The Influence of the Bible on America

In December 1982, Newsweek did a cover story examining the influence of the Bible on America. The story also discussed the fact that Ronald Reagan and the U.S. Congress declared 1983 the year of the Bible. Newsweek writes, “For centuries [the Bible] has exerted an unrivaled influence on American culture, politics, and social life. Now historians are discovering that the Bible, perhaps even more than the Constitution, is our founding document: The source of the powerful myth of the United States as a special, sacred nation, a people called by God to establish a model society, a beacon to the world.” (Footnote #3)

On May 25, 1987, Time published an article entitled “Looking to Its Roots” in which we read, “Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea. That good idea combines a commitment to man’s inalienable rights with the Calvinist belief in an ultimate moral right and sinful man’s obligation to do good. These articles of faith, embodied in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution, literally govern our lives today.”

Any American who wants to know whether America was founded as a nation under God only needs to spend a few hours reading the writings of the Founders. They were such prolific writers that, even today, handwritten letters and diaries by some of the Founders have not been read and studied. However, the thousands of personal writings, letters, journals, and speeches that have been examined reveal a far different picture than what the liberal revisionist historians want you to think.

After reviewing an estimated fifteen thousand items, including newspaper articles, pamphlets, books, monographs, and so on, written between 1760 and 1805 by the fifty-five men who signed the Constitution, professors Donald S. Lutz and Charles S. Hyneman presented their findings in a 1984 American Political Science Review. Their article, “The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late Eighteenth-Century American Political Thought,” revealed that the Bible, especially the book of Deuteronomy, contributed 34 percent of all quotations used by our Founding Fathers. (footnote #4)

The other sources cited include:

•    Baron Charles Montesquieu, 8.3 percent

•    Sir William Blackstone, 7.9 percent

•    John Locke, 2.9 percent

•    David Hume, 2.7 percent

•    Plutarch, 1.5 percent

•    Beccaria, 1.5 percent

•    Trenchard and Gordon, 1.4 percent

•    Delolme, 1.4 percent

•    Samuel von Pufendorf, 1.3 percent

•    Cicero, 1.2 percent

•    Hugo Grotius, 0.9 percent

•    Shakespeare, 0.8 percent

•    Vattel, 0.5 percent.

These additional sources also took 60 percent of their quotes from the Bible. Including both direct and indirect citations, the majority of all quotations referenced by the Founders come from Scripture. (footnote #5)

Footnotes:

4 “Keilor: Born-agains should not have right to vote,” www.Worldnetdaily.com, November 15, 2004.

5 David S. Broder and Richard Morin, “Four years later, voters more deeply divided,” www.msnbc.com.