I agree with the letter “Celebrating our nation’s 250th — and seeing its demise” (April 25, TribLive), which was a sobering evaluation of our current situation. In his op-ed “3 things we can learn from the Declaration of Independence” (May 6, TribLive), Solomon D. Stevens reminds us that the Declaration forcefully states that our rights were granted to us by God, and this document “has the power to renew what is best about our country.”
I grew up in the public school system in the 1960s, when our history was divorced from our religious upbringing, as church and state were supposedly separate. But over time I have realized God played a major role in the founding and survival of our country.
I highly recommend the recently released movie “A Great Awakening,” a true story about the relationship between Benjamin Franklin, somewhat of a scallywag who subscribed to his own self-appointed morality, and George Whitefield, an inspired evangelist who, along with others, educated the patriots about God-given rights and took this nation by storm, preparing them to support the Declaration and believing that with God’s help we could defeat the mightiest army the world had ever seen.
Fast-forward about 25 years to the Constitutional Convention, when, similar to the present, our nation was divided, with each group looking out for their own interests. Watch this movie with your friends, children and grandchildren to learn how Franklin of all people insisted that we turn to prayer to heal our differences so that we could work together to form this imperfect, but enviable union.
Dr. Michael Contes
New Kensington