Letter: Our Founders’ devotion to God made U.S. great

Friday, July 19, 2002 | 3:50 a.m.

On Monday a letter to the editor declared that "this country is based on the Constitution, not the Bible," and on Tuesday another writer proclaimed that they thought it was unfair to have "under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance because that was "not what our forefathers declared."

If these people would do some research on what our Founding Fathers wrote and believed in, I think they would be surprised. John Adams wrote, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion ... Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

An inscription at Mount Vernon, describing George Washington, includes the phrase, "The hero, the patriot, the Christian."

Benjamin Franklin made a speech which included these words: "I therefore beg leave to move that henceforce prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in the Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service."

These are not the only Founders who had a faith in God. There are others. Without their faith and courage our nation would have become a different place indeed. It is unfortunate that this information is not being shared with our schoolchildren anymore. To enjoy the fruits of our Founding Fathers' labor without knowledge of their true convictions is shortsighted.

MIKE MILLER