That's the title of the From the Pulpit column in today's Freeport, Ill., Journal-Standard, my (current) local newspaper.
Here are some tidbits:
It is time for a new Christian revolutionary war. It is time for Christians all over the United States to stand up for our Judeo-Christian heritage. Our nation has slowly turned its back on God. We have forsaken our call as a nation, which is to be a light to all other nations. We have allowed a few in the secular minority to rob our freedoms, which came by the blood of many brave men and women throughout history.
The true church of Jesus Christ must arise in this desperate hour and storm heaven with our prayers. We must not relent until our Christian heritage is established again in every aspect of society. Jesus declared in John 8:36, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for our spiritual freedom. He died and rose again in order that all who come to Him could live a life free from spiritual oppression.
The United States of America is still the greatest country in the world. However, our nation is in a battle of major proportions for its soul. We cannot allow the secular humanists, the religious liberals or the immoral of society speak on behalf of our nation. It is time that the church of Jesus Christ find its revolutionary voice, and proclaim to everyone who will listen, that this nation is and will always be “one nation under God.”
Writings like Vandenburgh's make me fear for my country, not just because of their militant demands for conformity of conscience but because of their distortion of history.
Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence (not 55, as he says), whom Vandenburgh says "committed their life, liberty and possessions to see a new nation birthed with religious freedom," only 12 were "Christians" by the contemporary "born-again" Evangelical definition (which excludes, among others, Catholics, but could probably be construed to include Colonial-era Congregationalists). Mostly mainline Episcopals and Presbyterians, the signers also included two Deists, two Quakers and two Unitarians.
Vandenburgh forgets (or ignores) that the religious freedom sought on America's shores by Puritans, Catholics, Quakers, Huguenots, Jews, Baptists, Anabaptists, Lutherans, Pietists, freethinkers and, yes, Evangelicals was the freedom to dissent from the established church. Statements such as, "We must not relent until our Christian heritage is established again in every aspect of society," show no respect for dissent. Indeed, I'm not sure what kind of "freedom" he refers to that a "secular minority" has robbed Americans of, unless it's the freedom to repress dissenters. America has been a pluralistic society from the start, which is why the First Amendment not only protects the free practice of religion but also prohibits the establishment of religious authority in government.
The Preamble to the Constitution -- America's "mission statement" -- refers to establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare and ensuring freedom for generations to come. It says nothing about "serv[ing] Jesus Christ and His kingdom." The Constitution does, however, state plainly that "no religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust."
Quoting the Pledge of Allegiance, Vandenburgh also says, "this nation is and will always be 'one nation under God.'" Perhaps he isn't aware that the words "one nation under God" were not added to the pledge until 1954, at the behest of the Knights of Columbus, or that President Dwight Eisenhower enacted the change as a reminder to Americans "that despite our great physical strength we must remain humble." I see no humility in Vandenburgh's dominionist declaration.
Finally, it takes nerve to say, "It is time for a new Christian revolutionary war," so close on the heels of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas ob/gyn who performed abortions. Did Tiller's murderer imagine himself as a frontline soldier in such a war? Do secular humanists and religious liberals need to worry that there might be other self-imagined Christian revolutionaries awaiting the signal to fire?
It's unfortunate that such an inflammatory and un-American entreaty should have been published so close to our annual celebration of liberty, equality and justice for all -- and of our independence from a kingdom with an established church that did reach into every aspect of society.