USA: FAITH AND LIBERTY IN AMERICA: CHANCE OR DIVINE PROVIDENCE -- SEQUEL

[desousa246@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/2/2004 10:23:29 PM Eastern Standard Time, Pdesousa3@cs.com writes:

> Will follow this up later with an interesting sequel -- remarks from one of the speakers -- at the March 14, 2004, Fourth Degree Exemplification. 


Dear Friends:

Below is an excerpt from the Faithful Navigator's Log in the April 2004, Issue 10, Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus, Montgomery County, Maryland, concerning remarks made at the March 14 banquet.

Hope it stirs within all of us a true sense of patriotism.

God Bless:

Pat de Sousa

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......."At the banquet, there were several people who gave brief remarks. The first one to do so was Charles Gallina, State Deputy for the District of Columbia, and a retired Marine Corps colonel. He spoke of the erosion of Christian values upon which this nation was founded. The recent spate of homosexual marriages in spite of state laws against them, the court ruling in California that Catholic charities have to provide birth control services to its employees regardless of the religious beliefs of the Catholic Church, and similar judicial findings, he said, are destroying the "soul" of this nation.
       Gallina based his remarks on recent comments Admiral Jeremiah Denton published in the Mobile Register, on March 7, 2004. Denton, one of the first Navy pilots shot down and captured in the early days of the Vietnam War, is a true American hero. He served this nation honorably for almost eight years as prisoner of war, four of them in solitary confinement, in the "Hanoi Hilton." He was the inspirational leader of a small group of similarly staunch patriot prisoners, in spite of severe depravations and frequent beatings. Denton, a devout Catholic, attributes his getting through that terrible period because of his love of country and devout prayer. In speaking about the forthcoming Presidential election, Denton wrote:

       "Here are two issue areas that I consider top priorities: the war over the soul of America, and national security. Top priority should be placed on an effort to recover our most fundamental founding belief that our national objectives, policies and laws should reflect obedience to the will of Almighty God. Our Declaration of Independence, our national Constitution and each of the states' constitutions stress that basic American national principle.
       "For about 200 years, the entire country, both parties and all branches of government understood that principle and tried to follow it, if imperfectly. For some 50 years, our nation's opinion-makers, our courts and, gradually, our politicians have been abandoning our historical effort to be 'one nation under God' in favor of becoming 'one nation without God' with glaringly unfavorable results.

       "In these days we have not only forgotten God, we are by our new standards of government and culture rejecting him as the acknowledged creator and the endower of our rights. As a result, we are we are suffering cultural decay and human unhappiness. The decline of the institution of the family is the most obvious result... Let's remember that over 95 percent of Americans during our founding days were Christians, and through our Founding Fathers stipulated that no one was to be compelled to believe in any religion, and also stipulated that there would be no single Christian denomination installed as a national religion, there was no question that our laws were to be based on the Judean Ten Commandments and on Christ's mandate to love your neighbor as you love yourself. That setup brought us amazing success as a nation, lifting us from our humble beginnings, through crisis after crisis, to become the leading nation of the world.
       "Now, though, we are throwing away the very source of our strength and greatness. Yet I am not giving up on our country ...[T]he cultural war in the United States can and should be won by the majority of Americans... They are people who believe in God and in the original concept of 'one nation under God.' As a nation, we are now at the point of no return."

As the election period progresses, carefully assess which of the candidates is more likely to reflect a belief in God and to make His teachings a cornerstone for public policymaking -- elements that are so necessary for the strength of our government and preservation of our liberties.
                                        
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