Independence Day: George Washington vs. Current Washington By Marvin Olasky

When the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Bush administration did not act unconstitutionally by sponsoring conferences largely designed to teach faith-based groups about federal grant applications, hard-core secularists were aghast: Here comes theocracy! And yet, the Supreme Court -- led by its two George W. Bush appointees -- was merely taking one small step toward returning Washington to the principles enunciated by George Washington.

That earlier George had two bedrock principles regarding religion and public policy, and as we head toward the Fourth of July, they are especially worth remembering. First, as Washington wrote in 1789, "Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." Second, if Americans stopped believing in God, the nation was in big trouble.

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