Shelburne column: What happens if America abandons faith?

Compare what we are hearing from Washington, DC, today with what our political forefathers said.

Did you know, for example, that fifty-two of the fifty-five men who signed the Declaration of Independence were deeply committed Christians? And the other three would tell you they believed the Bible and that it came from God.

The American Bible Society was formed by that Continental Congress. One of their first official acts was a vote to buy 20,000 copies of the Bible to distribute to our citizens.

One patriot we all know was Patrick Henry. He was a Christian. In 1776 he wrote, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here.”

On the front of his much-read Bible, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “I am a Christian, that is to say a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator and, I hope, to the pure doctrine of Jesus also.”

In his farewell speech on Sept. 19, 1796, George Washington warned us: “It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.”

Our first President was a Christian, and not just to gain political favor. In his personal prayer book, Washington wrote: “Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by the Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of thy Son, Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of thy Son, Jesus Christ.”

Does seeing what Americans are so rapidly abandoning shed any light on the daily news reports of ransacked stores, road-rage gunfire, mass murders, drug use, and sex trafficking? Rejected faith means lost morality. And if we lose it, we soon will lose America as we have known and loved it.

Gene Shelburne is pastor emeritus of the Anna Street Church of Christ, 2310 Anna Street, Amarillo, Texas. Contact him at GeneShel@aol.com, or get his books and magazines at www.christianappeal.com. His column has run on the Faith page for more than three decades.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Shelburne column: What happens if America abandons faith?