And Divided We are......

[redcliffsw]

America Is In A Societal Meltdown
-Chuck Baldwin

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." So said Founding Father and America's second President John Adams. And he was absolutely right. And that is what is absolutely wrong with our country today: America is in a complete moral, societal, and cultural meltdown.

Founding Father and America's first US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay correctly summarized the reason our new nation (and the fight for its liberty and independence) was successful. He wrote in Federalist 2, "With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people–a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence."

In other words, a united constitutional republic can only exist within the framework of certain rather narrow and finite conditions. Remove those conditions and the framework for liberty and limited government falls apart. And the above statements by Adams and Jay succinctly summarize the conditions necessary for freedom's framework.

more:

http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=1862

[Diane Amberg]

So he's saying Pres. O is correct, we are no longer a Christian Country? I just had some one explain to me in very sad terms why that is so and I don't think they had ever thought of it that way. Some small Christian groups spend a lot of time and energy shouting down other Christian groups as being "fake" Christians or state that the only real Christians are those who believe as exactly as they do. I don't think they realize that if one accepts only a very narrow view of Christianity, and one tosses out all the other people who consider themselves Christians, you would drop the percentages of Christians in this country to well below 50%, which means we are indeed no longer a Christian country. To say we are still a Christian country one has to accept that all people who consider themselves Christians are and do count. Not sure if this goes in politics or religion, but since it's a reaction to the above writer I left it here.

[sixdogsmom]

I always thought that there was no state religion according to the constitution; that is why the president said this is not a christian nation. I suspect that the majority of people in this country claim to be christian, but in practise you have to wonder.  But that is only my opinion, that and a buck-fifty might buy a cup of coffee most places.

[tdub]

Obama said we are no longer "just" a Christian nation, but a nation of many other faiths as well.

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_obama_say_we_are_no_longer.html

[Wilma]

Aren't we guaranteed Freedom of Religion and wouldn't that include every known religion in the world today, not just what was there when the Bill of Rights was written?  I don't know if we could be called a Christian nation or not, but we do still offer a prayer to the one and only God at the beginning of each session of Congress.

[srkruzich]

  I don't know if we could be called a Christian nation or not, but we do still offer a prayer to the one and only God at the beginning of each session of Congress.

Unfortunately that is no longer true.  They allow any other religion to do this.

[Varmit]

I think what the author is saying is that in order to save this country we need to return to the things that made us.  Mainly, a strong belief in God and Christ.  Is the USA a christian nation? Absolutely. We were not founded on muslim, hindu, buddist, or atheist beliefs, but on Christian beliefs and principles and by the very hand of God.  Not allah, not budha, not by the spirit of mother earth. 

If you look at the history of this Country we began to go downhill when we started to turn away from God.  There has always been a segment of our population that didn't believe, but the majority still held on to a common thread of morality.  And because of that we had been blessed with prosperity.  But once we began, as a whole, to stop upholding those morals, and we let a minority of people decide on how we should be governed we began to lose it.  I would say that starting in the late 50's and early 60's we began to freefall into a moral sewer.  It wasn't that we were no longer holding to our beliefs, but we quit standing up for them.  We took christian prayer out of schools, we offered on demand abortion (after that one I am surprised that we are still here), we began to teach that premartial sex is ok, we accepted deviant lifestyles and homosexuality in the name of diversity, we began to view pornography as entertainment instead of the vile thing it is, we allowed our gov't to pass laws stating that it is okay to write pornograhic stories and books involving children because it is protected under free speech but don't you dare hand out a Bible in schools.  I could go on and on but you get the point.  It is not that the vast majority of Americans have stopped believeing in God, but that they have stopped fighting for Him.  And we are beginning to reap what we have sown.

Yes, we have Freedom of Religion in this country, but the purpose of the First Admendment has been twisted.  It was written so that Congress couldn't pass a law declaring a national religion, not the states.  The Founders did this to avoid what happened in Britian with the catholic church.  However, they knew that we could not continue to exist without our gov't basing its laws on Godly principles.  And they were right.   

[frawin]

I believe we are still a Christian Nation. Obama said we are no longer a Christian Nation because he is not a Christian. He worshipped with the Rev Jeremiah Wright for 20+ years, Wright is definitely not Christian and hates the principles that America was founded on. For my Children and Grandchildren's sake I hope and pray we can overcome all of the mistakes that have been made in this once Great Nation and get back to the greatness that we once had.

[Varmit]

Frawin, I agree with you.  I think we Can get back to the greatness we once had, but I don't think we Will.  I think that, as a whole, most christians in this country have lost the stomach for the fight. 

[Diane Amberg]

Hey! Nobody I know of teaches that premarital sex is acceptable! But there are sick twisted people out there that prey on the unfortunate insecurities of young girls AND the fact that kids get caught up in the moment, (both sexes) and there is still, after all these years, bad information that floats around the kids world about how pregnancy happens. Now there is this stupid thing with the girls sending racy photos over their phones. What is up with that?
The 60's with the free love reputation, and that's all is was, a reputation, is long over. An awful lot of kids weren't having the free sex they  bragged about!
As far as taking prayer out of schools, you can thank one person for that. I don't know how she gained such a huge influential following and I've always thought that individual schools should have the chance to decide for themselves. It's harder in areas of greater population because there are so many different religions represented. But I'm sure it could be worked out if the parents would get together and talk.
Why shouldn't the little Elk County schools have prayer if they want it.? There are so few of you and if you are all cookie cutter versions of each other, the way some of you say why not allow prayer? There is nobody there to get upset or have their feeling hurt. I  also do not believe this country has turned away from God, not for a minute. There are too many squeaky wheels out there with something to sell that benifits themselves that want you to think that. I do not have to go to church to prove my belief. There are huge numbers of spiritual people who are good people in their thinking and action, but don't care to have some one else telling them how to think or what to believe or which version of the Bible to read. As far as this whole country being"immoral," who decides that? some author selling books? The same bad spots, mostly deep in the slums of big cities are still there as they have always been. What we call pornography has always been around. Before cameras it was drawn and painted. The same man who goes to church every Sunday is just as likely to have"dirty" books at home. It depends on how you act about it. Frankly, is it anybodies business if they don't misbehave because of it?
I don't understand "deviant" lifestyles and I'll never agree with you on homosexuality. Several people who are friends felt as you until they had a homo sexual child of their own. They were very torn about it. Several families were destroyed by it, a couple asked God for guidance and learned to accept it and have done very well, and one close friend never did tell his parents. They both died not ever knowing their son was gay. He has a permanent boy friend  now and they are very happy, gentle, well adjusted contributing members of their community. I figure if God lets them happen it can't be all wrong, even if it's hard to understand.
As far as what the founder fathers had in mind, some areas will be debated for more centuries than have already passed. They knew that none of what they wrote was perfect and some, like Ben Franklin wrote a lot. Unfortunately that allows much of what they wrote to be taken out of context and used in ways the words were never intended.  Even Thomas Jefferson wanted the new  Constitution to be looked over every seven years and revised if necessary to the times.
This is not 1776 and as much as some would like we can't go back to then.This country was officially founded by the British, but the French and Dutch and other countries were already here and had been for a long time. Not all the British wanted to be independent they were wealthy and thriving just the way things were. A lot of political and financial maneuvering went on before it was all said and done and some went back to Britain to stay. If this country was determined to never have the influences of other cultures, why were the boarders left open for so many years and so many immigrants of so many countries allowed to come here? The would be no Muslims or Hindus,Shinto,Tao or anyone else if we hadn't let them in.