Gouverneur Morris: Religion Is Important to Civil Society

Gouverneur Morris was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and it considered an important Founder of the United States. When Gouverneur Morris was elected as the first president of the New York Historical Society. His inaugural address included the following:

"The reflection and experience of many years have led me to consider the holy writings not only as most authentic and instructive in themselves, but as the clue to all other history. They tell us what man is, and they alone tell us what he is. All of private and public life is there displayed"
...
"There must be religion. When that ligament is torn, society is disjointed, and its members perish."

And in suggesting wording for the French constitution, he suggested:

"Religion is the solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God..."

As found in the book Christian life and character of the civil institutions of the United States, by Benjamin Franklin Morris, pages 138-9.

Four Chaplains Day

We have many holidays in the United States. One of our most "famous" holidays, which is Christian and has been adopted even by non-Christian countries, is Christmas. But we have other holidays with a religious background. Thanksgiving, as had been shown on this blog, has a religious background. (This is despite the fact that many figures today portray our country as one with no significant religious background/heritage.)

But you may not be aware that we also have a holiday dedicated to men of the cloth, Four Chaplains Day. February 3 is the day we celebrate the heroic actions of four chaplains during World War II. On February 3, 1943, the ship on which they served, Dorchester, was hit by an enemy torpedo and began to sink. There were not enough life vests for the entire compliment of crew and troops aboard, so all four chaplains gave up their vests to others on the ship. The four died in the icy waters.

We have issued a stamp honoring them. We also have several monuments honoring them:

• The Chapel of the Four Chaplains at Temple University, dedicated by President Harry S. Truman.
• Immortal Chaplains Memorial Sanctuary on the Queen Mary, in Long Beach, California
• The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. has a stained glass window depicting the men, and showing a sinking ship and a symbolic life vest in the waters before them (shown above).
• And many others...

To learn more, see the Wikipedia post:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Chaplains

 

Good Article on "Separation of Church and State"

Most of the point of my blog is to correct the misconception that many seem to have about the intent of our First Amendment's Religion Clause(s). The actual words of the amendment have been replaced in conversation AND in court decisions with a metaphor Thomas Jefferson once used: "separation of church and state." And in using that metaphor, they ignore the many statements Jefferson made about the First Amendment when he referred to it creation of "freedom of religion."

Here is a good article that discusses the point in some detail, including covering the British background more than I have:

Separation of Church and State: What It Really Means

What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?

New Bedford, Massachusetts - In the 1800's this was an important whaling port, and whaling was a thriving industry. It was important to many of our coastal communities.

However, all was not without conflict. It seems that the town was quite concerned about behavior of the whalers while they were in port. "Whale men sought out gambling dens, brothels, saloons, and dance halls." It was thought by the citizens that such behaviors were detrimental to the good of the community.

So how does a community handle this? What would we do today? It's a tough problem, to be sure. But suppose that in today's society the town leaders decided to arrange for church services and then later built a church? Is it hard to imagine the ACLU or similar organizations jumping into the situation with a lawsuit on the basis of "separation of church and state"? But New Bedford, the town leaders did exactly what I described. The result was a church that is today one of the National Park Service's Historic Parks: The Seamen's Bethel.

Here is part of that story according to the NPS website:

As the whaling industry grew, more and more men were needed to man the many whaleships leaving the port. At various times, the number of seamen in Bedford Village ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 — nearly equaling the population of the village! The lives of these whale men were quite a contrast to those of the local citizens. Whale men sought out gambling dens, brothels, saloons, and dance halls — establishments which, as the leading citizens observed, were “detrimental to the dignity and good order of our community.” In addition, Quaker whaling merchants were concerned that the whale men spent the wages of a multi-year voyage in just a few days on such pursuits, leaving them broke and without means of support.

What to do? In 1830, the leading citizens of the town met to discuss the situation and as a result of that meeting the New Bedford Port Society for the Moral Improvement of Seamen was organized. They immediately offered church services to whale men before they shipped out on whaling voyages. Services were held either down at the waterfront or in the Town Hall. The long-term impracticality of waterfront services and the difficulty of constantly arranging to use the Town Hall soon led the Port Society to conclude that they needed their own building. In 1832, the Seamen’s Bethel was dedicated as a nondenominational church and serves today in that capacity.

Read more here:

http://www.nps.gov/nebe/planyourvisit/bethel.htm

OT: Cutting Funds from the U.S. Coast Guard

This is off topic in the sense that it does not relate to the First Amendment. However, it does relate to the U.S. Constitution and to the 10th Amendment.

According to this article the United States Coast Guard is preparing for a cut in funding of $100 million. If we do the math, that's about 1/3 the amount offered (see "bribe") to one Louisiana politician for one "yes" vote on a health care bill. If the administration were serious about cutting spending overall, one could accept taking away $100 mil from a service that offers in return for its duty many millions of dollars of saved property and countless value in saved lives every year. But it seems like our government has its own "Toyota gas pedal" when it comes to spending on all manner of items not authorized by our Constitution (you politicians remember that document; it's the one you swore to support and defend). Yet they will fight tooth and nail over spending on the few things our Constitution DOES authorize.

The Coast Guard has roots going back to 1790, when the Constitution's writers were involved in such decisions. One has to assume that when the First Congress authorized funds for the service, it believed the service to be Constitutional. What do you suppose the founders would think of the spending choices we make today?

We have all seen waste in spending by various federal agencies, and I am sure there is some in the Coast Guard as well. However, I have been "aware" of the Coast Guard for several decades and have not seen any federal agency that does as good a job of managing its money AND returning value to the tax payers. Consider the following, which is the 2008 compilation from the Coast Guard Commandant's report:

On an average day the U.S. Coast Guard will:

• Save 15 lives
• Assist 117 people in distress
• Conduct 90 search and rescue cases
• Protect $2.8 million in property
• Enforce 129 security zones
• Interdict and rescue 15 illegal migrants at sea
• Board 4 high interest vessels
• Board 192 vessels of law enforcement interest
• Board 122 large vessels for port safety checks
• Seize 71 pounds of marijuana and 662 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $21.1 million
• Conduct 317 vessel safety checks and teach 63 boating safety courses
• Conduct 19 commercial fishing vessel safety exams
• Respond to 11 oil and hazardous chemical spills
• Process 280 mariner licenses and documents
• Service 140 aids to navigation
• Monitor the transit of 2,557 commercial ships through U.S. ports
• Investigate 20 vessel casualties involving collisions, allisions and groundings

I'll take that return on my investment!