About 200 years ago, colonists left the Great Britain in search of religious relief and ability to worship God in whatever way they chose. They found America, a land flowing with prosperity and abundance. They lived there for many years, and when their right to believe in their God was again threatened, they fought hard and died hard until they had freedom, including freedom of religion. But now, that right to believe is again being threatened, and this time, it's an inside threat.
Near the end of the colonists' fight, the Revolutionary War, in 1776, a document was published, which we call the Declaration of Independence, and which has changed the world. In this Declaration, Thomas Jefferson stated, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Ten years later, after the war was won, a constitution was signed by 39 men we call the founding fathers of our beloved United States of America. These men were men of courage, men of truth, men of liberty, and men of God.
Since then, God has been pushed out of our society and government. God is to be separated from state, even though belief in Him brought state into being. The founding fathers founded the United States, united as "one nation under God," with a foundation of a belief in the Almighty God, knowing they would most likely give their lives for it. And as I just demonstrated, a house which loses its foundation falls.
In 1963, the theory of evolution started slowly being added to textbooks, even though it contradicts the theory of God's creation of the earth.
George Washington, first President, founding father, and figurehead of the United States, said, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
Salmon P. Chase seconded Washington's statement in a letter to James Pollock, Director of the Mint at Philadelphia at the time. "No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins."
This letter helped to put the motto, "In God We Trust," on our currency.
This land truly is free to all people, but we, as Americans, cannot deny that we believe in God, and without him we would be withering in slavery or even nonexistent.
Thomas Jefferson asked "Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are of God?" I stand here today to proclaim that we cannot survive removal of In God We Trust from our currency, or "One nation under God" from our pledge. I stand here today to plead with you, for the good of our country and our beliefs, not to let this happen.
The torch has been passed on to us, to carry high and light the world with the belief in God. We cannot drop this torch, and we cannot douse this torch. The lives our forefathers lost cannot be lost in vain, and it is up to us to be sure it doesn't happen!
Mikela Hoffman
Loyalsock High School
Williamsport
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom
