Happy Birthday, America!

Matthew Spalding, Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation, teaches us that in the Declaration of Independence, there are four references to God in the document: to "the laws of nature and nature's God"; to all men being "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights"; to "the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions"; and to "the protection of Divine Providence." The first term suggests a deity that is knowable by human reason, but the others—God as creator, as judge, and as providence—are more biblical, and add a theological context to the document.

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God?" Jefferson asked in his Notes on the State of Virginia.

May G-d Bless America and all the good people in it. And may the bad people in it, wither each day until they no longer can speak their fractuous bile.