Since its 1947 decision in Everson v. Board of Education (with an opinion written by Justice Hugo Black), the Supreme Court has further considered and limited the active role that religion or religiou

Since its 1947 decision in Everson v. Board of Education (with an opinion written by Justice Hugo Black), the Supreme Court has further considered and limited the active role that religion or religiou Compose an essay of at least 2000 words but no more than 3000 words (not including your references list) in which you discuss in depth the following topic, making sure to offer your critical thinking opinions (opinions plus reasons and evidence) of relevant ideas from the Weeks 1-4 readings wherever possible: Faith and the American Founding: Illustrating Religion’s Influence Michael Novak H ow  long  are  we  going  to  keep  this  experiment, this America? We are “testing whether this nation can  long  endure,”  Lincoln  said  at  Gettysburg.  We’re still testing. Is America a meteor that blazed across the heavens and is now exhausted? Or rather is our pres - ent moral fog a transient time of trial, those hours cold and dark before the ramparts’ new gleaming? Are we near our end or at a beginning? In  answer  to  these  questions,  I  want  to  tell  six brief stories to illustrate the religious principles of the American founding. For a hundred years scholars have stressed  the  principles  that  come  from  the  Enlighten - ment and from John Locke in particular. But there are also first principles that come to us from Judaism and Christianity,  especially  from  Judaism.  Indeed,  it  is important to recognize that most of what our Founders talked about (when they talked politically) came from the  Jewish  Testament,  not  the  Christian.  The  Protes - tant  Christians  who  led  the  way  in  establishing  the principles of this country were uncommonly attached to the Jewish Testament. Scholars  often  mistakenly  refer  to  the  god  of  the Founders as a deist god. But the Founders talked about God  in  terms  that  are  radically  Jewish:  Creator,  Law - giver,  Governor,  Judge,  and  Providence.  These  were the  names  they  most  commonly  used  for  Him,  nota - bly in the Declaration of Independence. For the most part, these are not names that could have come from the  Greeks  or  Romans,  but  only  from  the  Jewish  Tes - tament.  Perhaps  the  Founders  avoided  Christian  lan - guage because they didn’t want to divide one another, since different colonies were founded under different Christian inspirations. In any case, all found common language in the language of the Jewish Testament. It is important for citizens today whose main inspiration is the Enlightenment and Reason to grasp the religious elements in the founding, which have been understat - ed for a hundred years. For  these  principles  are  important  to  many  fellow citizens,  and  they  are  probably  indispensable  to  the moral health of the Republic, as Washington taught us in  his  Farewell  Address: “Of  all  the  dispositions  and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” Reason  and  faith  are  the  two  wings  by  which  the American eagle took flight. If I stress the second wing, the Jewish especially, it is because scholars have paid too much attention to Jef - ferson in these matters and ignored the other one hun - dred  top  Founders.  For  instance,  we’ve  ignored  John Witherspoon,  the  president  of  Princeton,  “the  most influential  professor  in  the  history  of  America,”  who taught one President (Madison stayed an extra year at Princeton  to  study  with  him),  a  Vice  President,  three Supreme Court justices including the chief justice, 12 members  of  the  Continental  Congress,  five  delegates No. 7 No. 7 to  the  Constitutional  Convention,  14  members  of  the State Conventions (that ratified the Constitution). Dur - ing the revolution, many of his pupils were in positions of command in the American forces. We’ve ignored Dr. Benjamin Rush of Pennsylvania, John Wilson of Penn - sylvania, and a host of others. I  want  to  quote  from  some  of  the  Founders  to give  you  a  taste  of  the  religious  energy  behind  the founding. Je FF e R son’s sA nct I on Here is my first little story, an anecdote recorded by a minister of the time: President  Jefferson  was  on  his  way  to  church  on a Sunday morning with his large red prayer book under his arm when a friend querying him after their  mutual  good  morning  said  which  way  are you walking Mr. Jefferson. To which he replied to Church Sir. You going to church Mr. J. You do not believe a word in it. Sir said Mr. J. No nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best reli - gion that has ever been given to man and I as chief Magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example. Good morning Sir. Note  what  Jefferson  is  saying.  He  didn’t  say  he believed  in  the  Christian  God;  he  evaded  that  point. But Jefferson did agree with what all his colleagues in the founding thought, that a people cannot maintain liberty without religion. Here is John Adams in 1776: I sometimes tremble to think that although we are engaged in the best cause that ever employed the human heart, yet the prospect of success is doubtful,  not  for  want  of  power  or  of  wisdom but of virtue. The  founding  generation  had  no  munitions  fac - tory  this  side  of  the  ocean,  and  yet  they  were  facing the  most  powerful  army  and  the  largest  navy  in  the world. Besides, their unity was fragile. The people of Virginia did not like the people of Massachusetts. The people  of  Massachusetts  did  not  think  highly  of  the people of Georgia. Reflecting on this point, President Witherspoon,  who  had  just  arrived  from  Scotland  in 1768 and was not at first in favor of it, gave a famous sermon  in  April  1776  supporting  independence  two months before July 4. His text was read in all 500 Pres - byterian  churches  in  the  colonies  and  widely  repro - duced.  Witherspoon  argued  that  although  hostilities had been going on for two years, the king still did not understand that he could easily have divided the colo - nies and ended the hostilities. That the king didn’t do so showed that he was not close enough to know how to govern the Americans. If they were to stick together with people they didn’t particularly like, the Americans needed virtues of tol - erance,  civic  spirit,  and  a  love  of  the  common  good. Further,  because  the  new  nation  couldn’t  compete  in armed  power,  the  colonists  depended  on  high  moral qualities in their leaders and on devotion in the people. In order to win, for instance, Washington had to avoid frontal combat, and to rely on the moral endurance of his countrymen year after year. To this end, Washing - ton issued an order that any soldier who used profane language  would  be  drummed  out  of  the  army.  He impressed upon his men that they were fighting for a cause  that  demanded  a  special  moral  appeal,  and  he wanted no citizen to be shocked by the language and behavior of his troops. The men must show day-by-day that they fought under a special moral covenant. Now  think  of  our  predicament  today.  How  many people in America today understand the four key words that  once  formed  a  great  mosaic  over  the  American Republic? Truth ,  we  “hold  these  truths”; Liberty, “con - ceived in liberty”; Law, “liberty under law”; and Judge, “appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for  the rectitude of our intentions.” On the face of things, our Founders were committing treason. In the eyes of the world, they were seditious. They appealed to an objec - tive world, and beyond the eyes of an objective world, they appealed to the Supreme Judge for the rectitude