When my daughter was close to completing her undergraduate degree some years ago, she interned at the White House. Her appointment was in the Office of Political Liaison—the department that had the most interaction with the President and his Cabinet—and she was regularly involved in presidential events. Throughout that semester, I often received phone calls from her that usually started with the words, “Mom, guess what I did today.”
The answers ranged from event planning, holding coats for visitors while they posed for pictures with the President and the First Lady, and taking the elevator with Secret Service men, to things she “couldn’t tell yet,” escorting visiting ambassadors to meeting rooms, or watching Marine One arrive and depart while she stood on the White House lawn.
Probably my favorite moments are some she wouldn’t tell. Like the time she passed out at a presidential press conference and the President’s personal physician treated her. Or, watching the President chase his dog, who was chasing the turkey outside the Oval Office on Turkey Pardoning Day.
But I’m pretty sure her favorite stories would include the Sunday morning that the President, the First Lady, and their friends walked into church and down the aisle, stopped at the end of her pew, and then shuffled in to sit next to her during the worship service. It mattered because, yes, he was the President of the United States of America. But it was also significant to her because she knew how he behaved when audiences weren’t present and the cameras weren’t rolling—and she was convinced that his faith was genuine.
While it may be unusual today for politicians to “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7), our country has a rich heritage of leaders who were committed to following Christ. Our feature this month, written by ICR’s founder Dr. Henry Morris, is a timeless reminder of our country’s foundation on Christian beliefs and principles.
In “America’s Founding Fathers and Creationism,” Dr. Morris points out that many of our founding fathers not only were Christians who firmly embraced the words of Scripture, but they were also strict creationists whose beliefs influenced the shaping of our country. The beginning words of the Declaration of Independence are evidence of the founding fathers’ creationism—“all men are created equal…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”
As Dr. Morris said in one of his earlier articles, “Our nation’s first and founding document thus expressed faith in God as both Creator and Sustainer of men, and there is bound to be a correlation between our nation’s strong foundation and God’s blessing on it.” (See “Sweet Land of Liberty,” Acts & Facts, July 1996.)
And so, as we gather with our families for fireworks shows and picnics in the park, we also celebrate the birthday of our blessed country. The Fourth of July provides the perfect opportunity to pause, reflect and be grateful for the faith of our founding fathers that resulted in the privileges we enjoy in our sweet land of liberty.
* Jayme Durant is Associate Editor at the Institute for Creation Research.
Cite this article: Durant, J. 2012. Our Country’s Heritage of Faith and Creationism. Acts & Facts. 41 (7): 3.
