‘Religiosity is not only a crucial aspect of civil society, but vital to its sustainability’
By Andrew Fowler, Real Clear Wire
The United States may not be in the midst of a spiritual revival, as President Donald Trump touted during the State of the Union Address, Feb. 24. The data is mixed, with religion being viewed as “very important” to less than half of Americans, as a recent Gallup survey found.
Nevertheless, for the nation to prosper and bind together, religiosity is not only a crucial aspect of civil society, but vital to its sustainability. This sentiment was expressed by none other than the country’s first president, George Washington.
Although private in his own religious convictions and skeptical of fanaticism, in his Farewell Address (1796), Washington’s clarion, prescient warning to contemporary and future Americans — on national and international affairs — definitively emphasized that “[o]f all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” Moreover, to “subvert” such “great pillars of human happiness” — like the freedom of religious expression — would be considered unpatriotic.