By C.L. Dreves
The Rights of American Christians, and the foundations of America’s safety and protection, were violated by the 1963 court decisions Abington School district v. Schempp and Murray v. Curlett, the U.S. Supreme Court banned school prayer – that removed God from our American Schools.
Children were no longer allowed to pray openly or read God’s word in school. Many schools removed their displays of the Ten Commandments which until then had hung next to our U.S. Bill of Rights, and the American Flag, in a majority of them.
While this decision was touted as upholding freedom and dignity, it seems to have done the opposite. This article isn’t about “Christian Exceptionalism” or anything that a cry bully could bring to the table – it’s about FREEDOM, and how our constitutionally afforded freedoms were taken from us by court decisions. NOTE: The decisions were made three years before this Author was born. So I feel I have had a front row seat to the degradation.
I wondered as a teen how they got away with it? Where were the preachers and leaders of the time? Who pushed back? How could have such an important part of American life be taken by a court decision?
In Dr. Chuck Missler’s book, “How We Got Our Bible,” Missler cites the 1963 decisions, then goes on to cite some startling statistics.
“A number of social indicators deteriorated rapidly after 1963 in the United States. There were fewer than 10 births per 1,000 unmarried teen women (ages 15-19) prior to 1947, and between 1955 and 1964, the number remained steadily between 15 and 16. After 1964, however, the number of teenagers giving birth out of wedlock climbed steadily during the next 30 years to more than 46 births per 1,000 teens in 1994.”
“Divorce rates escalated, families broke up, crime rates rose, and the acceptance of homosexuality became commonplace. As of 2015, more than 58 million unborn children have been murdered in the United States because they were considered inconvenient. Fifty-eight million. That is nearly ten times the number of Jewish victims in the Holocaust.” – How We Got Our Bible by Dr. Chuck Missler, 2016
All of these factors have had a huge impact on our children, our families and by extension our country.
Contrary to popular belief, America was founded by Godly men, on Biblical principles.
The Mayflower Compact, signed in 1620, was the precursor to our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. They were formed on Godly principles by men conforming to those principles.
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony. It created a common social structure among the Pilgrims and established rules for self-governance.
Ben Franklin, always said to be a non-believer, is quoted as saying quite the opposite.
At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Franklin urged the Assembly to pray for divine assistance. He said, “I have lived a long time, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of ment.”
Franklin believed that God intervened in history and responded to prayer. He quoted Bible verses to support his belief, such as Psalm 127.
Whether you recognize it or not your daily American life is woven with Christianity. Our laws, our freedoms and our compact as American Citizens, to be one people are all based on biblical principles – One Nation Under God.
The Ten Commandments are the moral framework and standard for our lives. Humans need a moral framework to live as one.
Dr. Francise Schaeffer explained “If there is no absolute moral standard, then one cannot say in a final sense that anything is right or wrong. By absolute we mean that which always applies, that which provides a final or ultimate standard. There must be an absolute if there are to be morals, and there must be an absolute if there are to be real values. If there is no absolute beyond man’s ideas, then there is no final appeal to judge between individuals and groups whose moral judgements conflict. We are merely left with conflicting opinions.” – Francis Schaeffer — Schaeffer, Francis. How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture (New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1976).
Whether you currently believe or not is irrelevant. Knowledge of the bible is important to understanding our freedoms, our rights and our responsibilities as American Citizens.
What can you do? – Read your Bible. Don’t have one? Bibles are available on Amazon, at Walmart and at your local thrift store. If you’d like your Bible electronically, check out Biblegateway.com The King James version, The New Living Translations and the New American Standard are good translations for ones new to the Book.
What would reading the Bible do for me and my family? In a recent study, the Center of Bible Engagement studied 40,000 people ages 8-80 and found that those that read their Bible 4 or more days a week, had some profound effects on their lives and well-being.
1. Feeling lonely drops 30%
2. Anger issues drop 32%
3. Bitterness in relationships drops 40%
4. Alcoholism drops 57%
5. Sex outside of marriage drops 68%
6. Feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60%
7. Viewing pornography drops 61%
8. Sharing your faith jumps 200%
9. Discipling others jumps 230%
Statistics from 9 Tangible Benefits of Bible Reading for Your Church Insights| Bible & Theology | Jan 20, 2021
You can reverse the effects of those 1963 court decisions in your own home, in your family, in your community, as soon as today! It all starts with your knowledge of the Bible. God’s word is truth. His word has not changed, and has been proven not to have changed all the way back to the Dead Sea Scrolls.