A Declaration of Dependence

In the years preceding the American Revolution of 1776, King George of England became increasingly despotic. He arbitrarily raised taxes, required colonists to lodge and feed his troops, appointed corrupt judges, incited Indians to murder the colonists, required his assent on all new laws, and so on.

Chafing under these unjust actions and laws, representatives of the States sent the Declaration of Independence to King George. The Founding Fathers believed that they and all men have certain rights that antecede the presumptuous authority and jurisdiction of majority vote, parliaments, or kings:

“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…” The mission and purpose of government is preserving and securing the rights and liberties given us by God.

But now, at our public universities, in which department would one find the professors teaching their students “These truths are self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life…?

The same problem has arisen again: Either government is limited by a higher moral law --- the natural law --- or it is not. Many legislators and judges act as if it is not, presuming an authority they cannot hold. They are not swayed by the argument used by the Founding Fathers. In his book Contraception and Persecution, Charles Rice writes: “In the Dictatorship of Relativism, affirmations of God or of objective morality are considered non-rational and are, therefore, excluded from public discourse.” (p. 34)

Bishop Sheen saw this dangerous trajectory in 1941: “In the hour that is dawning the Church must defend democracy not only from those who enslave it from without, but even from those who would betray it from within. And the enemy from within is he who teaches that freedom of speech, habeas corpus, freedom of press, and academic freedom constitute the essence of democracy. They do not. They are merely the accompaniments and safeguards of democracy. Given a freedom which is independent of God, independent of moral law, independent of inalienable rights as the endowment of the Divine Spirit, America could vote itself out of democracy tomorrow… Democracy has within itself no inherent guarantee of freedom; these guarantees are from without…. Our Declaration of Dependence on God is the condition of a Declaration of Independence of Dictatorship.” (From A Declaration of Dependence: Trusting God Amidst Totalitarianism, Paganism, and War, by Fulton Sheen, 1941)

How can people believe in God-given inalienable rights if they don’t believe in God? They cannot! The only basis for inalienable rights against the State is the belief that each person is made in the image and likeness of God. Our solemn duty to America as Catholics is to fight to preserve its freedom by preserving its faith in God. As President Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address, “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced… — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom…”

This station is part of that “unfinished work.” We volunteers ask you, our viewers, to please support the station through your prayers, by telling others, by volunteering, and if possible, a financial contribution.

God bless America!