Don't Know Much About (American) History

Gary discusses some of the common objections to how Christianity has influenced American civil government and sets the historical record straight.

The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States… provides a treasure trove of information about the Christian foundations and essence of our history, civil government, and constitutional order. It provides long-obscured facts about the role of Christian faith in our governmental system which not only Christians but also all Americans need to know.

Reverend Benjamin Franklin Morris (1810–1867) was the son of the Honorable Thomas Morris, a pioneer opponent of slavery who was United States Senator from Ohio. Morris had three daughters and two sons. One of the sons, George W. Morris, became Assistant Librarian of the Congressional Library in Washington, D.C.

A minister of the Congregational Church, Morris pastored churches in Rising Sun, Indiana, Lebanon, Ohio, and other places.

After his health began to fail, he retired from the ministry. He and his family moved to Washington, D.C. There he worked as a clerk in one of the departments of the Federal Government and was very active in working for the establishment of a Congregational Church in the city.

It was during the time he was in Washington, D.C. that Morris undertook the labor of writing Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States. He spent a decade absorbed in this project, working on it during his spare time. He followed this by compiling a book of accounts of events connected with the assassination and burial of President Abraham Lincoln.

Morris’s deep concern about the loss of our Christian heritage in civil government and the threat of the de-Christianization of our nation’s civil government, law, and public life led him to write the Christian Life and Character and was evident in his introduction to the book. The combination of failing health, full-time work for the Federal Government, active promotion of the establishment of a church, and the labor of study and writing these two books greatly weakened him. The very existence of the War Between the States—he would have called it the Civil War—and the subsequent assassination of Lincoln distressed him.

Christian Life and Character

Benjamin Franklin Morris’ book has been out of print for over 100 years. If you can find an original copy, it’s only because you have looked in the deep recesses of university libraries where the volume is likely collecting dust on dimly lit library shelves. Organizations like the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State have done their best to ignore the content of the massive compilation of original source material found in this book. If Americans ever become aware of the facts assembled by the author in this historic encyclopedia of knowledge, arguments for a secular founding of America will turn to dust. Reprinted by American Vision for the first time in over 140 years in 2007, we can’t keep this book in print!

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Ever since American Vision republished Christian Life and Character, the ignorance of objectors to the book has been swift and loud. Gary discusses some of the common objections to how Christianity has influenced American civil government and sets the historical record straight.

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American Vision’s mission is to Restore America to its Biblical Foundation—from Genesis to Revelation. American Vision (AV) has been at the heart of worldview study since 1978, providing resources to exhort Christian families and individuals to live by a Biblically based worldview. Visit www.AmericanVision.org for more information, content and resources