As a lead-up to our country’s 250th birthday celebration, we are continuing in our study of the Declaration of Independence. In my research, I have found it beneficial to look at some of the “back stories” of the Declaration. (for example, Charles Carroll, the longest living signer of the Declaration.)
The Religious Landscape of the Colonies
I began to wonder how it is that God is alluded to and referenced in the Declaration without being directly named. Today, many spend time trying to deny the Founders’ faith without understanding the times in which they lived. Instead, they expect the Founders to conform to their modern standards of living and accuse them of being unworthy sinners. That’s about as close as they get to explaining, or rather, dismissing the four inferences to God in the Declaration of Independence. Rather than dipping in modern-day “shallow water,” let’s dive in a little deeper.
First, it’s necessary to understand that most European nations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had a single dominant religion. For example, Italy, France, and Spain had the Roman Catholic Church, England had the Anglican Church, Holland had the Dutch Reformed Church, and Greece had the Greek Orthodox Church. The thirteen colonies were, to a large extent, founded by different European sects of the Protestant faith.
Virginia, the Anglicans
Massachusetts, Puritans and Pilgrims
New York, Dutch Reformed
Maryland, Catholics
Rhode Island, Baptists
Connecticut and Rhode Island, Congregationalists
Delaware and New Jersey, Lutherans
North and South Carolina, Anglicans
Pennsylvania, Quakers
Georgia, Protestants
From Denominational Diversity to a Unified Nation
When the thirteen colonies entered the War for Independence (also known as the Revolutionary War), they took up arms alongside people of other faiths, including those who didn’t practice a specific denomination. They fought in war together as Americans, having declared their independence as being necessary to “dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another (King George III of England)…” The tolerance for people of other denominations grew into strong bonds alongside their new identity as Americans.
Bill Federer of the American Minute writes: “It was a new experience for many citizens not to be forced by the government to adhere to a particular set of denominational beliefs. As the new federal government was being formed, many states were concerned the federal government would follow the example of Europe and choose one particular Christian denomination as the national one.” This helped me to understand how a culture of denominations came together to respect each other’s beliefs and form “one nation under God.”
God in the Declaration: Four Explicit References
Here are the four mentions of God in the Declaration of Independence:
First sentence: “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…”
Second paragraph: “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”
Conclusion: “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions…”
Final sentence: “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence…”
When we understand these four historical references to God and how they came to be a part of our founding American documents, we see how they reveal the Declaration’s acknowledgement of God as well as the Founders’ commitment to both liberty and a shared moral foundation. We also learn that when we unite by attributes like character or common goals, our nation advances.
This is Common Sense Civics and Citizenship. 🇺🇸
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