Because of the videos, it may take a little longer than normal to complete the homework. Please take note of that and don't wait until the last minute - it will make things tougher for you...Please complete the assignment entirely (extra credit optional of course)
Trip to Gettysburg is possible on Sat Nov 28. Check with parents to see if you can make it on that date. If most can make it, we will leave St. Tim's at 8:30 am and return around 6 pm. Cost should be no more than $10-$15 per person. We will need some parents to go along as drivers/chaperones - please let me know by next Monday Nov 16 if you can attend and if you can "provide a parent"
FIRST HALF PROJECT REMINDER (due on last class before Christmas break)
From books, newspapers, magazines, websites, or other sources, choose 10 articles that relate to worldview, religion, freedom, government, social issues, rights, etc...The articles can be about current issues (abortion, religious freedom, gun control, capital punishment, right to bear arms, same-sex marriage, victim's rights, national security, law enforcement, etc) or about historical issues/events (founding of the nation, civil rights issues in the civil war or WW II, slavery, segregation and discrimination, Scopes Trial, public education, etc) After reading ten articles, write a 3+ page paper explaining the content of each article, how it relates to the issues of government/law and worldview, and what your personal opinions are on the topic. Be SURE to back up your personal opinions with facts that support your belief. In addition to the ten articles, you must have at least five other sources. Include a cover page and bibliography (not included in the 3+ pages)
Remember your projects due Dec 14. Next quiz Nov 30. Study guide will be posted beginning Nov 23.
Read the following article and write a brief summary of the main points and your opinion of the article.
The Uniqueness of the American Experiment (Peter Marshall Ministries)
In 1776, the Founding Fathers of the United States made an extraordinary announcement to the rest of the world. In the most famous written paragraph in American history, Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Why do I call this "an extraordinary announcement"? Because this was the only time in human history that a nation's government was founded on a creed, a statement of faith, a profession of belief.
The Declaration of Independence is the statement of America's founding ideals, a vision statement, if you will, that is utterly unique in world history.
Further, this uniquely American contribution to the history of humanity: the belief that all men are created equal, is the bedrock of our civilization.
Any progress we Americans have made through the centuries in creating a society of liberty and justice for all has come by the application of this self-evident truth to the way we Americans live with each other.
At the time of every great social crisis in our history this question has been at the heart of the conflict:
Do we truly believe that all men are created equal, or are these just empty words and political window-dressing?
This issue was the pivotal issue of the American Revolution, the struggle against slavery, the women's movement, the Civil Rights movement, and is now at the center of the pro-life movement.
This is why I believe that the Declaration needs to have a pre-eminent place in the teaching of history to our children -- because this idea of human equality has literally created American history.
Down through the centuries the American people have always believed that any public policy that robs some people of their basic equality with other people is fundamentally wrong.
Notice that Thomas Jefferson said that these announced truths were "self-evident."
What he meant was that it was not just the Founding Fathers themselves that believed all men are created equal -- it was pervasive throughout the American colonies.
That means that this was an "uh-huh" statement -- everybody knew this. Jefferson said that he was not trying "to say things which had not been said before, but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject."
How could the Founding Fathers say these truths were self-evident? What shaped their thinking?
James Otis, the orator of the American Revolution, wrote that government
"has an ever-lasting foundation in the unchangeable will of God, the author of nature, whose laws never vary . . . There can be no prescription old enough to supersede the law of nature, and the grant of God Almighty, who has given all men a natural right to be free."(1)
Alexander Hamilton:
"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among parchments and musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."(2)
Samuel Adams:
"The right of freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift."(3)
Thomas Jefferson asserted that the only basis for American freedoms was the conviction among the people that "these liberties are the gift of God."(4)
There are so many other similar quotes from the Founding Fathers that it is obvious beyond contradiction that they structured American government on the basis of the natural rights of mankind, which they firmly believed are the gift of God.
Equally obvious is the fact that these beliefs were not exclusive to them -- they were shared by the vast majority of colonial Americans.
Some historians like to lump together the American and French Revolutions, since they both were based on the natural rights of mankind. But, the uniqueness of the Declaration of Independence as the basis of American government is seen in the fact that at no point in either of the French declarations of "the rights of man" is there any statement that these rights derive from God.
Perry Miller, the late dean of Puritan history at Harvard, was fond of decrying what he termed the "obtuse secularism"(5) of those who, in LSU Professor Ellis Sandoz's words,
"approach the founding as a merely rationalistic enterprise of men preoccupied with the European Enlightenment's progressive notions and contemptuous of traditional religion."(6)
Miller insisted that Protestant Christianity was at the heart of the American Revolution. In his famous essay, From the Covenant to the Revival, Professor Miller wrote that
"The basic fact is that the Revolution had been preached to the masses as a religious revival, and had the astonishing fortune to succeed."(7)
Most historians agree that one simply cannot properly teach the history of America's founding period unless the impact of the First Great Awakening is taken into account.
Why? Because this explosive revival, which began in the 1720's in New Jersey, and carried the colonies through the Revolution and the establishment of our new government, was characterized by preaching that stressed the equality of mankind, thereby strongly promoting American democratic beliefs.
For instance, the preaching of George Whitefield, the best-known evangelist of the age, who gave over 18,000 sermons from Maine to Georgia, and, according to Ben Franklin, drew 10,000 people to Market Square in Philadelphia, emphasized that God is no respecter of persons, meaning that He pays no attention to people's social status, and that all alike must surrender to Christ and receive salvation from Him.
This democratic and leveling impact of the evangelical pulpit that helped the American people revolt against the social and political tyranny being waged by a corrupt British aristocracy cannot be overestimated.
The message was unmistakably clear: the only legitimate government in both Church and State, in the sight of Him who made all men equal, is that which governs by the consent of the governed.
The contrast between an American people that deeply believed that all men are created equal and the aristocratic and tyrannous attitudes of an elitist British government could not possibly have been more stark.
The Founding Fathers' belief in human equality came from the teachings of Reformer John Calvin on civil government, the teachings of English Puritans on civil government, and Scottish Presbyterian Samuel Rutherford's important 1744 work Lex, Rex, (the law is king) - thoroughly familiar to the Founding Fathers, in which he wrote that "all are born alike and equal."(8)
The importance of religion to the Founding Fathers in the Continental Congress is further seen in the fact that the Congress called for 16 separate days of prayer and fasting, or thanksgiving and prayer, depending on the progress of the war, during the five years of its duration.
For example, on December 11, 1776, the colonists were:
"to reverence the Providence of God . . . and beg the countenance of his Providence in the prosecution of the present just and necessary war."(9)
Their language here was not just some kind of religious boilerplate. So concerned were they about the moral and spiritual lives of the soldiers that on June 30, 1775, the Continental Congress decreed:
"It is earnestly recommended to all officers and soldiers diligently to attend Divine service; and all officers and soldiers who shall behave indecently or irreverently at any place of Divine worship, shall . . . be brought before a court martial."(10)
It is not possible to accurately teach American history without taking into account the religious motivations and worldview of those who discovered this continent, settled the original colonies, fought for our independence from Britain, and established our government.
The sharing of that Bible-based worldview on the part of both the people and their political leadership during the founding period meant that there was fundamental agreement on the self-evident truths that motivated the struggle for independence and the founding of our government.
Americans still believe that all men are equal before God and before the law; we still believe that these human beings who are created equal are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; we still believe that governments exist primarily to secure these rights; we still believe that the authority of government rests only on the consent of the governed, and that if the government loses that consent, the people have the right to alter or abolish it.
These self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence that are the basis for American government are still unique among the nations to this very hour.
Let us teach our children the uniqueness of America -- that this is a godly experiment in self-government that has no equal in all of human history.
Let us pass on to them a love of this great nation; and let us lay on their hearts a sense of duty and responsibility to ensure that this experiment succeeds, that what Lincoln called "the last, best hope of earth" does not fail, and that Lady Liberty's torch in New York Harbor is never allowed to go dark.
READ SCHAEFFER CHAPTER 9 AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW
1. Schaeffer states that there comes a time when force is appropriate, but it should be in the ______________________posture.
2. He gives two historical examples of using force in self defense. name them ____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
3. Schaeffer states that a current issue is crucial for the future of the church in the United States - what is that issue? _______________________________________
4. Read Dr. William Barker's view on the role of civil disobedience in connection with that critical issue on pg. 119. Do you agree with Dr. barker's view? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
5. Schaeffer notes a belief system called liberation theology. Define liberation theology. What other worldviews is it similar to or connected with? ___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
6. Schaeffer states on Pg 125-126 that we have a duty to use our possessions with _________________.
7. He states that because the church has failed to do this, many make the mistake of equating the _________________________ with a ______________________.
8. On pg 126, Schaeffer states that the founders believed that there was a 'bottom line' principle that had to be believed and acted upon so that the state could never become all powerful and take the place of God. Read carefully. What is that 'bottom line principle?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
9. The Declaration states that the people, if they find that there rights are being attaked and taken away by the state, have a duty to __________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
10. What was the "black regiment" and why was it important? ________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
11. What helped to "sow the seeds" (prepare the way for) of the American Revolution? Explain how so. (pg 128-129) ______________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
12. Define autonomous ____________________________________________________
13. After reading the conclusion to the chapter, explain why, in Schaeffer's opinion, there must be a "bottom line" or a final place for civil disobedience. ______________________
________________________________________________________________________
14. If there is no place for civil disobedience, then the _______________ has been put in the place of God.
15. The early Christians in New Testament times performed their acts of civil disobedience even ___________________________________________________________________
Look up the following names and write a BRIEF paragraph on them:
16. John Bunyan - "If you release me today, I will preach tomorrow"
17. The "Tank man" of Tiananmen Square, China - "the unknown voice of millions"
18. Angelina Grimke - I recognize no rights but human rights -- I know nothing of men's rights and women's rights; for in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female. It is my solemn conviction that, until this principal of equality is recognized and embodied in practice, the church can do nothing effectual for the permanent reformation of the world.
19. Mordecai Anielewicz - 'Who will write our history? Who will tell our story?"
20. Raoul Wallenberg - "100,000 people owe him their lives."
21. Simon Wiesenthal - “What connects two thousand years of genocide? Too much power in too few hands.” “There is no denying that Hitler and Stalin are alive (even) today... they are waiting for us to forget, because this is what makes possible the resurrection of these two monsters.”
22. Medgar Evers - "You can kill a man but you can't kill an idea."
23. Ralph McGill - "the desire for individual dignity and freedom . . . is in the genes of all mankind."
Copy and paste to Go to the c-span site below and click on "House Floor Debate on Health Care - The Stupak Amendment" on the left of the page. Despite the voice vote at the end of the debate, a recorded vote was done and the amendment to restrict the use of federal funds for abortion was passed by a vote of 240-194. Many still oppose the bill on other grounds and many are concerned that as the process goes forward, the amendment will be taken back out of the final bill. Listen to the debate and write a brief summary of your opinion of how the debate was conducted and what was said. Choose two speakers, one you agreed with and one you did not agree with and write a brief note about them, explaining your opinions of the issue and of what they said.
http://www.c-span.org/Health-Care-House-Debate.aspx
Copy and paste to Go to the c-span site below and click on "Justices Scalia and Breyer on the Constitution at the top of the page. Watch the discussion the two justices have regarding how they interpret the Constitution. Listen carefully to the discussion and write a brief opinion on which justice's philosophy and opinions you agree with most and why.
http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/10/31/AC/R/24809/Justices+Scalia+Breyer+on+the+Constitution.aspx
EXTRA CREDIT
Visit the site below and click on "select a topic" on the right hand side of the page and write a brief summary of what you learned about three separate topics and it's relationship to the Constitution. (Do more than three for extra extra credit)
http://ratify.constitutioncenter.org/constitution/index_no_flash.php
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