America's solution to the political problem

Government with religious influence is healthy

“The less Christian character there is in government and the governed,” Dr. David Innes, Co-Chair of the School of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics argues, “the larger the government must be to restrain us and the more dangerous that government will be when it does.”

One hundred years ago, this observation might not have been cause for worry. But, Innes argues, in a public discourse that increasingly discourages religious values, secular government becomes dangerous.

This might be news to “patriotically secular” Americans who think secular government is an American tradition. But, Innes writes, “It is traditional in America to allow religion into public life, to allow government and religion to occupy the same civic space, as it were.” This fact is supported by the numerous political traditions still practiced today, from the President's oath of office on a Bible to the intensely religious rhetoric used throughout our nation's history.

Additionally, Innes argues that mixing government with religious influence is actually healthy. “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people,” President John Adams said in 1798. “It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Thus, Innes concludes, “the good character of those in government is no small contribution to our political safety. Good character is an internal law that reaches where civil law is powerless to go.”

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