Ask Dr. E: Does religion belong in politics?

Dear Dr. E: I was recently in a debate with my older son, who says my church’s involvement in the political arena is wrong. My son argues that America was founded as a secular nation and that religion has no place in our form of government. He says Christians should keep their religious beliefs and values to themselves, honor the separation of church and state, and stay out of politics. How should I respond? — Concerned Dad from New York

Dear Concerned Dad: The first thing I’d suggest is that your son, and all others who share his view, do a bit more reading. I’d recommend the following as just a start:

“It is self-evident that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” — Thomas Jefferson

“May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian Oppressors and planted them in the promised land — whose Providential Agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent Nation— still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.” — George Washington

“The Bible is best of all books, for it is the Word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and the next.” — John Jay, president of the Continental Congress

“The Holy Scriptures … can alone secure to society order and peace and to our courts of justice and our constitutions of government purity [and] stability.” — James McHenry, signer of the Constitution and delegate to the Continental Congress

“The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure to ourselves what life would be if these teachings were removed. We should lose almost all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals. Almost every man who has added to the sum of human achievement of which the [human] race is proud has based his life’s work largely upon the teachings of the Bible.” — Theodore Roosevelt

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” — John Adams

“I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance to the welfare of millions now existing, and to exist in the posterity of a great nation, should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler.” — Benjamin Franklin

“I am perfectly satisfied that the union of the states, in its form and adoption, is as much the work of divine providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament were the effects of a divine power. ’Tis done! We have become a nation!” Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence and delegate to the Continental Congress

“America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.” — Woodrow Wilson

Or if those aren’t good enough for your son, let’s go back to the primary author of the Declaration of Independence himself:

“No nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion — nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man, and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it sanction. … I shall need … the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers… and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications … that He will enlighten [our] minds [and] guide [our] councils.” — Thomas Jefferson

It sure appears that those who understood our nation’s founding principles much better than we do thought religion had a whole lot to do with politics, doesn’t it? It also seems that the “wall of separation” your son and his tribe are so fond of was constructed to protect the church from the state and not visa versa.

Higher Ground is there for you if you’re seeking guidance in today’s changing world. Everett Piper, a Ph.D. and a former university president and radio host, is writing an advice column for The Times, and he wants to hear from you. If you have any moral or ethical questions for which you’d like an answer, please email askeverett@washingtontimes.com, and he may include it in the column.