Ronald Reagan, "What the Fourth of July Means to Me"

July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth.

The day of our nation's birth in that little hall in Philadelphia, [was] a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words "treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe," and the issue remained in doubt.
. . . 

In recent years . . . I've come to think of [Independence Day] as more than just the birthday of a nation.

It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history.

Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.

Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.

Thank you, troops, for preserving our freedom; thank you, heroes and heroines of all stripes who have led this country wisely and well -- and most of all, thanks to the Creator who has blessed us with a country so generous, and free, and fair.  Happy Fourth of July!

First off, Happy Independence Day to all of the Townhall readers out there. I know many of you, like me, spend the holiday with friends and family enjoying apple pie and fireworks.  This is also a time for us to celebrate the bravery of our men and women in the Armed Forces, and their courage to keep us free.  My wife introduced me to this new campaign to show our support for the troops.  It’s very easy, but meaningful at the same time.

http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

It’s shocking how many times I have approached a soldier to thank him, and to see that he is embarrassed by it.  I’m sure most of it is due to their humble nature, but I can’t stop thinking that in this day and age, when cynicism and indifference seem to be laudable character traits, that maybe they’re just not used to the positive attention.  Either way, it’s best to shake their hand and give them a sincere “thank you” but this is a terrific gesture just the same. 

Have a happy, and safe Independence Day.

This is the text of a speech I have delivered on many occasions to many groups, usually around Independence Day.  I know this is a bit long for a blog post, but I hope you will enjoy it and pass the message along.
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“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world…

We shall shame the faces of many… and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.”

The words of the Pilgrim John Winthrop.

The image of the “city on a hill,” of course, comes from the Gospel of Matthew — the words of Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.

The “work [the Pilgrims] had undertaken” was a new life in a new world, free from persecution.

And the “present help” he referred to was the chance to reach the destination toward which his people were sailing when he delivered that sermon aboard the ship Arbella in the Spring of 1630, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean en route to the New World.

This is not Christian revisionism — this is American history. 

From the earliest days of American civilization, the inhabitants of this continent have understood that the abundant wealth of resources and opportunity found in the New World is not man-made nor an accident of nature — but the generosity of our Heavenly Father.

In other words, not only was America a shining city on a hill, but Americans knew from the first that they were not the ones who screwed in the light bulb.

America is not an accident.


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Daniel Dennett, philosophy professor at Tufts University (and an entertaining guest on my radio show), suggested a few years ago that his fellow-atheists should begin calling themselves “Brights”—communicating the idea that they were, very obviously, smarter and more enlightened than religious believers. 

But now, one of the most surprising results of the new U.S. Religious Landscape Survey (an analysis of some 35,000 Americans by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life) suggests that atheists (and agnostics) may not be so bright after all.  

The authors of the report expressed surprise that even those who failed to affiliate with a specific religion maintained a strong belief in God. “Like the overwhelming majority of Americans, 70 percent of the unaffiliated said they believed in God,” noted the Pew Forum analysis. Amazingly, “one out of every five people who identified themselves as atheist and more than half of those who identified as agnostic” also expressed their faith in the Supreme Being. 

If more than 50% of agnostics, and 20% of self-described atheists, say that they are believers after all, it indicates one of two things – 

1-     Either these non-believers and doubters are very badly confused, perhaps even schizophrenic, or, more likely-

2-     They don’t know what they’re saying when they describe themselves. 

Either way, the Pew Survey proves that the common characterization of non-believers as sophisticated, intelligent and well-educated (especially in comparison to those of us who count as purportedly brain-dead and knuckle-dragging people of faith) badly needs revision or rejection.  

PARTY AFFILIATION
66 percent Democratic
12 percent lean Democratic

POLTICAL IDEOLOGY
35 percent conservative
36 percent moderate
21 percent liberal

 ABORTION
23 percent say it should be illegal in most cases
23 percent say it should be illegal in all cases

HOMOSEXUALITY
46 percent believe homosexuality should be discouraged by society

ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
72 percent support bigger government, more services

WORLD AFFAIRS
68 percent believe “we should concentrate on problems here at home”

With Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger using religion not as an instrument of "faith" to enlighten and enrich our lives, but as a cudgel to fulfill their political agendas (or popularity) -- it is good to see some more inspiring examples of faith.

While I often find myself disagreeing with Michael Gerson's brand of "compassionate conservatism," in light of Wright and Pflerger, Gerson's column on Tony Blair is, indeed, refreshing:

"... Religion, Blair argues, is not going away, as secularists have expected and predicated for centuries. For millions, he noted in his Westminster speech, it is 'the motive for their behavior, the thing which gives sense to their lives and purpose to their journeys -- which makes life more than just a sparrow's flight through a lighted hall from one darkness to another, in that memorable image of the Venerable Bede.' While religion may sometimes be a source of conflict, it has often been a source of reform and idealism -- as in the fight against slavery, apartheid and genocide. The goal of his faith foundation, he explained to me, is for the major faiths "to work together against injustice rather than prey -- that's p-r-e-y -- on injustice."

[S]ecular liberalism has come to hold that because conscience is private or personal, its moral conclusions must be subjective, and because conscience should be free from coercion, its moral conclusions must also be free from public criticism.

He argues that in doing so, secularists have made a terrible mistake.  Sounds like an interesting book, and a valuable one.