Let me first say–I am not trying to venerate any president.  All had their faults, and I was old enough to remember President Ronald Reagan’s issues, including the Iran Contra Scandal.  I didn’t even think I liked him that much.  I was often critical of him until others came along.  That being said, I would like to remember something he said that was truly profound.  On this date in 1984, at a prayer breakfast (in Dallas, Texas, I think), President Ronald Reagan made a very significant speech concerning God, religion, and the state of our country.  One of the significant statements was:

“If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”

Lest you think that I am proposing that this nation was founded as some kind of Christian country that followed God exclusively, I know my history fairly well.  Were all the Founding Fathers Christians?  Probably not, but that is not my call.  What I can say with a strong degree of certainty is that this nation was founded on Biblical and Christian principles.  Very few atheists were around during the founding of this country.  Agnostics?  Probably.  Sinners?  Certainly!  Criminals?  Of course!  But those who founded this country had the idea that we would be “one nation under God.”  You can’t get away from that.  The Bible was the early textbook in this country.

As time has gone on, we have moved further away from God and the principles upon which this country was founded.  Everywhere you turn, things are crumbling around us.  What used to be “normal” is now considered backwards, old-fashioned, and intolerant.  I believe that many of the things this country is experiencing is due to the shift that has been occurring for years.  While there is “nothing new under the sun,” now what was done in the dark is celebrated and brought into the light.   I honestly don’t know how much longer things can go on like this.  And I think the late president was correct in his estimation.

For more information:

http://churchvstate.blogspot.com/2008/10/one-nation-under-god-ronald-reagan.html

http://voices.yahoo.com/one-nation-under-god-5849520.html

http://www.douglasrickard.com/articles/ronald-reagan-quotation.html