First of all, congratulations on a most excellent performance last night.  I am so very proud of each and every one of you. 

This morning, our virtue is Faith.  And last night’s program got me thinking, not just about Faith, but about Faith and the history of America.  You may have noticed that from the Revolution to the Civil War, through Reconstruction and two World Wars, the Christian faith has been at the foundation of our national identity…right alongside religious liberty.

Patrick Henry observed that “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”

I wonder if that seems paradoxical to you—that America was founded by Christians upon the principles of the Christian faith…and that that is precisely why you don’t have to be Christian to be an American.  How is it that the Christian faith is the very thing that preserves the freedom of others not to be a Christian?

James Madison gives an answer: “Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and to observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us. If this freedom be abused, it is an offence against God, not against man: To God, therefore, not to man, must an account of it be rendered.”

Our school, you may have noticed, is founded upon these same principles.  I wonder, whether you are a Christian or not, over this past year, have you learned anything that has made you think differently about faith?  Not just historically, but as a matter of your own conscience?  And let me encourage you to always be grateful to live in a nation founded on your right to ask the question, “In what or whom do I have faith?  And why?”

Have a wonderful day.