Ever have an afterthought? Something that perhaps you never really considered at the time? I was surprised to learn in a recent conversation that many American high school and college students are not aware of the nature of the fight for America's independence, and in some cases, even whom we were seeking independence from?! Most shocking is the degree of apathy and ignorance pervading America today regarding freedom.

       Many Americans assume that certain things are forbidden by the Constitution, and others things are Constitutional rights. For example, many believe that such things as prayer and the Bible in schools are forbidden under the doctrine of "Separation of Church and State", while such things as a "Patient's Bill of Rights" and "Affirmative Action" are Constitutional guarantees. Actually, the Constitution says absolutely nothing about the last two, and specifically protects the first two. There is no doctrine of "Separation of Church and State" found in any American founding document. The government, not the church, was to be held in check by the Bill of Rights.

       Furthermore, so determined were the Founding Fathers that government should be under God's guidance that they imposed a $25 fine on parents of illiterate children. When you consider that a suit of clothes could be purchased for $2, or a dress for $1, you can see the magnitude of this fine. To what purpose?

       The Founding Fathers viewed the matter thusly: If a citizen could not read, they could not read the Bible or the civil laws. If Congress, therefore, were to pass a law contrary to the Bible, an illiterate citizenry would not know the Biblical restraints against such a law, and thus unjust and ungodly laws could be forced on free citizens.

       Americans have become so accustomed to the rule of an oligarchy (a small select group of individuals elected, or unelected) that most Americans scarcely attend or monitor "the government". In fact, 67% of Americans cannot even name the three branches of the federal government, nor name three rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights! Can you?

       History, as revised by the "experts", and "scholars", obliterates the deep, abiding Christian faith of the Founders. Many assume that the Founders were "deists", "agnostics", and in some cases, "atheists". Textbooks fail to even mention the anguish experienced by these men over the apparent contradiction of slavery in the colonies. But Jefferson, who wrote... "All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with... liberty...", also wrote... "commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the Book of Life than that these people are to be free."

       Washington and Adams, as well as Jefferson and other Founding Fathers, strove mightily to free their own slaves. George Washington, who in life was prohibited by the British and the Virginia State Legislature from freeing his slaves, wrote in 1786, "...it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted, by which slavery in this country be abolished by law." Upon his death, his slaves were freed in his will... Washington providing not only freedom, but also a stipend until they could become self-sufficient! Jefferson could not free his slaves at his death because the loophole had been closed. Adams, because of his fierce opposition to slavery, was called the "hellhound of slavery".

       It is clear from the above, or any reading of a non-revisionist history, that America is God's idea. An American people, whatever the gender, race, creed, culture, or national origin, owe their liberties to the faith of the Founding Fathers and the Providence of the Almighty. As Washington so clearly stated in a letter he wrote in 1792...

        "I am sure there never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them."

       Surely, God is not an afterthought.