An Agent for Good: Faith

Independence Day is a unique opportunity to revisit the "story" of america's founding. Perhaps my favorite television show ever is HBO's John Adams.  I had the privilege of corresponding (briefly) with David McCullough and encouraged him to make the upcoming 1776 series a "teaching moment" for the nation.  Hanging on my wall is the picture of George Washington praying at Valley Forge.  Our country was forged from the steel of faith and will be sustained through future trials and tribulations by it.John Adams wrote in 1798 that "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."Despite recent attacks on religion, belief in God has been overwhelmingly an agent for good in society.  Tonight, July 20 at 6pm, I encourage you to join Newt Gingrich at the Heritage Foundation for a screening of Nine Days That Changed The World. It is his documentary about Pope John Paul II's historic nine-day trip to Poland in June of 1979, when he reminded the Polish people that nothing - not even the seemingly all-powerful Communist state - could stand between them and God.  The Pope sparked a revolution of conscience in the Polish people that led to the success of Solidarity's free-trade union movement, and ultimately the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union.The Clapham Group is proud to be supporting a former Hill colleague of mine, David Brog, to promote his new book In Defense of Faith. His book examines the historical record and demonstrates that far from encouraging hate and aggression, the Judeo-Christian tradition has been the West's most effective curb upon these dark defects of human nature.But freedom of religion is under attack, and we are also committed here to protect international religious liberty through our work with Open Doors USA. Open Doors is an international non-profit ministry which supports and strengthens persecuted Christians in over 45 countries worldwide.As Washington empties for August onto road trips and campaign trails, let us all remember the ardurous journey, paved in faith, that our founders undertook to secure the liberties we enjoy.Blessings,Mark Rodgers