It’s the 4th of July, the summer’s biggest celebration.

But before any of us fire up the grill or chill the beer (and yes, hold the Bud Light, please), it is worth asking, “What are we celebrating?”

The short answer is, of course, our independence, our freedom. But at the risk of begging the question, our independence and freedom from what?

Freedom From What?

Those who say it is our independence and freedom from Great Britain are only partially correct. True, our founders, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison and Washington, deeply resented things like taxation and military occupation by the British Crown. But they openly said that their struggle was not just against earthly powers, and it was not to sever connections with Great Britain. Indeed, within a year and a half after signing the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which marked the end of the Revolutionary War, the United States eagerly normalized diplomatic relations with King George III and his government.

What the founders of our country fought for, and what we should hold on to for dear life, was not independence from one nation or another, but freedom from the sinister forces of our fallen human nature: The lust for power, unbridled self-interest and resulting tyranny over others, and the evil that comes from a refusal to restrain our passions.

Those who fought the Revolutionary War and formed our country knew that there was no document, no court, no assembly or elected office that could safeguard our nation from these evil forces. Our only lasting defense against the forces which tear nations apart was the absolute need to worship God and publicly acknowledge our dependence on Him. The founders wrote and spoke about this plain truth openly and frequently. 

Self-Evident Truths

It is a historical fact that if our founders had not been deeply religious Christian men and women, they likely would not have taken up the fight to overthrow the British Crown’s tyranny. When the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1776 to draft and then adopt the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, they declared that the “Laws of nature and Nature’s God” entitled us to self-rule. The founders proclaimed that “certain truths,” among them the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” were “self-evident” (meaning they needed no justification) because they had self-evidently been given to us by our Creator.

No Separation Between Church and State

Those representatives who signed the Declaration and went on the fight for our freedom were highly educated men of deep faith, and they knew what they were doing. And none of them, in writing the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, ever spoke of a “wall” between church and state, the exclusion of faith from the governance process. The first and only use of this phrase was by Thomas Jefferson in a private letter written in 1802, nearly two decades after the ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Shortly after the Revolutionary War had ended, several states, including New York and Virginia, refused to ratify the Constitution without amendments that limited what the newly formed federal government could do to the individual, especially in matters of religion. James Madison, the principal author of the first ten Amendments to the Constitution (the Bill of Rights), understood the importance of faith among the people of the states, and began the First Amendment as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

Madison’s purpose, and as the First Amendment makes explicitly clear, was to keep the government out of the business of creating a state religion (like England had) and keep it away from meddling in the religious expressions of the people.

America Would Not Last Without Faith and Worship

So, contrary to the ravings of those who are bent on forcing others to bake them cakes or build them websites, let us put to rest, once and for all, the lie that the founders of our nation thought that faith or religious expression should not be part of our lives, be that in business or politics. The founders were convinced our country would not endure without faith and worship.

For example, in 1798 when many thought that their young country might go to war with France, John Adams, our second President, issued a proclamation urging Americans to observe a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer. Adams had been in the thick of the conflict with England as one of the most ardent patriots and founding fathers. He also had an unshakable conviction that the sanctity of the law was grounded in the inalienable rights given to humanity by God. So deep was his conviction that equality before the law was divinely ordered that in 1770 he successfully defended in court the British soldiers who had shot into the crowd at the Boston Massacre.

Religion was Essential 

In his 1798 proclamation, Adams began by reminding Americans that religion, the worship of God in whatever way they choose, was essential for “the promotion of that morality and piety without which social happiness can not exist nor the blessings of a free government be enjoyed….” Adams went even deeper in connecting the exercise of faith to the fate of the nation:

I have therefore thought fit to recommend, and I do hereby recommend, that Wednesday, the 9th day of May next, be observed throughout the United States as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer; that the citizens of these States, abstaining on that day from their customary worldly occupations, offer their devout addresses to the Father of Mercies agreeably to those forms or methods which they have severally adopted as the most suitable and becoming; that all religious congregations do, with the deepest humility, acknowledge before God the manifold sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individuals and as a nation, beseeching Him at the same time, of His infinite grace, through the Redeemer of the World, freely to remit all our offenses, and to incline us by His Holy Spirit to that sincere repentance and reformation which may afford us reason to hope for his inestimable favor and heavenly benediction…

Adams, and the other founders, knew that we could only maintain our nation by keeping our shortcomings in check and praying that God would overlook our inevitable trespasses. Small wonder that our founders drew on the gospel for many of the organizing principles of our country: The separation of state and religious powers (Matt. 22:20), the sanctity of life (Jer.1:5) and the right of the weaker minority to be defended against the tyranny of the majority (John 8:7).

From the beginning, our founders knew that to be a good citizen and a defender of the nation meant practicing our faith with dedication and devotion. That is the freedom that they fought to protect and hoped we would celebrate.

To emphasize this connection between the practice of faith and the fate of our country, many cite George Washington’s farewell address in which he wrote:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable…. And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.

Washington’s words are well worth remembering.

America the Beautiful

But for this 4th of July, to answer the question of what we celebrate, let me suggest the much-neglected second verse of Katherine L. Bates’ 1904 version of “America The Beautiful:”

“O beautiful for pilgrim feet

Whose stern impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness.

America! America!

God mend thine ev’ry flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law.” 

Guardian of Our Independence and Freedom

As a nation, God’s blessings come to us through our faith and self-control, which are the guardian of our independence and freedom. So this year, before we take that first bite of hot dog or sip of cold beverage, let’s start our celebrations right. Let’s pause for a moment, publicly bow our heads and somberly pray: “Good Lord, we thank You for this day. We thank You for the 4th of July.”

Dr. Jeff Gardner holds an MA in history and a Ph.D. in Communication and Media Studies. For over a decade, he has worked in media, writing and taking photographs for various publications and organizations across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. His work has been featured in numerous national and international publications and broadcasts. He teaches courses in media, culture and government at Regent University. You can reach him at jeffgardner.online.