On Memorial Day

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.

A Christian group has proposed an amendment to our constitution. Here’s why:

Believing that Almighty God is the source of all power and authority in civil government, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Ruler of Nations, and that the revealed Will of God is of Supreme authority in civil affairs; Remembering that this country was settled by Christian men, with Christian ends in view, and that they gave a distinctly Christian character to the institutions which they established;

Perceiving the subtle and persevering attempts which are made to prohibit the reading of the Bible in our Public Schools, to corrupt the Family, to abolish the Prayer in our National and State Legislatures, and other Christian features of our institutions, and so to divorce the American Government from all connection with the Christian religion;
Viewing with grave apprehension the corruption of our politics, and the disregard of moral and religious character in those who are exalted to high places in the nation;

Believing that a written Constitution ought to contain explicit evidence of the Christian character and purpose of the nation which frames it, and perceiving that the silence of the Constitution of the United States in this respect is used as an argument against all that is Christian in the us-age and administration of our Government.

To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled:
We, citizens of the United States, respectfully ask your honorable bodies to adopt measures for amending the Constitution of the United States, so as to read, in sub-stance, as follows:

We, the people of the United States, humbly acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler among the nations, his revealed will as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a Christian govern-ment, and in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the inalienable rights and the blessings of life, liberty, and the pur-suit of happiness to ourselves, our posterity, and all the people, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

This Christian Amendment is not the work of Tom DeLay, Bill Frist or Rick Santoram. It was not proposed by Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, or James Dobson. It came from the National Reform Association on January 27, 1864.

This group of Christian ministers presented it to President Abraham Lincoln because they were convinced that the Civil War in which the nation was embroiled was not about slavery but was an act of God.