One Nation Under God

I was in the middle of writing something education related; it will have to wait until I gather another couple of details. And I’m anxious to write about the Supreme Court rulings; ‘tis the season. Maybe next week.

For now, I’m just trying to celebrate our country’s birthday, this coming Tuesday. Most nations don’t have birthdays to speak of. Most nations are based on land, heritage, or result of war—either separating them as conqueror or bringing them in as conquered.

A 4th of July teaching moment, enough years
ago that my granddaughter isn't little anymore.

But our nation was founded on the idea that we are all created equal, not with some created rulers and others created to be ruled. We were all endowed by our creator "with certain unalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

All of these come down to life. It is ours, our gift from God. If someone takes our liberty, they are taking our life for their purposes, not ours. If someone tries to control how we live our lives—how we pursue happiness—that is usurping control over our lives. And that is wrong.

We are free to choose how to live our lives—and in the end we offer up the result of those choices, like in the parable of the talents, when the ruler (God) comes for a reckoning, and the good and faithful servants offer the doubling of the good they were given. They made something of their lives, offering Him the result.

Our nation is founded on that idea. It requires a connection to God. Unbelievers may live here among us, but they must not be allowed to take away our founding idea, or they are taking away our very nation—along with the life, liberty, and fruits of our living that the government was established to protect and defend.

Our government hasn’t done so well, these 247 years in—that’s since the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, so, our birthday; it was 1787, 236 years ago, that the Constitution was written, and a year later ratified.

Maybe we need to take some time, with family or by ourselves, to reverence these founding documents.

Abraham Lincoln, in a note to himself[i], used the image of a golden apple in a silver frame. The golden apple is the Declaration of Independence—the declaration of our right to rule ourselves, because God has made us all equal before the law. This golden apple is framed by the Constitution—the purposes of government, to protect the life, liberty, and property of the citizens. This image works to illustrate the close connection between these two documents.

image from The Ashbrook Center article Lincoln's Apple of Gold

You might want to take time this weekend to read the Declaration of Independence—even with all the grievances; it takes five or ten minutes. It takes a bit longer to go through the Constitution, although it’s certainly readable in less than an hour, amendments and all.

Maybe it’s time to read The Federalist Papers once again as well. And while you’re at it, take a look at the Anti-Federalist Papers; those were the warning voices saying, “Don’t give that much power to a central government; it will go wrong.” They are probably saying “I told you so about now.” Although I still think we had to try the experiment. It isn’t that our Constitution wasn’t the right balance of centralized and localized power; that balance is spelled out quite clearly. It is that the Constitution has been ignored, twisted to mean something altogether other, and even denigrated as archaic or never good to begin with. And who says those things about it? People who want to control other people, petty tyrants all.

So the prevention is for a critical mass to understand, to know inside and out, the discussions our founders had in freeing us from tyranny and setting the stage for the rest of the world to try self rule.

It is likely that the founders of this nation were the best assemblage of men ever to attempt to write a government document.

A friend passed along to me a talk by Ezra Taft Benson, from 1987. I’ve heard it multiple times; I heard it live. (He was the prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during my young adult years. He was also at one time the US Secretary of Agriculture. Not to be missed is his address “The Proper Role of Government.”) This talk is called “Our Divine Constitution.”

Ezra Taft Benson, giving the talk "Our Divine Constitution"
screenshot from here

I encourage you to listen to the whole thing. There are just a few parts I want to reference. One is a reminder of what some of the signers of our Declaration of Independence sacrificed:

This Declaration was a promise that would demand terrible sacrifice on the part of its signers. Five of the signers were captured as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary War; another had two sons captured. Nine died from wounds or from the hardships of the war.

Then he talks about the followup and necessary document—the Constitution:

Between the critical years of 1783 and 1787, an outsider viewing the affairs of the United States would have thought that the thirteen states, different in so many ways, could never effectively unite. The world powers were confident that this nation would not last.

Eventually, twelve of the states met in Philadelphia to address the problem.

It took four months—summer months, inside, before air conditioning. That wasn’t quite the sacrifice of war, but it must have stretched patience pretty thin. As William Gladstone said, the Constitution was “the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”[ii]

Ezra Taft Benson goes on to talk about the danger our Constitution is in; this was 1987, and it did seem bad then. But now—those concerns are increased a hundred-fold. He says,

How then can we best befriend the Constitution in this critical hour and secure the blessings of liberty and ensure the protection and guidance of our Father in Heaven?

·       First and foremost, we must be righteous….

·       Second, we must learn the principles of the Constitution in the tradition of the Founding Fathers….

·       Third, we must become involved in civic affairs to see that we are properly represented….

·        Fourth, we must make our influence felt by our vote, our letters, our teaching, and our advice.

Ezra Taft Benson mentions a prophecy of Joseph Smith[iii], from July 1840, that there would come a day when the Constitution is in grave danger. But Benson says,

I have faith that the Constitution will be saved as prophesied by Joseph Smith. It will be saved by the righteous citizens of this nation who love and cherish freedom. It will be saved by enlightened members of this Church—among others—men and women who understand and abide the principles of the Constitution.

I reverence the Constitution of the United States as a sacred document. To me its words are akin to the revelations of God, for God has placed His stamp of approval upon it.

Prayers are more urgent this year, as we celebrate our beloved nation’s birthday—with concern and hope that it will not be the last such celebration. May we be the righteous men and women who understand and abide by the principles of the Constitution. May each of us do our part—and, with God’s help, may it be enough.

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[i] See “Lincoln’s Apple of Gold,” January 25, 2023, on the Ashbrook Institute website. 

[ii] William Gladstone, North American Review, Sept.–Oct. 1878, p. 185.

[iii] Benson gives the whole quote in the talk: “Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction.” The citation is 19 July 1840, as recorded by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray; ms. in Church Historian’s Office, Salt Lake City.