In God We Trust

My Dear Friends in Christ in St. Patrick’s Parish:

I began this week much like the rest of you – thankful for the gifts of faith, the gift of family, of health, among others.

One of those things which I apparently took for granted was the freedom to celebrate these gifts by giving thanks to Almighty God in our parish church in the Christmas liturgies, including today’s celebration of the Baptism of the Lord.

And then on Wednesday, I watched with interest and then with disgust as our Nation’s capital building, the very seat of our republic and a primary, living symbol of that freedom, was overrun by an unruly mob. The lives of five people were lost tragically, and the people of our Nation, indeed, of the world, asked with one voice, “How could this happen?” 

How indeed? 

I offer to you, my dear friends, and to all those of goodwill, that roots of this tragedy and every other tragedy that befalls our nation and all humanity are sown in the soil of a misplaced sense of in what and in whom shall we put our hope. 

As a human institution based on principles of Enlightenment philosophy, no one has ever claimed that the American experiment is immune from error.  Even the second verse of the hymn, America the Beautiful pleads, “God mend thine every flaw.”

And as good as it is, not even the greatest defenders of freedom and democracy have upheld the infallibility of our system of government.  It was Sir Winston Churchill who once famously quipped:

“No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.  Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

I agree with Sir Winston, but we must remember that democracy is not an end unto itself.  Rather, even as flawed as it is, it remains the best instrument at hand to uphold and defend the principles and freedoms upon which this nation was founded. These principles are articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the writings of the Founding Fathers.  They are given concrete expression in the Constitution of Unite States. 

The freedoms expressed therein have been given different articulations throughout the last 245 years.  One of the most poignant was given by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his famous “Four Freedoms” speech.  It was given on January 6, 1941, almost 80 years ago to the day, at the president’s annual address to Congress.  At that time, Europe and Asia were firmly in the grip of Second World War. The totalitarian powers of Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, Mussolini’s Italy, and the Soviet Union continued to grow unabated.  The United States had remained essentially neutral in the conflict, but was growing ever more wary as the tides of war ebbed ever closer to its shores. In the shadow of this ominous threat, the President addressed the nation, saying:

       In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

 The first is freedom of speech and expression–everywhere in the world.

        The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way–everywhere in the world.

        The third is freedom from want–which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants-everywhere in the world.

        The fourth is freedom from fear–which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor–anywhere in the world.

Freedom of speech and expression; freedom of religion; freedom from want; freedom from fear – these are some of the essential freedoms upheld in the past century.  They have formed the cornerstone upon which much of our social discourse has been taken place for the past four generations. 

Yet even these are dependent on even more fundamental principles, not discerned by human reason alone, but revealed by Almighty God and passed on through the centuries by men and women of faith.

It was just such a man of faith who held the office of President at the conclusion that that exhaustive conflict just mentioned, who when faced with the mighty task of rebuilding a broken world, reminded the Nation once again that our strength and our hope must come from a deeper source.  In a radio address as Part of the Program ‘Religion in American Life’, 30 October 1949, President Harry Truman said:

“The United States has been a deeply religious Nation from its earliest beginnings. The need which the founders of our country felt–the need to be free to worship God, each man in his own way–was one of the strongest impulses that brought men from Europe to the New World. As the pioneers carved a civilization from the forest, they set a pattern which has lasted to our time. First, they built homes and then, knowing the need for religion in their daily lives, they built churches. When the United States was established, its coins bore witness to the American faith in a benevolent deity. The motto then was “In God We Trust.” That is still our motto and we, as a people, still place our firm trust in God.

“Building on this foundation of faith, the United States has grown from a small country in the wilderness to a position of great strength and great responsibility among the family of nations. Other countries look today to the United States for leadership in the ways of peace, and it is our task to meet that challenge.

“I am convinced that we are strong enough to meet the challenge. We are strong enough because we have a profound religious faith. The basic source of our strength as a nation is spiritual. We believe in the dignity of man. We believe that he is created in the image of God, who is the Father of us all.

“It is this faith that makes us determined that every citizen in our own land shall have an equal right and an equal opportunity to grow in wisdom and in stature, and to play his part in the affairs of our Nation.

“It is this faith that makes us respect the right of men everywhere to worship as they please and to live their own lives free from the fear of tyranny and strife.

“It is this faith that inspires us to work for a world in which life will be more worthwhile–a world of tolerance, unselfishness, and brotherhood–a world that lives according to the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount.

“I believe that every problem in the world today could be solved if men would only live by the principles of the ancient prophets and the Sermon on the Mount.

“Each one of us can do his part by a renewed devotion to his religion. If there is any danger to the religious life of our Nation, it lies in our taking our religious heritage too much for granted. Religion is not a static thing. It exists not in buildings, but in the minds and hearts of our people.

“Religion is like freedom. We cannot take it for granted. Man–to be free–must work at it. And man–to be truly religious–must work at that, too. Unless men live by their faith, and practice that faith in their daily lives, religion cannot be a living force in the world today.

“That is why each of us has a duty to participate-actively-in the religious life of his community and to support generously his own religious institutions.

“Just as an active faith sustained and guided the pioneers in conquering the wilderness, so today an active faith will sustain and guide us as we work for a just peace, freedom for all, and a world where human life is truly held sacred.

“Religious faith and religious work must be our reliance as we strive to fulfill our destiny in the world.”

In truth, any democratic society, even own great
Republic, cannot thrive or even survive apart from religious faith.

The dignity of the human person, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness all find their origins in

a reliance on Almighty God and the principles of sound religion. 

The farther we stray as individual citizens and as a nation from our religious faith and practice, the more perilous becomes the survival of our Great Republic, as the democratic principles on which it is founded and the freedoms which it defends are inexorably eroded.  

Our ultimate hope cannot, must not reside in any particular political figure or party.  

Nor ultimately can we place our trust even in the exceptional institutions of remarkable human governance.

The testimony of our own history is clear.  There is only one maxim by which our nation has endured the tribulations of our past and through which we will endure the trials of the future.

“In God we trust.” 

May it ever be so. 

May God bless America.