LANCASTER – With tomorrow being Independence Day for the United States, WallBuilders founder and American history expert David Barton reflected on our founding fathers who believed our independent nation was founded on the principles of God. What was the basis of American Independence? John Adams said, “The general principles on which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity.” Adams believed the Fourth of July should become a religious holiday – a day when we remembered God’s hand in deliverance and a day of religious activities when we committed ourselves to Him in “solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” According to John Quincy Adams, Christmas and the Fourth of July were intrinsically connected. On the Fourth, the Founders simply took the precepts of Christ which came into the world through His birth and incorporated those principles into civil government. Have you ever considered what it meant for those 56 men – an eclectic group of ministers, business men, teachers, university professors, sailors, captains, farmers – to sign the Declaration of Independence? This was a contract that began with the reasons for the separation from Great Britain and closed in the final paragraph stating “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” Barton added that Americans should not let the purpose for which our nation was established be forgotten. The Founding Fathers have passed us a torch, let’s not let it go out
