The Theology of the Fourth of July

July 4 is a religious holiday.  For this insight, thank John F. Kennedy

On July 4, 1946, Kennedy --- then 29 years old, the Democratic nominee for a Massachusetts Congressional seat, and still a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve ---- was the featured speaker at the City of Boston's Independence Day celebration.  He spoke at Faneuil Hall, the red-brick building where long ago the colonists had gathered to protest taxes imposed by King George III and his Parliament.

Kennedy began by talking not about taxes, or about the British, or about the consent of the governed, but about religion.  "The informing spirit of the American character has always been a deep religious sense.  Throughout the years, down to the present, a devotion to fundamental religious principles has characterized American though and action, " he said.

For anyone wondering what this had to do with Independence Day, Kennedy made the connection explicit.  "Our government was founded on the essential religious idea of integrity of the individual.  It was this religious sense which inspired the authors of the Declaration of Independence: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.'"

It was a theme that Kennedy would return to during the 1960 presidential campaign, when, in a  speech at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, he described the Cold War as "a struggle for supremacy between two conflicting ideologies; freedom under God versus ruthless, Godless tyranny."  And again in his inaugural address, on January 20, 1961, in Washington, D.C., when he said, "The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe --- the belief that the right of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of  God."

So amid all the fireworks and barbecue smoke this July 4, consider pausing for a moment to reflect on the one our founding fathers called the Creator.  As Kennedy realized, the American Revolution --- and thus the country we live in today --- started with God, and with the Founders' belief in rights that are his gift to us.  Whatever your religious views, or lack of them, if you are an American, it's at least worth understanding the idea on which our nation was founded.
                                                                                                          By Ira Stoll