Nation best remember its dependence on Creator

“God watches over little children, drunkards and the United States of America.”

– Charles de Gaulle

The divinely blessed America that so galled former French President Charles de Gaulle is disappearing.

Consider the evidence.

Earlier this week, the nation’s high court ruled on both sides of the separation of church and state debate in a pair of cases provoked by Ten Commandments displays. It seems such public displays are now OK only if they’re antiquated and without controversy.

Modern Ten Commandments displays alleged to promote a Christian agenda are illegal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in separate 5-4 votes.

The court’s duplicity, conveyed in voluminous legalese last Monday, can be easily summarized: Religious relics are worth preserving, but genuine belief has no place in government.

Each time the court comes out with such silliness disguised as intellect, I wonder how many more times our Founding Fathers must roll over in their graves. This week, the court gave its familiar answer: at least once more.

America is bent on being the “one nation under God” that no longer wants God.

Here’s what happened: A Ten Commandments monument at the Texas Capitol had drawn protests for violating the First Amendment’s prohibition against an official “establishment” of religion. The Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings allowing the monument, saying the display had a valid secular purpose.

The display is among hundreds financed by movie director Cecil B. DeMille after the release of his 1956 biblical epic, “The Ten Commandments.” However, two new displays in Kentucky that also drew legal challenges were declared in violation of the establishment clause because they were considered an “improper promotion of religion.”

Confused? You’re not alone.

Here’s how former Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore understands it: “It’s a devastating blow to Christianity in this country. You can post an acknowledgment of God as long as you say you don’t believe in it.”

I think Moore may be onto something here. And the ramifications are both personal and practical.

Is it possible for people to acknowledge God but demonstrate with their lives that they really don’t believe him? We can let the culture answer the question, but we also have to look in the mirror.

It’s common for people to generically acknowledge their maker but chafe at living under his rule. Frankly, each of us is guilty of this tendency toward pride and self-centeredness, present company included.

It’s as old as the commandments themselves. In fact, the sin of pride necessitated the commandments, which begin with these words from our creator: “Do not worship any other gods besides me….” (Exodus 20:3 – NLT).

Today, America stands out among nations as a people who worship the god of self. We tend to get what we want, and we like it that way.

What we want more and more, it seems, is a god who is available only when we need him, say, after a terrorist attack, or before the hurricane season. But this is a fictional god made in man’s image; it’s not the God of the Bible.

The God of the Scriptures tells us he is not merely a figment of history to be remembered as relic. He is the creator and sustainer of all things, including us.

In love, he calls us to a life of obedience. And he has graciously ordained that our lives are most joyous and productive when we walk in his ways, not our own.

Those who delight in God’s law, the Bible tells us, “are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail” (Psalm 1:3 – NLT).

That wonderful psalm reminds me that I have a personal role to play in influencing America’s conscience. I had better not bemoan a nation neglecting God’s law if I do not honor it myself in my private life.

Rather than fret over yet another round of bogus court decisions, I pray Christians will be inspired to do their part to help America reflect her founders’ beliefs. We must walk our talk and vote for those who do likewise.

Justice Antonin Scalia, in dissent last Monday, wrote that “the fact that the Founding Fathers believed devotedly that there was a God and that the unalienable rights of man were rooted in Him is clearly evidenced in their writings, from the Mayflower Compact to the Constitution itself.”

In other words, the Founding Fathers’ beliefs generally were evidenced by what they said and did.

This weekend, we will rightly salute the American flag and celebrate our nation’s birthday.

But let us also remember the high calling to individuals in a country born under God’s blessing.

We are a nation under God only to the extent each of us reveres and obeys our creator.

After all, the battle for America’s soul is fought in our own hearts.