On my travels throughout America, I have the privilege to speak to youth in public, private, and home schools and occasionally churches. While touring in Iowa I had the chance to address a mixed crowd that included a high school church youth group. My first thought when speaking to youth is, Awesome, I can teach and equip these kids with what they need to stand against the secularists in America’s current culture war. After all, every youth loves to challenge the status quo. At least I did.
During this presentation I asked the question “So what makes you an American?” I believe it is ascribing to the doctrine of what the U.S. Code calls the “organic law of the United States” – The Declaration of Independence.
This amazing document contains the ideology that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. AND to secure these God-given rights, governments are instituted among men. Therefore, the principal prerequisite to American citizenship is the acknowledgement that there is a God, our rights come from Him, and the purpose of civil government is to secure (protect) our God-given rights.
After devoting 5 minutes to that concept (a concept which I thought would have been a presupposition to all youth that were at this event), I was directly affronted by at least 30% of the Christian youth present. Their 16-year-old spokesperson asserted, “We cannot force a Muslim to listen or learn the Christian value system in a public institution.”
I retorted, “The Muslim is free to leave, but you will find he won’t because the tolerance of the Christian ethic is what drew him and every other immigrant to America. Tolerance and liberty are anathema in much of our world today, especially Muslim controlled countries.”
I loved this young man’s tenacity and courage to stand in an auditorium full of people and challenge what he thought was fallacy. We fenced a little on the topic of religious freedom and what that truly meant. His arguments were not very deep because the government school systems are not designed to give understanding but rather simple rhetoric, which is becoming more and more antithetical to American tenets.
I want the youth of this nation to understand you can’t subjugate a Christian people. They won’t stand for it! A Christian culture will recognize and reject tyranny before tyranny can get a foothold. A Christian people, by virtue of their understanding of God’s creation, their knowledge of history, their comprehension of the divine origin of law, and their assurance of heavenly citizenship, will never suffer earthly leaders who do not speak and act lawfully.
In order, therefore, to subjugate and enslave a Christian people, you must first de-Christianize them. You must remove from the culture that which prevents you from conquering them.
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak publicly with this youth, and of course we continued our dialogue privately to an exceptional conclusion regarding history, understanding, and mutual respect. I live to change this anti-Christian cultural tide and I hope you do to.
*** Jake MacAulay *** is a Life and Liberty News Contributor and serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Institute on the Constitution (IOTC), an educational outreach that presents the founders’ “American View” of law and government. The former co-host of the syndicated talk show, The Sons of Liberty, he is an ordained minister and has spoken to audiences nation-wide, and has established the American Club, a constitutional study group in public and private schools.
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