Religion and Morality Are Indispensable For Civil Government

or

The Impeachment Debates: Drawing a Line in the Sand

The Monica Lewinsky debacle and the impeachment controversy have revealed the Achilles heel of representative government. To some the lurid sexual practices of the President in the Oval Office, the alleged obstruction of justice and lying under oath, and the uncontroverted lie to the American public forms no basis for impeachment. To others, the President has disgraced the Oval Office, brought down the Presidency, made America the shame of the world, and placed our country in danger of terrorist attacks.

Allen Dershowitz, a liberal Harvard professor, stated that a vote for impeachment is a vote for pro-life, a vote for the religious right, a vote for evil. James Carville stated that he would do everything in his power to harm those who voted for impeachment. On The Late Night Show with Conan O'Brien, Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin angrily advocated that Congressman Henry Hyde should be stoned, his family should be stoned, and his children should be killed. Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt has posted a $1,000,000.00 reward for any information leading to sexual improprieties of any member of Congress who voted for impeachment.

The rift over the impeachment debate has indicated we live in two Americas and the line dividing the two is over religion and morality.

After completing two terms as President, George Washington in his farewell address observed the following:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens . . . . And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

In the same speech George Washington stated that "virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government." He went on to state: "Can it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human Nature. Alas! Is it rendered impossible by its vices?"

So important was George Washington's farewell address that Thomas Jefferson required the reading of the address to be part of the curriculum at the University of Virginia which he founded. The essence of Washington's farewell address is that religion and morality are necessary and indispensable supports of representative government. When Washington and the other founders use the word "virtue" it refers to a Judeo-Christian morality and code of ethics. In the absence of religion and morality, the government would fail. Indeed, John Adams, who served as Vice President to Washington and became the second President, stated: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams also stated that religion and morality alone form the only foundation of a free Constitution, and that we may change our rulers and forms of government, but without religion and morality, we will not obtain a lasting liberty.

The impeachment debate has revealed either an ignorance or a blatant disregard for the indisputable proposition that religion and morality are necessary to good government. Does President Clinton and the principles for which his outspoken advocates stand reflect the status of America? Are religious conservatives and those who believe in the sanctity of human life evil as Allen Dershowitz believes? To follow this line of reasoning courts chaos. Noah Webster stated that it is important to choose as rulers "just men who will rule in the fear of God." He warned that if the citizens neglect their duty in this area, and "place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted."

In Washington's first inaugural address he stated that "the foundations of our National policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality." He was assured of the one truth that there was "an indesoluble union between virtue and happiness."

We should remember the words of Benjamin Franklin when during the First Continental Congress when he stated: "And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance?"

Our country is at a crossroads. The position that one takes on the impeachment debate probably more than any other debated question determines what side of the line you stand. The importance of religion and morality must be restored to our foundational principles of government. If we make religion and morality dispensable to government, we have made our liberty also dispensable. The government will not stand, nor can it endure, in the absence of religion and morality.

For more information about Liberty Counsel, please call 1-800-671-1776.