[Message from our Executive Director, Daniel Wasserman-Soler]
Dear friends,
On September 19, 1796, the Philadelphia Daily American Advertiser printed a “Farewell Address” from President George Washington. Written with the assistance of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, Washington emphasized “unity of government” and cautioned against “party dissension.” Reflecting on the habits that support political prosperity, Washington also argued that “religion and morality are indispensable supports”:
Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
Washington lived during the Age of Enlightenment – or the Age of Reason – traditionally known as a secularizing force in the western world. For Washington, however, religion was fundamental. Without it, he argued, there would be no security for oaths taken in courts of justice. Without it, we could not expect that morality would prevail. He cautioned his peers, influenced by Enlightenment thought, to beware the idea that morality could be taught without “religious principle.”
You can read Washington’s full “Farewell Address” here.
Please join me today in praying for our great country. Happy fourth of July.
Yours in Christ,
Daniel Wasserman-Soler
Executive Director
Lumen Christi Institute