David Barton
WallBuilders founder and director
October 2000 –Government always has had, and always will have, a direct influence on matters of religion; for its public policies will either encourage, accommodate, tolerate, hinder, or prohibit religious expressions. The key to which of these policies is adopted by a government rests on nothing more than the personal beliefs of the officials who formulate those policies. As William Penn (a Quaker minister and the founder of Pennsylvania) explained:
Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them. . . . Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments. Let men be good and the government cannot be bad. . . . But if men be bad, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn.
Quite simply, government policies always reflect the personal values of those involved in establishing those policies. That is, a God-fearing leader will not enact God-hostile policies any more than a leader who is an enemy of religious expression will encourage the public acknowledgment of God.
This truth was so well understood that, even a century after Penn’s declaration, John Francis Mercer reminded the other delegates at the Constitutional Convention:
It is a great mistake to suppose that the paper we are to propose [the Constitution] will govern the United States. It is the men whom it will bring into the government and the interest in maintaining it that is to govern them. The paper will only mark out the mode and the form. Men are the substance and must do the business.
Understanding that public policies were a direct reflection of the beliefs of those in office, William Paterson, a signer of the Constitution and a Justice on the U. S. Supreme Court, reminded citizens of the Scriptural truth that:
When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan. (Proverbs 29:2)
Yet, the only way that the righteous can rule in America is to be elected to office, and they can only be elected to office when God-fearing, moral citizens vote for them. Quite simply, then, into the hands of citizens has been placed the stewardship of the nation and its policies.
Understanding this stewardship, citizens were taught for generations to apply Biblical principles to their voting. For example, Founding Father and educator Noah Webster (a soldier in the American Revolution and the man responsible for Article 1, Section 8, ¶8 of the Constitution) reminded citizens:
In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. . . . It is alleged by men of loose principles or defective views of the subject that religion and morality are not necessary or important qualifications for political stations. But the Scriptures teach a different doctrine. They direct that rulers should be men “who rule in the fear of God, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness” (Exodus 18:21).
In fact, so clear was this Scriptural directive that Webster concluded:
When a citizen gives his suffrage [vote] to a man of known immorality, he abuses his trust [civic responsibility]; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor; he betrays the interest of his country.
The warning was clear: if citizens became negligent in electing moral, Godfearing leaders to office, their government would become corrupt and their civil liberties would be endangered; and when civil liberties are lost, so, too, will be religious liberties. As the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon (signer of the Declaration of Independence) wisely observed:
There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost and religious liberty preserved entire.
The freedom to exercise our religious liberties depends on the maintenance of our civil liberties, and the freedom to exercise both depends on our wise choice of leaders. In short, the quality of our government and its policies rests completely in the hands of the people. As President James A. Garfield, a gospel minister, once reminded citizens:
Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . . [I]f the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.
The current condition of our government and our country is simply a reflection of the action – or lack thereof – by the God-fearing community. Christians must awaken and again become active in the civic arena, moving beyond their self-imposed boundaries of church and home. It is time to remember the warning given by Charles Finney, a minister and leader in America’s Second Great Awakening, who reminded Christians:
The Church must take right ground in regard to politics. . . . [T]he time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics. . . . Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. . . . He [God] will bless or curse this nation according to the course they [Christians] take [in politics].
The responsibilities facing God-fearing citizens this coming election are somber, and the potential repercussions from our actions – or lack thereof – are both far-reaching and longlasting. Remember that where citizen complacency rules, wrong principles, and policies will abound; and when it comes to sound government, the enemy is seldom “them”; it is generally citizen apathy. Consequently, voting, one of the simplest of citizen responsibilities, is also one of the most important. 
David Barton is the founder and president of WallBuilders. Call 1-800-873-2845 for a free resource catalog or write to WallBuilders, P.O. Box 397, Aledo, TX 76008. Visit their website at www.wallbuilders.com.
