Has Israel Become the New America?

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. 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." President George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796. Washington was leaving the office of President after two terms, despite pleas that he remain to guide the new nation. He was firm in his decision and left to begin what he called a retirement "in which I promise myself to realize without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers." One can read in Washington's Farewell Address, written 218 years ago, warnings against every political and governmental vice that attacks America today. And like every Founder, Washington insisted on religion, for them religion was Christianity, as the foundation of political virtue and on education as the means of preserving that virtue. What is most disheartening is the extent to which America has strayed from the path set out for her peace, prosperity and preservation by Washington and the Founders. They all believed that religious virtue and an educated and politically active citizenry would preserve America from harm. They were right, and they expected the Cobstitution to be the map. But that map has been drawn over and scribbled upon by many successive waves of less than religiously virtuous plaintiffs, lawyers and judges torturing the sacred document in the effort to support the succeeding waves of social unrest, caused largely by a lack of religious virtue and an educated active citizenry. So, today we are faced with an America that has driven religion, certainly Christianity, out of its national blood and muscle. Today, we see a government that cannot distinguish evil from virtue because it is managed by people whose lives are more in tune with the Terminator and Rap lyrics than Christian principles of social justice and personal ethical integrity. There are those calling for a Constitutional Convention to clean up the Constitution's defaced map and restart the nation. But, without a citizenry educated under Christian principles, the Constitution is just one more piece of paper whose words mean whatever current fads want them to mean. ~~~~~ That is why, two years ago when the Arab Spring was underway, I wrote that the ideals of the American Constitution must be adapted to the religious values and social compact of each country's people. The Constitution does not demand Christianity to work. But it does demand religious virtue - a set of guiding moral principles that pre-supposes a commonly accepted view of a virtuous and loving deity - and an educated and active citizenry. Thus far, the Arab Spring has failed to bring such a constitution to life. And today, those prerequisites for virtuous government have been driven out of American public life. ~~~~~ Dear readers, perhaps this explains why, despite being battered by those in the world who despise her integrity, Israel resonates as a country and a people bound together by a common view of God and a vision of how the nation should reflect that God's religious virtues. We are remembering Ariel Sharon today, as an uncommonly gifted military general. But Ariel Sharon was a fierce defender of Israel and the Jewish people. "Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no-one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial," he said. Yet, that said, Sharon also recognized that Israel had to improve relations with its Arab neighbors. "If we are to reach a situation of true peace, real peace, peace for generations, we will have to make painful concessions. Not in exchange for promises, but rather in exchange for peace," he said in 2003. "If it turns out that we have someone to talk to, that they understand that peace is neither terrorism nor subversion against Israel, then I would definitely say that we will have to take steps that are painful for every Jew and painful for me personally," Sharon said. Those words, for all the negative comments turning around the dead leader, are the words of a moral person guided by his religion's love of peace and brotherhood. And perhaps, just maybe, Israel has become the New America for all those who, like Israel, want the future of mankind to be peaceful and virtuous.