What was Senator Hawley's "sin"? He quoted, on social media, early American heroes who linked the founding of the United States to Christianity. Yes, you read that correctly. Here are some of the quotes that have caused the firestorm.
"Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission on earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity." -John Quincy Adams, 1837, 6th President of the United States
"I have heretofore argued to show that the Christian religion, its general principles, must ever be regarded among us as the foundation of civil society." -Daniel Webster
The Washington Post, in a major "hit piece" on Senator Hawley on July 8th, acknowledges that the quotes along with other quotes Hawley posted are accurate. But then the Post wrote that these quotes "promote a historical argument popular among purveyors of Christian nationalism that the United States was founded as a Christian country."
The Post then refers to a speech Hawley delivered to a conservative conference in 2022 titled, "Biblical Revolution." The senator is quoted as saying, "We are a revolutionary nation precisely because we are the heirs of the revolution of the Bible." He later adds, "Without the Bible, there is no modernity. Without the Bible, there is no America."
All of these quotes by John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and Senator Hawley are true statements of fact. There are thousands of such statements by our founding fathers, prominent statesmen throughout our history, authors, poets, and historians. In any decade throughout American history, the overwhelming majority of the American people would have embraced these ideas and expressed similar sentiments themselves.
But in recent years, a powerful campaign has been launched to erase the key role Christianity played in inspiring the American Revolution and our founding documents, as well as the role Christians, including pastors, played in winning the Revolutionary War. Neo-Marxists and radical secularists see this history as an impediment to their plans to turn America into a socialist state where government is God.
JDFI commends Senator Hawley for speaking the truth. We urge all who love Jesus and love America to defend the religious heritage of our country. Never forget that the central idea of America is in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, where our founders stated that our liberty comes from God, our Creator.
