A Nation Under God
In 2026, millions of Americans will visit the nation’s capital to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In its memorials and museums, Washington, D.C., speaks to the grand and noble purpose of America and of the founding generation. There’s also much to be found in its architecture.
Several years ago, the Museum of the Bible opened with a first-of-its-kind virtual flying tour called “Washington Revelations.” The experience took visitors through D.C., highlighting the Biblical and Christian references on various monuments and buildings. The sheer amount of these references is, to say the least, impressive.
For example, the Declaration of Independence, a signed copy of which can be viewed at the National Archives, contains four references to God, each corresponding to one of the powers of government: God is lawmaker (“the laws of nature and of nature’s God”); God is like a founder (humans are “endowed by their Creator”); God is judge (“the Supreme Judge of the world”); and God is executive (the “Divine Providence”). The implication is clear. If the powers of government are aligned with God's will, the people are safe.
Of course, this is impossible in a fallen world where human hearts are bent toward sin. Man is not God, or, as the Federalist Papers put it, men are not angels. The awareness of human frailty reverberates through the American founding. For example, at the Jefferson Memorial, visitors encounter these words from Thomas Jefferson:
God, who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than these people are to be free.
Inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial is the Gettysburg Address, where Lincoln stated, “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” At this site, nearly 100 years later, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech,” calling for the nation to fulfill the promise of the founding and ensure equality for all.
The U.S. Capitol is filled with religious symbolism, most notably in the House Chamber, where the face of Moses, the greatest of all human lawgivers, looks down over the proceedings. Moses also appears elsewhere throughout the city, including on the east pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court building. In a sculpture titled “Justice, the Guardian of Liberty,” Moses is at the center, holding the Ten Commandments, flanked by Solon and Confucius.
The Library of Congress holds over 181 million items, but only two are on permanent display in the Great Hall. The Giant Bible of Mainz, a handwritten and illustrated Bible, and the Gutenberg Bible, the first mass-printed Bible, hold the place of honor.
These are just a few among thousands of examples of the biblical and Christian references throughout the nation’s capital. They point to the tremendous influence that Christianity and the Bible had on the founding of our country. As scholar Mark David Hall, a leading authority on the role of religion in American public life, has argued, the American Founders were deeply influenced by Christian ideas, including in the language used in the Declaration and the structure of the U.S. Constitution.
America’s founders drew from their Christian convictions to create a constitutional order that benefits all Americans, not just Christians. Their convictions led them, for example, to carefully limit the national government’s power, value checks and balances, support the rule of law, and protect a robust conception of religious liberty. There were few non-Christians in late eighteenth-century America, but there were some, and most of America’s founders were convinced that the right of these non-Christians to believe and act according to the dictates of their consciences must be protected.
This year, as America celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the freedoms that Americans enjoy, it is essential to also reflect on the role of the Bible and Christianity in shaping and informing the development of those freedoms. The vivid evidence can be found on walls, monuments, documents, and statues throughout our nation’s capital.
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John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
