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Speaker to tout 'Christian principles' of founding fathers

 
Stephen McDowell is co-founder of the Virginia-based Providence Foundation.
Stephen McDowell is co-founder of the Virginia-based Providence Foundation.
Published March 5, 2015

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, asserting the 13 American colonies' autonomy from Great Britain.

He began with, "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."

More than two centuries later, these sentiments continue to inspire patriotism among citizens.

Many people revere America's founding fathers as exemplary Christian Americans. Others, though they acknowledge the role the Declaration played in American history, question the true moral and ethical standards of our earliest libertarians. Some, including Jefferson and George Washington, owned slaves. Others reportedly strayed from their wives, scholars say.

According to author Stephen McDowell, co-founder of the Virginia-based Providence Foundation, the founding fathers provided a biblical blueprint to build a free and Christian nation.

McDowell, 61, will speak on Restoring America as a Land of Liberty at 7 p.m. Thursday at Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Valrico. The event is free and open to the public.

I spoke to McDowell about America, past, present and future.

McDowell on America's Christian roots . . .

America's unique liberties are the result of ideas that came from the Christian faith, ideas such as self-government, the importance of character and God-given rights.

On the culture today …

We certainly have in many ways abandoned the founders' principles. Our founders believed in absolute truths that come from God. We teach in schools there is no such thing as truth anymore. We teach relativism. As we have abandoned truths, we have begun to lose our liberties and seen the fabric of our nation start to crumble.

The road back to liberty

To restore America, we need to rebuild using faith, morality and the founder's unique principles as a guide. I certainly do believe it is possible. There are many people throughout the country working toward that end. You may not hear about it in the major news markets, but traveling the country, doing what I do, I see it. What happens to America depends upon what we do as Americans.

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The Providence Foundation, formed in 1983, works to provide biblical education to all people and fulfill Christ's call to "Make disciples of all nations," according to its website. For information, visit providencefoundation.com. For more on Stephen McDowell's upcoming presentation at Bell Shoals Baptist Church, visit bellshoals.com.

Contact Sarah Whitman at sarahrothwhitman@gmail.com.