                        Condensed notes taken from the Video 
                      AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE by DAVID BARTON
             Except for specific quotes, the comments may be paraphrased
               from David Barton, or in some cases, an interpretation 
                       or additional comment by Dale Costner.
This video is meant to inform you about the truth of the principles that America was
founded on, but are intentionally not being taught in public schools.

     As a point of clarification, throughout the writings of the Founders of the
Constitution, they sometimes refer to Christianity, sometimes religion, sometimes
Godly principles, etc. Also "Providence" was a term used commonly to refer to God.
The religion they are referring to is always Christianity and the God is the God of
the Bible. It was so well known at the time and referred to in so many writings, that
it was assumed in other writings that everyone knew the religion they were talking
about.

                         PATRICK HENRY - AN AMERICAN PATRIOT
     He is known for his saying "Give me liberty or give me death." He also said "It
cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often, that this great nation was founded
not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus
Christ."

                                  JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
     "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: that it tied together in
one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of
Christianity."
                                      JOHN JAY
     Jay was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and one of the three men
most responsible for the writing of the Constitution of the U.S. He said "Providence
has given to our people the choice of their Rulers, and it is the duty, as well as
the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select & prefer Christians for
their Rulers." 

                  GEORGE WASHINGTON - PRESIDENTIAL FAREWELL SPEECH
     Washington gave a farewell speech which was heralded as the most significant
political speech ever given to the nation. It has since been removed from American
history books. He said: "Of all the habits and dispositions which lead to political
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man
claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars." 

                 MEN MOST QUOTED BY THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE U.S.
     Political Science professors at the University of Houston wondered if there was
something unique about the government of the U.S. They gathered 15,000 quotes from
the Founders, located where they came from, then boiled that down to 3,154 quotes
that had significant impact on the founding of America. 
     They found that the three men most quoted by the Founding fathers were
Blackstone, Montesquieu, and John Locke. They also found that the Bible was quoted:
                       4 times more often than Montesquieu,
                       12 times more often than Blackstone, and
                       16 times more often than Locke.
     Additionally, 34% of all quotes were from the Bible, and another 60% of the
quotes were from men who were using the Bible to arrive at their conclusions. Added
together, 94% of all the quotes of the Founders had their origin in the Bible, which
shows the importance of God's word in their lives and of this Nation's founding.

                               BLACKSTONE'S COMMENTARY
     Blackstone's Commentary on the Law, introduced in 1758, became the law textbook
for lawyers for 160 years, and the Supreme Court quoted from it to settle cases. It
gave Bible verse references to the law. For instance the three branches of government
are based on Isaiah 33:22, the separation of powers is based on Jeremiah 17, and the
tax exemption for Churches on Ezra 7:24. Countries even next to the U.S., such as
Canada and Mexico, don't have tax exemption for churches.

                       SUPREME COURT - 1844 - VIDAL VS GIRARD
     A Philadelphia school wanted to teach morals without using the Bible. The Court
said "Why may not the Bible, and especially the New Testament, be read and taught as
a divine revelation in the schools? Where can the purest principals of morality be
learned so clearly or perfectly as from the N.T."
     Any book teaching good morality would certainly be teaching what the N.T.
teaches, so why not use the original source which doesn't change.

              SUPREME COURT - 1892 - CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY VS U.S.
     In another challenge the court ruled "Our laws and our institutions must
necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind, and
it's impossible that it should be otherwise: and in this sense and to this extent our
civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian." The court also quoted
87 different historical precedents to back up its decision, from the Founding
Fathers, Acts of the Founding Fathers, Acts of Congress, etc, etc.

                      SUPREME COURT - 1811 - PEOPLE VS RUGGLES
     There was a man who made attacks on Jesus in such a blasphemous way that it made
it to the Supreme Court and the court ruled: "Whatever strikes at the root of
Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of civil government." They reasoned
that if you attack Jesus, you have attacked Christianity, & if you have attacked
Christianity, you have attacked the foundation of the U.S., therefore an attack on
Jesus or Christianity was equivalent to an attack on the foundation of the U.S. 

         "SEPARATION", "CHURCH", & "STATE" do NOT appear in the CONSTITUTION
     Many people think it is part of the 1st Amendment, but it is not. The 1st
Amendment reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishing of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
     What the Founders DID NOT want was any ONE DENOMINATION of the Christian
religion to run the nation. They wanted to stay away from what they had left in
England, where the King was the head of the Church. However the Founding Fathers and
the Supreme Court were quite clear that Christianity was the established religion,
and WAS to be involved in the government. 

                     SUPREME COURT - 1796 - RUNKEL VS WINEMILLER
     "By our form of government the Christian religion is the established religion,
and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed on the same equal footing."

               January 1, 1802 LETTER from PRESIDENT THOMAS JEFFERSON
                       To the DANBARY BAPTIST, of CONNECTICUT
     In 1801 the Danbary Baptist Church heard a rumor that the Congregationalist
Denomination was going to be made the National Denomination. This disturbed them as
it well should. Jefferson answered in his letter: "The 1st Amendment has erected a
wall of separation between church and state, but that wall is a one directional wall,
it keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian
principles will always stay in government." 
     Please read that very carefully, it is supposed to protect the church from the
government, not the government from the church. And it is supposed to guarantee that
Christian principles will always stay in government. This is where the "wall of
separation" originated, but it was another 146 years before a non-Christian, liberal,
Supreme Court distorted and reversed what the Founders meant the Constitution to do.

                      RESPONSE FROM THE HOUSE AND SENATE - 1853
     In 1853 there was a group that petitioned Congress for the separation of
Christian principles from government. There was a one year investigation.
     The House Judiciary Committee on March 27, 1854 reported: "Had the people during
the revolution, had any suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that
revolution would have been strangled in its cradle." The Senate also made a similar
statement.
     The report continued: "At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the
Amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, but
not any one sect. In this age there can be no substitute for Christianity . That was
the religion of the Founders of the Republic and they expected it remain the religion
of their descendants." 
     "The great, vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our
people in the pure doctrines and the divine truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ." 

                       SUPREME COURT - 1878 - REYNOLDS VS U.S.
     After 1853 for the next 50 years or so there were some other cases that worked
their way through the courts and challenged Christian principles in government. Each
time precedents were cited such as Jefferson's letter and they were defeated. One of
the cases was in 1878. Thomas Jefferson's letter was referred to in its entirety. It
was repeated that the 1st Amendment is to protect the Church from the government, and
Christian principles are never to be separated from the government.

                SUPREME COURT - 1947 - EVERSON VS BOARD OF EDUCATION
     For the very first time in Court history, only eight words were used from
Jefferson's letter. They were taken out of context and a brand new meaning applied,
which reversed their original intent. The Court stated: "The 1st Amendment erected a
wall between Church and State. That wall must be kept high and impregnable." It
didn't recognize that the wall was intended to be a one way wall to keep government
out of religion.

                   DR. WILLIAM JAMES - FATHER OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY
     In the 1940's the Supreme Court and many other courts were being influenced by
the philosophy of James who was a strong opponent of religion in government. He had
said: "There is nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will
believe it."
     The phrase "Separation of Church & State" began being repeated over and over and
this is born out in a court case in Bear vs Colmorgan(sp?) in 1958. The Judge said:
"If this court doesn't stop talking about the Separation of Church and State,
everyone's going to think that's what the Constitution says."

                   SUPREME COURT - JUNE 25,1962 - ENGLE VS VITALE
     This is the landmark case that removed prayer from the public schools. It was
the first time that we had separation of religious principles from public education. 
     The amazing thing is that it was done without citing any precedent from other
cases as is the normal procedure. Instead it was an entirely new statement not based
on any historical or legal base. There were no quotes from previous legal cases!
Instead, it was a brand new doctrine which according to all the previous legal
decisions WAS IN VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION! Nevertheless it took precedent over
all the previous interpretations of the Constitution which had cited many precedents
that disagreed with this new ruling.

                 SUPREME COURT - JUNE 17,1963 - ABINGTON VS SCHEMPP
     Previous Courts had said that you couldn't have a school that didn't teach
Christian principles based on the Bible. Early textbooks quoted the Bible and used it
for teaching the alphabet. This case reversed previous decisions and made a brand new
statement! It removed Bible reading and instruction from public schools and stated:
"If portions of the N.T. were read without explanation, they could be, and had been,
psychologically harmful to the child." How could such a statement be made by anyone
who knows that the Founders of this successful government of America was due to their
belief in the N.T. as essential to the well being of the nation and its' people? 
     At the time of the 1963 Court cases, they took a survey to determine how many
people believed in God or religion. They found that only 3% didn't believe in God or
religion. Although the prayer was consistent with 97% of the people, the Court ruled
with the 3%. This is the first time that 3% became a majority under which the 97% now
had to live by.
     What happened in 1962-63 in a 12 month period was a RADICAL REVERSAL of
everything that had happened up to that point. Removal of prayer, Bible reading and
religious classes in instruction was totally against the Constitution, but these NEW
RULINGS were simply ANNOUNCED by the Supreme Court as if a dictator had taken over.
                  CENSORSHIP & LOSS OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH & RELIGION
     As late as 1946 there was a Bible Study Course that was a requirement for
graduation. After 1963, what had been standard for so many years, was not even an
option to be taught anymore. The freedom of speech and religion had been censored in
the public schools!

1965 The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional for a student to pray aloud.
     
1967 The Supreme Court declared a four line Nursery rhyme used by a K-5 Kindergarten
     class was unconstitutional, even though it didn't contain the word "God." The
     Court said: "If someone heard it, it might cause someone to think of God." (Now
     we have censorship of our thoughts we might think!)

     These kinds of court cases continued and in 1980 there was one concerning what
is called a "Passive Display."
                       SUPREME COURT - 1980 - STONE VS GRAHAM
     A "passive display" would be like something hanging on a wall like a picture,
which doesn't require that you pay any attention to it unless you want to. There was
a passive display of the Ten Commandments hanging in a school hallway with no
requirement to read it.
     The Court ruled it was unconstitutional to display it in a school. They said:
"If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any affect at all, it will
be to induce the school children to read, meditate upon, perhaps.. to venerate and
obey the commandments; this is not a permissible objective." Just think, if it caused
children to respect their parents or to decide not to steal or kill... that would be
unconstitutional?

            JAMES MADISON - THE MAN MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONSTITUTION
     "We have staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of
government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political
institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to
the Ten Commandments of God." 

JOHN ADAMS said: "We have no government armed with power which is capable of
contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people, it is wholly
inadequate to the government of any other."

                       Since saying NO to Biblical principles
                        AMERICA HAS BECOME A WORLD LEADER IN:
                                       DIVORCE
                                 TEENAGE PREGNANCIES
                                 VOLUNTARY ABORTIONS
                                    ILLEGAL DRUGS
                        ILLITERACY (in the Industrial World)

     Each state passed a State Constitution which had requirements they considered
most important for those who would represent them. Generally they were along the line
of Delaware Constitution in 1776 which stated: 
     "Everyone appointed to public office must say: 'I do profess faith in God the
Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ his only son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God &
blessed forevermore: and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old & New
Testaments to be given by divine inspiration.'"      This was consistent with the
constitution because it did not recognize one denomination over another or require
you to belong to any particular denomination. But it did require that you understand
God's principles and God as authority. Ungodly people will not use Godly principles
to run a Nation. That's why the Founders were so emphatic about keeping Christian men
in office. 

                          BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - JUNE 17,1787
     He called for regular daily prayer to be sure we kept God alongside what we were
doing in the Nation. 

                  CHARLES FINNEY - The Billy Graham of the 1800's 
     "The Church must take right ground in regard to politics. Politics are a part of
a religion in a country and Christians must do their duty to the country as part of
their duty to God. He will bless or curse this nation according to the course
Christians take in politics."

                     If God's people don't make it into office, 
                     God's principles won't make it into office.

     Apparently there are people that do not want us to know what the Constitution
and its' Founders really said, or that our freedom and liberty is based on God's
principles put in place by Christians. Instead they use these freedoms to fight
against Christians and God's principles, to take away freedoms the Founders sought to
guarantee. 
     When Christians started moving out and not running for government office, they
turned it over to people who didn't believe in many of the Godly principles that had
been so important in it's founding.

                   THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A RELIGION IN THE SCHOOLS
                      but it may be HUMANISM or ATHEISM or ???
1963 & 1986 SUPREME COURT rulings defined Secular Humanism as a legitimate religion,
lawfully equivalent to Christianity. The religion of Secular Humanism rejects the
supernatural in their philosophy and places man as supreme, and able to control his
own destiny.

1977 SUPREME COURT ruled that Atheism is a legitimate religion, lawfully equivalent
to Christianity. Atheism says there is no God and therefor should be no practice of
religion. 

     The Court said that whatever you believe with all your heart that affects the
way you act, that's your religion. Satanic activity and Witchcraft are other
religions that are recognized and receive tax-exempt status as well. However the only
time you hear the cry of "separation of Church and State" is to get Christian
materials, etc. out of schools. If all form of religion needs to be removed from
schools, why is not the cry used against representation of witches on Halloween? Or
when there is no prayer and practice of believing in God going on in the school, why
not cry out against the religion of Atheism or Humanism, which is the religion of
exclusion of God.

     Non-recognition of God is being practiced every day in schools and it is being
forced on all, including those who desire to pray and read the Bible. Christians are
attacked for believing in the religion upon which America was founded while other
religions are being allowed with no comment. An American should be able to speak of
his roots in Christianity proudly and it should be taught in the schools.
     To refer to God's principles in the Bible is to stand for what made America a
free country, with liberty for all. To reject the Scriptures is to reject our
heritage and the foundation principles which men fought and died for to obtain. What
is called right-wing extremism today by intolerant liberals is really a mis-label. It
is really what this country was founded upon and was the normal middle of the road
conservatism for a long time afterward. It is the extremists that have put the label
on to divert attention from their own far out position (with respect to the Founders)
of Secular Humanism & Atheism.

     Separation of Church & State is not a part of our history and not a part of our
law until relatively recently. It is certainly not Biblical, and most people don't
know that it was lifted from Jefferson's letter out of context to say the opposite of
what the rest of his letter says.

     The religion of Christianity and the Biblical principles were the very basis for
the Constitution & held in the highest regard by the writers of the Constitution.
They so wanted it to remain a part of the government and the schooling that it is
outrageous that we are having censorship today of their writings which are in support
of Christianity and the Bible. It is intolerable that the Supreme Court could get
away with a decision that is in total disagreement with the Constitution. It can't be
emphasized too much that the Constitution and the Founder's intentions were to
protect the exercise of Christianity in the government. Any ruling otherwise is
inconsistent with the Constitution, and is a deliberate distortion without any basis.

     The 1963 decision that was based on no precedent and is now used as a precedent
for everything since, needs to be shown for what it is. It was a total reversal from
what was right, and another reversal is necessary to put it back right. We have a
Godly heritage which has been robbed from us by the 3% who made a lot of noise about
"separation of Church & State". The only way to reverse this trend is to get informed
about the truth of our heritage and start fighting to gain it back.