Why is the Declaration of Independence Important Today?

In previous articles, I have outlined that the Declaration of Independence is indeed important today. I've show that it's important because 1) it is the basis and foundation for everything that has come in America since. There would not have been a Constitution or Bill of Rights had it not been for the Declaration of Independence. And, 2) it gave the purpose and legitimacy for the American Revolutionary War.

Here, I will give you yet another reason. The Declaration of Independence is still important today because it clearly established the United States of America on a Christian foundation. This is why America is the greatest nation on earth. This is why God has blessed America. And this should affect how we live and act today in this great country.

There has been much debate in the last several decades about whether or not America is truly a Christian nation. Some say that the founders were primarily Atheists or Deists. However, this debate can be settled very quickly with a look at the Declaration of Independence and the writings of the founders. The first line of the Declaration begins with references to God.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

Okay, so making a reference to God does not make one a Christian and does not necessarily make America a Christian nation. So, let's look further into the document. Why did the founders desire to be a free and independent nation? They said,

"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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"

The entire purpose of the American Revolution was that American's rights, from their Creator, were being denied by Great Britain. The purpose of a government is to secure these rights for the people, and the Mother Country was failing at this. In the next section of the Declaration, the founders show how the colonies were being denied these God-given rights. They listed 27 grievances with the King - 27 instances where the King was denying the God-given rights of men. This was worth fighting for. These God-given rights were so precious that the founders decided to face the greatest military power on earth. It seems to me that God-given rights would not be worth dying for to an atheist or Deist.

At the conclusion of these grievances, the signers of the Declaration appeal to God for independence.

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do."

Thomas Jefferson, in his original draft, concluded the Declaration with a sentence to show that the signers were mutually pledging themselves to this cause. However, before they would agree to sign their names to the document, the delegates insisted on adding a phrase - "with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence." Thus, the final version reads,

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

It seems to me that Atheists or Deists would not need to depend upon Divine Providence.

Throughout the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers put numerous references to God and their dependence on Him. Although the document was certainly a Declaration of Independencefrom Great Britain, it is also fair to say that it is also a Declaration of Dependence on God.

So, how does this affect us today? By realizing that this nation was born a Christian nation, we should work to continue this tradition. As did the founding fathers, we should rely upon God for His leading. Then, as the founders saw, God will bless the United States of America again.