Political liberty affected by 'Gift of Bethlehem'

"Historians are discovering that the Bible, perhaps even more than the Constitution is our founding document…" Newsweek Magazine, "How the Bible Made America."

As we approach the Christmas celebration for 2007 the Newsweek quote from 1982 probably surprises many readers both in substance and in its source.

But, in spite of the fact that most of the media and our educational system from kindergarten to advanced degrees increasingly deny such a profound link of the Bible to political liberty, history, our nation's founding fathers and founding documents attest to this fact: the source of American liberty is deeply rooted in a higher law than man's law; especially that espoused by the Judeo-Christian faith.

What is the source of American law and liberty?

Two years ago when my then 14-year-old son Daniel and I strolled through the Langdell Reading Room in the library at Harvard Law School, I was struck by another quotation in an unlikely place. Unlikely because in the late 19th Century, the dean of Harvard Law School, Christopher Columbus Langdell, under the mentoring of the president of Harvard University, Charles William Eliott successfully sparked a missionary like effort to transform the philosophy of law first at Harvard and then nationwide by denying any source higher than man.

Yet right in the reading room carrying Langdell's name, we saw this quote: "OF LAW THERE CAN BE NO LESSE ACKNOWLEDGED THAN THAT HER SEATE IS THE BOSOME OF GOD."

That quote would, of course, be more consistent with the spirit of the Declaration of Independence that unequivocally states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Our founders, unlike most 20th and 21st century legal minds, clearly believed in four basic principles regarding a higher law. They believed that the basis of law was:

• Something that preceded them;

• Something outside of themselves;

• Something that was objective; and

• Something that was discoverable.

In his 2002 book, On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding, theologian, author and former U.S. ambassador, Michael Novak states it is a scandal that we are so ignorant of the founding fathers. Writing that law schools, jurists and history departments show little interest in religion, he concludes, "One wing [the wing of faith] of the eagle by which American democracy took flight has been quietly forgotten."

Novak's first chapter conclusively establishes our founders clung to a Hebrew worldview based on (1) purpose and progress, in contrast to the fatalism of most other cultures; (2) that all of creation is "suffused with reason, not absurd" and (3) that God created man and woman to freely love Him without coercion.

According to Novak, Thomas Jefferson's statement, "The God Who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time" summarized the third aspect of that Biblical worldview.

According to Novak, Christianity released the essentials of that Hebrew worldview to the rest of the world; Western civilization has adopted them but forgotten their source. Novak writes:

"Nowadays, even secular people interpret history in the light of progress, rights, and liberty. Yet unbelievers received these concepts neither from the Greeks and Romans nor from enlightened Reason, but via the preaching of Jesus Christ, from whom the Gentile learned the essential outlook of the Hebrews: that the Creator gave humans a special place among all other creatures, and made them free, and endowed them with incomparable responsibility and dignity."

Yes, as we celebrate this Christmas, we should recognize the Gift of Bethlehem not only for His impact on economic liberty and modern education, the topics of previous columns, but on our American political liberty as well.

I will close with quotes from two of our founding fathers:

"Our liberties do not come from charters; for these are only the declaration of pre-existing rights. They do not depend on parchment or seals; but come from the King of Kings and the Lord of all the earth." John Dickinson, signer of the U.S. Constitution.

"You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe." John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Peter Johnston, an East Bernard resident, earned a history degree from Cornell University and is a former high school history teacher. He established WORD Dynamics Ministry in 2003.