President Truman on our Christian heritage

by Dr. James Merritt                                                                                                                           Vol. XXIV, No. 6, June/July 2011

Harry Truman, our 33rd president, wasn't known to be a deeply committed believer. Nevertheless, he understood the spiritual heritage of this nation:

"If men and nations would but live by the precepts of the ancient prophets and the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, problems which now seem so difficult would soon disappear ... That is a supreme opportunity for the church to continue to fulfill its mission on earth. The Protestant church, the Catholic church, and the Jewish synagogue bound together in the American unity of brotherhood must provide the shock forces to accomplish this moral and spiritual awakening. No other agency can do it. Unless it is done, we are headed for the disaster we would deserve. Oh, for an Isaiah or a St. Paul to reawaken a sick world to its moral responsibilities.” 1946

Dead orthodoxy is just as bad as dead liberalism.