Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
In these days leading to one of the most crucial midterm elections in recent history the liberal left is attacking conservatives with increased vigor. The attack on conservative principles is not new. It has been going on to some degree for decades. The liberals are responsible for the attempts to rewrite history in order to discredit the faith of our Founding Fathers. Conservatives need to become aware of what is in fact happening and take a stand. They need to realize that no matter how many times there is a rewrite of history it never changes what actually happened.
One example of how history stands is found in the notes from Thomas Jefferson regarding the birth of the Declaration of Independence. While there is a strong effort to claim the Founding Fathers did not intend religion to be in our founding, it is Jefferson’s own words that indicate the role of religion in our founding documents. A quick perusal of “The Account of The Declaration” found at www.ushistory.org/declaration/account/index.htm states as follows, “With the help therefore of Rushworth (a popular book, John Rushworth’s “Historical Collections”) whom we rummaged over for revolutionary precedents & forms of the Puritans of that day, preserved by him, we cooked up a resolution, somewhat modernizing their phrases...” For clarification here let us discover the dictionary definition of Puritan. “A member of a group of English Protestants who in the 16th and 17th centuries advocated simplification of the deeds and ceremonies of the Church of England and strict religious discipline” . It appears very clearly that Jefferson was indicating a religious influence. Further attention to Jefferson’s statement reveals that The Founding Fathers called “for a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer”. and further in that same paragraph Jefferson states, “ To give greater emphasis to our proposition, we agreed to wait the next morning on Mr. Nicholas, whose grave & religious character was more in unison with the tone of our resolution and to solicit him to move it.” If some still chose to dispute the role of religion in our founding one should look to George Washington’s Farewell Address as found at www.gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/farwell/transcript page 20 “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensible supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these finest props of the duties of men & citizens.” Further in the paragraph Washington states, “And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” A quick note of the recent moral decay of this nation could be confirmation of Washington’s comments.
The attacks on the role of the Declaration of Independence would seem to be an all out effort to undermine its actual premise of the role of religion in our founding. Without the Declaration, the words of “the Laws of Nature’s God” would be left out. and the words “ We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. It can no longer be considered that liberalism a harmless ideology, but seen as an attempt to bring down this once great nation and bring it in line with the socialist countries of Europe. All conservative need to take a stand now.
Jerry Johnson
Manteca
July 4, 2010
In these days leading to one of the most crucial midterm elections in recent history the liberal left is attacking conservatives with increased vigor. The attack on conservative principles is not new. It has been going on to some degree for decades. The liberals are responsible for the attempts to rewrite history in order to discredit the faith of our Founding Fathers. Conservatives need to become aware of what is in fact happening and take a stand. They need to realize that no matter how many times there is a rewrite of history it never changes what actually happened.
One example of how history stands is found in the notes from Thomas Jefferson regarding the birth of the Declaration of Independence. While there is a strong effort to claim the Founding Fathers did not intend religion to be in our founding, it is Jefferson’s own words that indicate the role of religion in our founding documents. A quick perusal of “The Account of The Declaration” found at www.ushistory.org/declaration/account/index.htm states as follows, “With the help therefore of Rushworth (a popular book, John Rushworth’s “Historical Collections”) whom we rummaged over for revolutionary precedents & forms of the Puritans of that day, preserved by him, we cooked up a resolution, somewhat modernizing their phrases...” For clarification here let us discover the dictionary definition of Puritan. “A member of a group of English Protestants who in the 16th and 17th centuries advocated simplification of the deeds and ceremonies of the Church of England and strict religious discipline” . It appears very clearly that Jefferson was indicating a religious influence. Further attention to Jefferson’s statement reveals that The Founding Fathers called “for a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer”. and further in that same paragraph Jefferson states, “ To give greater emphasis to our proposition, we agreed to wait the next morning on Mr. Nicholas, whose grave & religious character was more in unison with the tone of our resolution and to solicit him to move it.” If some still chose to dispute the role of religion in our founding one should look to George Washington’s Farewell Address as found at www.gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/farwell/transcript page 20 “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensible supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these finest props of the duties of men & citizens.” Further in the paragraph Washington states, “And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” A quick note of the recent moral decay of this nation could be confirmation of Washington’s comments.
The attacks on the role of the Declaration of Independence would seem to be an all out effort to undermine its actual premise of the role of religion in our founding. Without the Declaration, the words of “the Laws of Nature’s God” would be left out. and the words “ We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. It can no longer be considered that liberalism a harmless ideology, but seen as an attempt to bring down this once great nation and bring it in line with the socialist countries of Europe. All conservative need to take a stand now.
Jerry Johnson
Manteca
July 4, 2010
