Biblical Citizenship Course Review – Week 3

 by Lynda Keck

The first two weeks of this 8-week course by Patriot Academy reminded us all of the biblical influences upon the early settlers and founding fathers of our great nation.  In the third week, entitled “Understanding the Times”, we were treated to video recordings by Rick Green and David Barton. They walked us through recent polling showing that “truth” in America is on life support.  80% of Christians believe atheists will go to Heaven, cancel culture silences voices that do not fit the narrative being rewritten about our country and 75% of college students want socialism!  They explained how this cycle comes about when people deny the truth, which leads to delusional thinking.  Next, people begin to act on the lies they have adopted and finally there is a loss of soul (consequences).  

The discussions in the video showed us that a lack of patriotism is selfishness because many Americans are self-censoring just to get along with others, save face, be popular and avoid conflict.  In the Bible, we are reminded that cowards and the fearful are among those God will condemn.   The hard work we are expected to undertake regarding the truth is to love the truth, seek it out, defend it and the assert it in our lives and our government.

A quote from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay, one of the authors of The Federalist Papers, sums up the purpose of this course: 

“Every member of the State ought diligently to read and to study the constitution of his country and teach the rising generation to be free.  By knowing their rights, they will sooner perceive when they are violated, and be the better prepared to defend and assert them.”

In fact, many of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence believed signing it was their own death warrant.   To honor the sacrifice of so many people that sacrificed and risked their lives to bring our founding principles to life in both the declaration and the constitution, public schools were charged with the great task of informing and building active citizens.   To become an active citizen, we need to follow six steps.   The first three are to read, study and teach the U.S. Constitution. The last three steps are to know, defend and assert our constitutional rights. 

U.S. Congressman Barry Loudermilk reminded us in the video that we need to limit government by protecting our rights and not by expecting the government to supply us with all we need.   U.S. House Representative Ken Ivory reminded us that our rights come from God, it is the governments job to protect those rights.   

This week’s lesson ended with a few important questions we should ask ourselves.  One – to what purpose will you give the one life you have to live?  And two – how do we honor those that came before us?   We were also reminded about a program called Celebrate Freedom Week (see details at https://www.patriotacademy.com/about/celebrate-freedom-week/ ).    There are free resources at this site and you can see which states have signed on to celebrate freedom week each year.  Help change the fact that most schools do not celebrate U.S. Constitution Day – September 17^th.