's original founders. Quite simply, you might say, God wants to bring all people, everywhere, not only into the new Life of knowing Him personally in the holy Spirit in our hearts, but also God wants all people, everywhere, to know that He, God, has a plan not just for one's life and one's good as an individual but indeed for one's nation as a whole, and indeed for the whole world in His true Liberty and Justice for all! The nice thing about this book, or at least the thing I liked about it, is it takes many of the so-called "hot-button" social and political issues of our time and shrinks or at least reduces them to their right size, and puts them in their proper place and proportion in life and history.