[E Rocc]

The pattern of history is clear: Nations that lose their reverence for God are only one short step from a complete devaluation of the lives and the liberty of those who are made in His image.

That may be true about nations based on religious beliefs, including those based on the "divine right" of a king. But this nation was not. It was based on philosophical beliefs. Primary among those beliefs was freedom of conscience.

If we lose our commitment to that belief....

-Eric

[Jeff Head]

It was based on philosophical beliefs.

Actually, if you read the Declaration of Independence that started it all in motion, and explained the reasoning, it is clear that the philosophy was based on religious belief. "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights..."

Key to that however is the clear message you gave...and that is free conscience. Freedom of thought and expression are indispensable to liberty, but the founders also recognized (and spoke of it often) that it was equally indispensable for that freedom to be self governed by moral constraint as found in religious practise, particularly Christianity.

[JamesP81]

But this nation was not. It was based on philosophical beliefs.

I give you John Adams, who said: "[W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Once we become a non-religious, non-moral people, then the American experiment is effectively over.

[EternalVigilance]

It was based on philosophical beliefs.

"Philosphical beliefs" almost entirely grounded in a Christian worldview, understanding of history and science, and the nature of man.