Kicking God Out: Prayer, Schools, and a Misused Phrase
America’s moral decline did not happen overnight. Over the past six decades, we have systematically pushed God out of public life – and we are reaping the consequences. In the 1960s, activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, an avowed atheist, spearheaded court cases to remove official Bible reading and prayer from public schools. In 1963 the Supreme Court obliged, banning school-sponsored Bible readings theculturewatch.com. O’Hair herself was no mere “concerned parent” but a radical; she even managed a Communist Party bookstore and chaired a pro-Castro committee theculturewatch.com. The irony is striking: a Marxist-influenced atheist succeeded in eliminating a pillar of our biblical heritage in education. This was hailed by secularists as progress, but it signaled a profound shift – the beginning of a culture unmoored from its moral center.
A key tool of this secular revolution was the misinterpretation of Thomas Jefferson’s phrase “separation of church and state.” Jefferson’s words, taken from a private 1802 letter, have been wrenched out of context to justify purging faith from the public square. In reality, Jefferson was assuring Baptists that the First Amendment’s “wall” merely prevented the federal government from dictating religious matters to states or churches christianheritagefellowship.com. He never intended to banish religious influence from public life. Nevertheless, starting in 1947, the Supreme Court seized on a distorted reading of “separation,” using it to prohibit school prayer, Bible reading, and religious symbols in a way the Founders never envisioned christianheritagefellowship.com. This judicial activism inverted Jefferson’s intent and built an impenetrable wall – not to protect faith, but to quarantine it.
The result? By the 1960s, it became “unconstitutional” for a student to voluntarily read Proverbs in class, yet perfectly acceptable to teach that God and biblical morals have no place in public decisions. Biblical influence in politics and education was systematically eroded. The “wall of separation” went from a safeguard of religious liberty to a battering ram against it. As courts and weak-willed politicians capitulated to secular demands, God was shown the door – and a moral void rushed in to fill the vacuum.
Legalizing Immorality: From Roe v. Wade to Radical Ideologies
When a nation cuts ties with its foundational values, darkness fills the void. Just a decade after prayer was exiled from schools, the Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade (1973), legalizing abortion on demand. This fateful decision – driven by the demands of an ascendant sexual revolution – enshrined the killing of the unborn as a “right.” The consequences have been devastating: over 63 million abortions occurred in the U.S. from 1973 to 2022 prolifelouisiana.org. Each number is a life lost and a conscience scarred. A society that once valued “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for all now denied the most fundamental right – life – to the most vulnerable. The moral law etched in Scripture, “Thou shall not kill,” was subjugated to personal convenience. And too many politicians lacked the courage to oppose this morally destructive agenda; instead, they bowed to it or remained shamefully silent.
This pattern repeats itself across a range of issues. We have witnessed the rise of political ideologies vehemently opposed to biblical values and even to the Constitution itself. In recent years, Americans have elected candidates influenced by Marxist and socialist ideas – ideologies historically hostile to religion and individual liberty. (Karl Marx did sneer that “religion is the opiate of the masses,” after all.) It’s little wonder that leaders who embrace such worldviews end up undermining the Judeo-Christian principles on which the United States was founded. They pass laws and promote policies that clash with Scripture and the intent of our Founders. The U.S. Constitution, as John Adams famously observed, “was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other” founders.archives.gov. Yet today’s progressive elites act as if morality and religion are irrelevant or even dangerous. Leaders lacking an internal compass of faith easily cave to every new cultural outrage – whether it’s redefining the family, attacking the sanctity of life, or diluting freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. In short, weak progressive politicians have traded the firm backbone of principle for the jellyfish spine of political expediency, capitulating to whatever loud voice demands the next moral compromise.
Pulpits in Retreat: When Church Leaders Fail to Lead
A tragedy in this story is that, as secular forces gained ground, many of America’s pastors and religious leaders fell strangely quiet. It wasn’t always this way. In earlier generations, pastors were society’s moral guardians. The Revolutionary-era clergy – derisively called the “Black Robed Regiment” by the British – thundered from their pulpits about God-given rights and held even kings to God’s standards wallbuilders.comwallbuilders.com. Their sermons laid the intellectual groundwork for the Declaration of Independence. John Adams rejoiced that “the pulpits have thundered,” crediting fiery pastors for awakening the nation’s conscience wallbuilders.com. Even a century ago, American church leaders commonly spoke out against cultural evils and held local politicians accountable to biblical truth. They understood their holy calling as watchmen and shepherds of both souls and society.
Today, by contrast, too many pulpits are tragically silent or complicit. Rather than confronting sin and falsehood, many modern pastors prefer not to rock the boat. In the face of abortion, sexual anarchy, and blatant attacks on religious freedom, countless ministers offer platitudes or avoid the topics entirely. Why? Some have been trained in seminaries that replaced solid theology with intellectual doubt. For decades, certain seminaries and divinity schools have watered down Scripture – questioning its authority, downplaying uncomfortable doctrines, and even dismissing the Bible’s miracles and power as mere legends. Graduates of these institutions often enter the ministry unsure if the Bible is truly the inspired Word of God. Is it any wonder that their preaching carries little authority or urgency? If a pastor isn’t convinced that the Scriptures are absolute truth, he won’t boldly proclaim “Thus saith the Lord.”
Along with diluted theology comes a loss of spiritual power. A glaring example is the spread of cessationist doctrine – the teaching that the Holy Spirit’s supernatural gifts and miracles ceased long ago. This belief has swept through many mainstream churches, leaving congregations with a form of religion devoid of the power thereof (a scenario eerily similar to what 2 Timothy 3:5 warned against). By denying the ongoing work of the Spirit, cessationism has fostered a comfortable, rationalized Christianity that lacks fire and conviction. It is far easier for evil to advance in a culture when the church is asleep and its leaders reject the very tools God gave to confront darkness. In the early church, the Gospel came “not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). But in many churches today, there is plenty of words and programs, yet precious little power or conviction.
The consequences of pastoral failure are painfully evident. With shepherds neglecting their watch, wolves have crept in to indoctrinate the flock – especially the young. Public schools, from grade school to university, now openly teach ideas hostile to the Christian faith. Traditional morality has been replaced by moral relativism. Children are taught that truth is whatever you make it, that the Bible’s teachings on creation, sexuality, or life are outdated or bigoted. They learn a version of history that emphasizes every Christian failing but ignores Christianity’s foundational role in American liberty. They are even encouraged to explore “new” gender and sexual identities in ways that flaunt biblical design. All the while, prayer, Bibles, and Jesus’ name remain effectively banned from the classroom. This is the perverse fruit of the church’s retreat from the public square. When pastors and parents don’t vigorously uphold God’s Word, other voices gladly fill the void – and those voices do not fear God.
Losing the Fear of God – and Why We Must Regain It
At the root of all this moral decay is a simple truth: we have lost the fear of God. The Scriptures declare, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). By that measure, modern America is behaving very unwisely. Most Americans – even many who call themselves Christians – no longer understand what it means to truly “fear God.” This isn’t about cowering in terror; it’s about a profound reverence and acknowledgement that God is holy, just, and ultimately holds each of us accountable. A healthy fear of God brings humility and moral clarity. It restrains evil impulses and guides leaders to govern righteously. But when that reverence vanishes, all hell breaks loose – literally.
The Apostle Paul described the outcome in stark terms: “Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28). Reading Romans 1:18–32 is like reading the news headlines: widespread sexual immorality, the devaluing of life, celebration of perversion, and people brazenly approving of those who practice evil. Elsewhere, scripture warns that in the last days “people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, proud, abusive, disobedient... having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1–5). How accurately that depicts so much of our society – and even segments of the church – today. We have endless pride and self-indulgence, but little godliness or power, because we do not fear the One who is the source of all goodness.
America’s founders, for all their human flaws, understood that a republic depends on virtue, and virtue depends on faith. President John Adams warned that our Constitution works only for a people with internal moral restraint founders.archives.gov. If passions are unbridled by faith, then laws and courts will never be able to restrain societal collapse. We are witnessing exactly that. We have uncoupled liberty from responsibility, rights from righteousness. Weak leaders bowed to the spirit of the age, and too many pastors exchanged their prophetic mantle for social acceptance. The tragic consequence is a nation awash in confusion and corruption – a society trying to reap the blessings of freedom while sowing the seeds of anarchy.
Yet, there is hope – if we are willing to confront these root causes with honesty and courage. The road to renewal begins where wisdom does: with the fear of the Lord. It’s time to return to the foundations. We need leaders who fear God more than they fear losing votes, who will defend biblical values and constitutional principles without apology. We need pastors who will once again thunder from the pulpits, proclaiming truth and denouncing evil, come what may. We need churches that teach without shame that the Bible is the inspired Word of God – our supreme authority for faith and conduct. And we Christians must ourselves rediscover a reverence for God’s holiness that drives us to our knees in repentance and prayer.
America’s moral decay is not irreversible. But reversing it will require strength and conviction – the kind that weak, progressive politicians have failed to exhibit, and the kind that compromised churches have forgotten. The question is, will we find the courage to change course? The stakes could not be higher. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” If we fail to grasp that simple truth, then nothing – no law, no leader, no program – can save us from collapse. But if we humble ourselves, seek God’s face, and reclaim our role as salt and light, we can yet see moral and spiritual renewal in this land. History shows that even a small group of courageous, God-fearing people can spark a wildfire of change. It can happen again. The choice, and the responsibility, is ours.
Sources: The Holy Bible (Proverbs 9:10; Romans 1:18–32; 2 Timothy 3:1–5); John Adams, Letters founders.archives.gov; W.J. Murray on 1960s secularism theculturewatch.com; Jefferson’s Danbury letter context christianheritagefellowship.com christianheritagefellowship.com; U.S. abortion statistics prolifelouisiana.org; WallBuilders history (clergy in the Revolution) wallbuilders.com wallbuilders.com; Christian Heritage Fellowship on church’s responsechristianheritagefellowship.com.
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