The book covered three major topics: the religious roots of our
country, the results of turning our back on our roots, and what we
can do
to help reverse these results. In regards to our religious roots,
the
author shared that our country is based on God and His principles.
He
included numerous quotes from our founding forefathers that made this
perfectly clear. We can see this simply by looking at our coinage
that
reads "In God we trust". Our founding forefathers even warned
that if we
ever were to turn our back on God and His principles, our country would
be
destroyed.
Decades ago, we began taking measures through several court cases
to separate religion from the public arena. This has taken a
large role
in public education. Statistics clearly show that since we have
stopped
acknowledging God and His principles in the public arena, our country
is
going downhill. Divorce, unwed mothers, kids doing drugs, and
violence
have skyrocketed. Even our SAT scores have made a drastic turn
for the
worst.
Finally, the book goes over practical ways we can go back to our
roots and acknowledge God and His principles. We can go about
this by
voting for Godly men, Godly laws, etc. We need to get involved
in
politics in practical ways like writing letters to our representatives
to
let them know when we do or do not support a bill.
One question I would have for the author is if we compared
statistics from one state to another, would the more churched states
have
lower rates of crime/violence, etc. than a less churched state?
I would want to ask my grandparents the specific ways they have
personally noticed our country's decline in moral principles.
Finally, I would ask my fellow Americans three things:
1. Have you studied our country's religious roots?
2. How long will we sit back and watch our country go
downhill (more violence, more divorce, more unwed mothers, lower SAT
scores....)?
3. Upon seeing the statistics and facts that show the
degrading of our country since we stopped acknowledging God and His
principles, what are we going to do about it?
Submitted by Jane Stump.
This book was recommended to me through Focus on the Family, a
worldwide Christian ministry located in Colorado. Their mission is to aid
in the preservation of the traditional family through Christian beliefs
and principals. I called them looking for information on prayer in our
American public schools. The reason that I have chosen to read this book
is because of my personal research into the undeniable and obvious decay
of our public schools. Any debate or opposition of this verb simply highlights
arrogance, as well as ignorance of the times in which we live. Suicide,
murder, rape, drugs, guns, pregnancy, abortion, Springfield, Columbine
all of these words describe just a few of the increasing problems in today's
public schools. Issues that were rare in the schools of the early
60's are today all to common in our daily vocabularies.
What can we do to stop the slaughter of today's students?
What can we do to gain control over the growing devastation?
What is the problem?
How did we get here?
What did we change?
Can we ever reverse these problems?
What are we going to do?
These problems are not okay, they are not getting better. The
answer is not more government sponsored programs or increased education.
What we are looking at are the effects of a few but pointed bills passed
through Congress in 1962-63. These bills separated us from our morals beliefs
and religious values. "This book uses government statistics to show
that 1962- the year religious principles were first separated from public
affairs - was the year that the decline started in youth, education, families,
and the nation." This book includes an historical overview of how
our Christian morals and values were the foundation on which our country
was built. Our country's rejection of that foundation and the effects there
after on the America's youth, family, schools, and the nation. The consequent
new national problems, Biblical repercussions and what we must do in order
to change. This book is full of concrete graphs and statistics. All of
them well explained and extremely clear in their message.
"The removal of prayer was the first step on the infamous "slippery
slope." While the removal of school prayer cannot be blamed for all the
declines, the presence or absence, legality or illegality, of prayer and
the acknowledgment of God in public arenas is the primary indicator or
the philosophy under which official public policy is being conducted. When
there is an official recognition of prayer-- 'the quintessential religious
practice'-- there is also an embracing of the values and teachings of which
prayer is a primary indicator.
For this reason , the return of school prayer is essential...
[and] will be a signal that the first step has been taken not only toward
recognizing moral, ethical, and disciplinary standards depend." David
Barton (author) 1994
________.________._________._________.________._________._________.________
In your explanation of the Separation of Church and State, you showed how the Founding Fathers always meant for us to be a Christian nation. Their point was just that they did not want a mandatory national denomination: Methodist, Catholic, Lutheran. Where did you get your information concerning the original intent of the Founding Fathers?
Do you and your organization do national or college presentations?
Where can the public go to find statistics like these besides your book?
What would you say to the multi-relegious tolerance doctrine that is
infiltrating America and our schools?
Did you study American history in college or is the material for your
book post college research?
Submitted by Jill Coester.