The United States of America: In God We Trust

Happy 4th of July weekend to all!!

We were havin a blast with sparklers last night! Hopefully like most families in The United States of America!!

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This shot reminds me of a great phrase I saw at my sister-in-law’s house last week, “we can’t all be stars, but we can all twinkle!” Let your light shine today when it’s needed most!

Here is a ‘twinkle’ of light from my daughter, age 14, who wrote this completely on her own. My husband and I were so deeply grateful to see that at this young age she understands so well what our country was founded on and what it will take to continue FREE!!!!!!!

Written by: Mikela Hoffman

About two hundred years ago, colonists left the Great Britain in search of religious relief and ability to worship God in whatever way they chose. They found America, a land flowing with prosperity and abundance. They lived there for many years, and when their right to believe in their God was again threatened, they fought hard and died hard until they had freedom, including freedom of religion. In this day and time, that right to believe is again being threatened, and this time, it’s an inside threat.

Near the end of the colonists’ fight, the Revolutionary War, a document was published, which we call the Declaration of Independence and which has changed the world. That document has since encouraged the growth of a strong country, one of the most flourishing in the entire world. In this Declaration, Thomas Jefferson stated, “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.” (Emphasis added).

Ten years later, after they won the war, a constitution was signed by 39 men we call the founding fathers of our beloved United States of America. These men were men of courage, men of truth, men of liberty, and men of God.

Since then, we have pushed God out of our society and government. God is to be separated from state, even though belief in Him brought state into being. The founding fathers founded the United States, united as “one nation under God,” with a foundation of a belief in the Almighty God, knowing they would most likely give their lives for it. And, as we all know, a house which loses its foundation falls.

Proof of this is shown in our everyday lives and in the appalling things happening here every day. In 1963, the theory of evolution started slowly being added to textbooks, even though it contradicts the theory of God’s creation of the earth. Since then, SAT scores have declined from 980 in 1963 to 900 in 1990, divorce rates have increased by 111%, and violent crime offenses have increased by a staggering 995%. Our nation cannot withstand further decrease in belief in God!

George Washington, first President, founding father, and figurehead of the United States, said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. … Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. … Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

Salmon P. Chase seconded Washington’s statement in a letter to James Pollock, Director of the Mint at Philadelphia at the time. “No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.”

This letter helped to put the motto, a phrase which expresses the beliefs or ideals guiding a people, “In God We Trust,” on our currency. Similar statements to Chase’s have placed “one nation under God” in the pledge of allegiance. But since that time, our morals and standards have diminished, and there have been petitions and arguments to take these precious phrases off of the currency and out of the pledge.

These arguments have been based on the side of atheists, who have no God at all. This land truly is free to all people, but we, as Americans, cannot deny that we believe in God, and without him we would be withering in slavery or even nonexistent.

Thomas Jefferson asked, “Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are of God?” I answer his question with a resounding no. I write today to proclaim that we cannot survive removal of In God We Trust from our currency, or “One nation under God” from our pledge. I write today to plead with you, for the good of our country and our beliefs, not to let this happen.

The fight that the colonists started so long ago still continues today. They passed the torch on to us, to carry high and to light the world with the belief in God. We cannot drop this torch, and we cannot douse this torch. The lives our forefathers lost cannot be lost in vain, and it is up to us to make sure it doesn’t happen!

During the beginning of this ongoing fight, in the Revolutionary War, the poet Francis Scott Key was held in a British troopship, from which he watched the five hour bombardment of Fort McHenry. As he watched, he eagerly awaited light from the bombs to see if his flag still flew. All throughout the battle, the lights confirmed it; the Americans were still free.

Inspired, he wrote a poem, The Star Spangled Banner which later turned into a song, then our national anthem. In the last line of the last verse, we cry, “And this be our motto: In God is our trust. And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”