BETWEEN THE LINES: Without God, America’s demise hastened
My reading addiction has been fed by my purchase of a Kindle last year. Now, I can download books in seconds and many are free or cost less than a dollar. I purchase them faster than I can read them, although semi-retirement has given me more time.
Recently, I ran across the book "The Influence of Christianity in the Making of this Nation." The author, Charles Galloway, was a 19th century Methodist minister.
I discovered that Galloway at age 36 was the youngest bishop elected in American Methodism. The rural Mississippi-born preacher was one of the few reasonable voices on the subject of race relations in the post-Civil War era. He also was a strong proponent of education who later served as a trustee of the University of Mississippi and president of the board at Vanderbilt University until he died in 1909.
Toward the end of his life, Galloway became more concerned about the diminished role Christianity played in American culture. In 1898, he gave a series of lectures at Emory College in Oxford, Ga., that formed the foundation of his book.
Galloway believed Americans were minimizing the contributions Christianity made to the nation’s social and political thinking. He believed the teachings of Christ were the perfect solution to the problems of society.
The bishop understood what many modern Americans fail to comprehend: Democracy without moral restraints is doomed to fail.
One need look no further than the French Revolution, when blood flowed through the streets of Paris after the National Assembly passed a resolution declaring there is no God and abolishing the Sabbath while unfrocking religious ministers.
In his presentation at Emory, Galloway said governments are determined by the character of their religion, whether good or bad, true or false. He added there has never existed a nation of atheists; conversely, there was never a state founded that did not have religion as its basis.
As a traveler, Galloway saw firsthand the world’s religions and found the doctrine that nations must guarantee the protection of life is a purely Christian concept. The 19th-century theologian said that only in Christianity is the role of women uplifted. He writes that family life becomes debauched when women are denigrated.
In closing, the author contends that true liberty only comes from a Christian worldview. For us in the 21st century, he fires a shot over the bow when he warns, “A nation without a God is a nation without a conscience, and a nation without a conscience knows no rule of right, but might, perverts the law into license, and makes authority the bitter synonym of cruel tyranny.”
Removing God slowly but surely from the public square, and abandoning our Christian heritage in the process, should serve as a warning that all is not well. Sitting on the sidelines and waiting for our political leaders to save the day will do nothing more than hasten our demise.
What Galloway has clearly documented is our descent started much earlier than most of us previously thought.
Laughlin is a Christian Libertarian. He is an economist, teacher, father, husband and most recently a grandfather. He has written a weekly column for The Tribune for 13 years. He and his wife Gina reside in Meadowlakes. To contact him, email ablaughlin@nctv.com. He is an independent columnist, not a staff member, and his views do not necessarily reflect those of The Tribune or its parent company.