These people (even on Free Republic) would say that these things have nothing at all to do with our political fate and/or discourse in this country and should not be involved at all in politics (along with those on Free Republic who say that these things should be removed from the GOP, having nothing to do with our public discourse with the nation).
There are those (whom I've also heard on Free Republic) who would absolutely denounce that Christianity and/or the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, has anything at all to do with our country, or even exists or has the ability to do, or the concern about, anything in this country, and relegate this "God" to archaic beliefs and to language that has no meaning, at all, in anything real (much less anything to do with politics). And even with some of those, on Free Republic, who would say that there is no meaning to our Creator God, mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, the mention, of which, is only an artifact of language, and not meaning, in reality, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as told to us in the Bible.
The following phrases are those that these people would deny and denounce as being totally useless and even getting in the way of conservatives winning elections in our country and that they must be jettisoned in order to win.
... we are prone to forget the source from which they come ...
... the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God ...
... No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.
... It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people.
... a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.
... offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings ...
... with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience ...
... fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand ...
... as soon as may be consistent with the divine purposes ...
And likewise, these very same people mentioned above, would utterly reject the reality of the following mentioned by Lincoln, in his Proclamation, Appointing a National Fast-Day (1863) and would castigate and denounce any of their own conservative politicians who dared utter such things within their hearing...
... devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations ...
... set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation ...
... it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God ...
... to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow ...
... with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon ...
... recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord ...
... we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world ...
... the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people ...
... But we have forgotten God.
... We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us ...
... we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
... Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
... It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power. to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
... day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer.
... keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
... let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings ...
... the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country ...
The following is the Proclamation from Abraham Lincoln, in the same year of 1863, regarding the National Fast Day, which preceded the Thanksgiving Proclamation (above).
Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has by a resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and
Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;
And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power. to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by this my proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite at their several places of public worship and their respective homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State .
amazing that anyone can look up to lincoln...
http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/republican-party-red-from-the-start-by-alan-stang/
etc,
Thanks for posting this! I was going to post this earlier but today has been a busy day for me.