Contrary to what many in our land cannot, will not, and fanatically refuse to admit, Christianity has always informed what it means to be an American.
Our first president, George Washington, set the standard and tone of America—a nation under God. Washington’s prayer journal from April 30, 1789, reads: “O most glorious God, direct my thoughts, words, and work, wash away my sin in the immaculate blood of the Lamb, and purge my heart by Thy Holy Spirit, daily frame me more and more into the likeness of Thy Son Jesus Christ whom You gave to die for me and hast given me the assurance of my salvation.”
We are a nation of individuals whose roots spread around the world. We might hail from Italy, Argentina, or Africa, but by taking this nation as our own, we agree to unite as Americans around the understanding and vision of equality and liberty found in the Bible.
In the early 1900’s President Theodore Roosevelt agreed, “In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is first predicated upon the person’s becoming, in every facet, an American. There can be no divided allegiance here.”
United we can stand, but a divided America is sure to fall. May we again be one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.
