by Greg Allen

Someone recently told me about a movie titled "God's Not Dead." It stars Kevin Sorbo of Hercules fame, Dean Cain of Superman fame, and Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty. After I looked up the synopsis and read the critical reviews I decided to go watch it.

The movie critics gave it a failing grade. One critic, who gave it a D-, said it was based on the premise of urban legend. At the end of the movie the credits read something like this film is inspired by... then it listed court cases that have been brought against colleges and universities across America that have discriminated against students by violating their freedom of speech and religious liberties - the list was quite long. So, for that critic to say the film is a depiction of urban legend, he's either biased or misinformed.
   
Some of the brightest minds in history, atheists, claimed they were once believers in God. On the other side of the coin you have C.S. Lewis, a brilliant English philosopher, who was an atheist then became a devout believer in a Divine Being.
   
There's a small faction in today's society who are neither tolerant nor believing of such things. It's their quest to change minds and quite often in a militant way.
   
Such are those who make it their life's work to remove every ruminant of God from society. They long to remove the words "In God We Trust" from American currency and eradicate the Ten Commandments from wherever they may be displayed.

Why do they condemn or hate God so? If He's nonexistent, as they claim, why don't they just treat it like a myth, like the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus and not give it a second thought?
   
Did those residing in the colonies before America was founded believe in God? I'm sure some did, but many viewed King George as their God. After all, he was the supreme Deity at that time and he held the power of life and death in his hands.
   
But in 1776, fifty-six Signatories of The Declaration of Independence were convinced of something else and claimed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights."
   
The founding fathers, with the penning of that document, acknowledged the existence of a Creator and a nation was born. Did they get it wrong? There's a faction in today's society who believe they did and that document called the Constitution is flawed.
   
The Preamble states: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
   
The founding fathers used the words "Blessings of Liberty." Christians believe "Free will" is the foundation of their faith. They believe it's a gift they've been given. By any other name it's called "Freedom" or "Liberty." For many, that's the true essence of God indeed.
   
The Original Ten Amendments to the Constitution are called "The Bill of Rights." They provide for such things as the right to petition, freedom of speech, religious liberties, and the right to bear arms. But, individual rights are under assault today and those who aren't convinced are either naïve or uninformed. However, I believe America's own have been awakened by that.
   
A liberal faction, often radical, are hell-bent on trying to extinguish the thought of God in American society and around the world. They claim to be tolerant of opposing views, but that's a misnomer. Maybe it's a good thing the nation's capital has been invaded by a wave of socialism, for it will give reason and evidence to the fact government isn't the inventor of "Free Will," a Creator is, and just maybe the founding fathers had it right all along.
   
I can assure you, though, that faction won't succeed in their endeavor to prove to a majority God's non-existent, but they will…most assuredly…try.


Greg Allen's column, Thinkin' Out Loud, is published bi-monthly. He's an author, nationally syndicated columnist and the founder of Builder of the Spirit in Jamestown, Indiana, a non-profit organization aiding the poor. He can be reached at 765-676-5014 or www.builderofthespirit.org.

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