Page 15 - Cornerstone Connection Magazine - Volume 22 - Issue 7

Faith Holds America Together gious heritage so deeply believed by our founding fathers.
Engraved on the cap on the top of the Washington Monu-
Religious faith permits a nation to overcome adversity and ment are the words: “Praise be to God.” As a tourist climbs
to deal with the exigencies of life that cause both individuals the winding stairs inside, they see such phrases as “Search the
and countries to suffer. Faith teaches that life is more than a Scriptures,” and “Holiness to the Lord.”
mad rush for wealth, that sacrifice matters, that some of the At the Lincoln Memorial, the President’s words are chis-
most important things men do often cannot be completed in eled into granite: “...That this nation, under God, shall have
one generation. a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people,
It is seldom reported that Stalin, when faced by the on- by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
slaught of the Nazi invasion, reopened the churches in Russia On the south bank of the Tidal Basin sits the magnificent Jef-
and brought the imprisoned bishops and clerics back from Si- ferson Memorial with Jefferson’s words, “Can the liberties of
beria in order to restore faith and hope and passionate resolve a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that
in the people. Despite his avowed hatred for Christianity, Sta- these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my
lin knew that only faith in God could give the Russian people country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot
hope and courage under adversity. Once Hitler was defeated, sleep forever.”
however, the church bells were silenced again, because faith If the militant secularists are going to win the battle over
also can inspire people to rise up against totalitarian govern- faith in America, they will ultimately have to sandblast half
ments! the walls of official Washington. But even then, what is etched
Faith stands at the other end of the continuum from the on the hearts of the great majority of the American people will
highest value of American intellectuals—an open mind. Faith remain and be passed on to the next generation: the simple
speaks of certainty, but America’s leadership class is never belief that we are “One Nation Under God.” ✝
certain about anything that matters. Concepts like good and
bad, right and wrong, are a puzzle for most of them. All things © Copyright 2021 James Dobson, Inc. All rights reserved. www.drjamesdobson.org.
James Dobson grants permission to print for personal use only.
are forever questioned—the best minds are believed to be
those that never “close” on anything.
Intellectual snobs ridicule the simple faith of common
people. Having no faith themselves, they attempt to debunk it
when they see it in anyone else.
But faith lives on, comes back from a thousand disappoint-
ments, mends broken hearts, holds nations together. True
faith will not bend before all the professors, politicians and
intellectuals that can be massed against it.
On this issue of faith in American life, we are finally and ad-
mittedly optimists. Americans remain a very deeply religious
people. When compared with the citizens of any other West-
ern nation, the religious commitment which remains—which
is actually growing in America—is astonishing.
G. K. Chesterton’s observation that “America is a nation
with the soul of a church” is still true today, even if opinion
leaders and the cultural elite seems embarrassed by the asser-
tion.
Each summer I have been intrigued when the influx of tour-
ists come to Washington, D.C. Literally millions of Americans
leave their homes in every state and travel to the nation’s capi-
tal to show their children this center of the free world. I love to
watch them, wide-eyed, with pride on their faces as they visit
the great monuments and statues that dot this historical city.
Often you will notice them with their heads tilted far back,
pointing to the top of one monument or another. One day my
own eyes followed theirs and I saw what attracted their atten-
tion. At the top of nearly every historic building in Washing-
ton, from the Supreme Court to the Lincoln Memorial, are
stirring words, etched in stone, that pay tribute to the reli-
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