America’s Sacred Roots

By Dr. Tom Snyder, Editor

Our civilization in the United States of America is based on a set of basic principles, ideas and institutions. These principles, ideas and institutions gave form, unity and continuity to the fabric of American society. Americans and their leaders have not always lived up to these principles, ideas and institutions, but that fact does not invalidate the truth, goodness and beauty of these sacred foundations.

Regrettably, many people have tried to erode these sacred principles, ideas and institutions. In doing so, they have ripped apart the fabric that holds the United States together. Please help mend that fabric and restore these principles, ideas and institutions, which are outlined briefly below:

1.            A Christian Culture based on European, English, Irish, Scottish, Jewish, and Biblical historical roots. This Biblical Culture is the guiding, unifying spirit of the American Republic.

2.            A common language, English, with a rich literary history.

3.            A common body of philosophical and metaphysical beliefs, such as:

a)   God purposefully created the world, including human beings;

b)   The world contains universal, objective knowledge and truth;

c)    Human beings can discover this objective knowledge and truth by using sound reason and logic and by examining factual evidence, including Biblical Truth;

d)   All cultures should be subservient to this objective knowledge and truth;

e)   Truth transcends race, sex and socio-economic class, as well as culture;

f)     The Bible judges right and wrong because it is a historical, verifiable revelation from God, who is truthful, good and just; and

g)   Individual rights take precedence over group rights, but the local community sometimes may take precedence over both unless that community violates God’s biblical rules for human behavior and liberty, including basic individual and constitutional rights.

4.            A common body of moral habits, social conventions, traditions, and customs based on Jewish and Christian ideas developed from the Bible, which was written mostly by Jews and Jewish Christians inspired by the Holy Spirit of God.

5.            A common practice of limited, representative government that derives its legitimate sovereignty first from God through the Bible and then from the consent of the people, governed as equally as possible by the rule of law in society based on the Bible. God requires the people to obey the government and its officials only if they don’t force the people to do evil acts, such as commit murder, or force the people to neglect doing good, such as save the life of an unborn child by blocking an abortion clinic. God requires the government and its officials, however, to serve the people and to be ministers of His moral laws found in the Bible (see Romans 13).

6.            A common system of law based on Christian and biblical principles and moral absolutes.  Those principles and moral absolutes include giving people unlimited freedom to hold any religious beliefs they choose and to engage in a free market, including establishing a family business, but they don’t include giving people unlimited freedom to perform any action they wish to do.

7.            A belief in a rigorous private education, with strong training in logical thinking, philosophy, empirical truth, history, and biblical languages.

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Historical Sources

Barton, David.  Original Intent:  The Courts, the Constitution, & Religion.  Aledo, Texas:  WallBuilder Press, 1996.

Bradford, M.E.  Original Intentions:  On the Making and Ratification of the United States Constitution.  Athens, Georgia:  University of Georgia Press, 1993.

Dawson, Christopher.  Religion and the Rise of Western Culture.  New York:  Doubleday, 1991.

DeMar, Gary.  Ruler of the Nations: Biblical Blueprints for Government.  Ft. Worth, Texas:  Dominion Press, 1987.

Evans, M. Stanton.  The Theme Is Freedom:  Religion, Politics, and the American Tradition.  Washington, D.C.:  Regnery Gateway, 1994.

Free Congress Foundation.  Political Correctness:  The Dirty Little Secret.  Washington, D.C.:  Free Congress Foundation, 1999.

Genovese, Eugene D.  The Southern Tradition:  The Achievements and Limitations of an American Conservatism.  Cambridge, Massachusetts:  Harvard University Press, 1994.

Ketchum, Ralph, ed.  The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates.  New York:  Penguin Books, 1986.

Kirk, Russell.  America’s British Culture.  New Brunswick, NJ:  Transaction Publishers, 1993.

—–.  The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot.  7th edition.  Washington, DC:  Regnery Publishing, 1001.

—–.  The Politics of Prudence.  Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 1993.

—–.  The Roots of American Order.  3d edition.  Washington, DC:  Regnery Gateway, 1991.

Levin, Mark.  Liberty & Tyranny:  A Conservative Manifesto.  New York:  Simon & Shuster, 2010.

McDonald, Forrest.  Novus Ordo Seclorum:  The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution.  Lawrence, Kansas:  University Press of Kansas, 1985.

McDonald, Forrest, and Ellen Shapiro McDonald.  Requiem:  Variations on Eighteenth-Century Themes.  Lawrence, Kansas:  University Press of Kansas, 1988.

Montgomery, John Warwick.  Human Rights and Human Dignity.  Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Zondervan, 1988.

Novak, Michael.  The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism.  New York:  Simon & Shuster, 1982.

Rossiter, Clinton, ed.  The Federalist Papers.  New York:  Penguin Books, 1961.

Rushdoony, Rousas J.  This Independent Republic:  Studies in the Nature and Meaning of American History.  Fairfax, VA: Thoburn Press, 1978.

Schaff, Philip.  History of the Christian Church, Vol. I through VIII.  Christian Classics Ethereal Library, https://www.ccel.org/index/author/S.

Schmidt, Alvin J.  The Menace of Multiculturalism:  Trojan Horse in America.  Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1997.

Snyder, Tom.  America’s Christian Heritage.  Camarillo: CA:  The Culture Watch, https://www.theculturewatch.com/americas-christian-heritage. 

—–.  Myth Conceptions: Joseph Campbell and the New Age.  Nashville, Tennessee:  Baker Books, 1995.

Stanlis, Peter J.  Edmund Burke and the Natural Law.  Lafayette, LA:  Huntington House, 1986.

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