The Fourth of July is America's birthday. The anniversary of the declaring of the Declaration of Independence gives us a good chance to reflect on our nation's religious roots.

The best way to observe our nation's birthday is to re-read and re-examine our Declaration of Independence, and to rededicate ourselves to the principles of our nation's founding document.

Did you know that the Declaration of Independence
is America's great religious document?

The Declaration of Independence is the official and unequivocal affirmation by the American people of their belief and faith in God. It affirms God's existence as a "self-evident" truth that requires no further discussion or debate. The nation created by the great Declaration is God's country. The rights it defines are God-given. The actions of its signers are God-inspired.

The Declaration of Independence
proclaims God as Creator.

The Declaration contains five references to God - God as supreme Lawmaker, God as Creator of all men, God as the Source of all rights, God as the world's supreme Judge, and God as our Protector on whom we can rely.

The Declaration of Independence declares that each of us is created. If we were created, we must have had a Creator. The Declaration of Independence declares that each of us is created equal. This means equally endowed with unalienable rights. It does not mean that all are born with equal capabilities, as obviously they are not. Nor does it mean that all of us can be made equal, as Communist dogma alleges. Obviously and realistically, as the modem discovery of DNA now confirms, each of God's creatures is unequal and different in every other way from every other person who has ever lived or ever will live on this earth.

The Declaration of Independence
proclaims natural rights as gifts of God

The Declaration of Independence proclaims that life and liberty are the unalienable gifts of God - natural rights - which no person or government can rightfully take away. It affirms that the purpose of government is to secure our God-given unalienable individual rights, and that government derives its powers from the consent of the governed. Our Declaration reduced government from master to servant, for the first time in history.

Knowledge of our Declaration of
Independence should be required of all schoolchildren.

The unchangeable Declaration of Independence forever pledges the firm reliance of the American people on the continued protection of God's Divine Providence. Schoolchildren should be taught that many of the men who signed it paid for their courage with their lines and fortunes - and that's why we are able to enjoy our freedom and independence.

Eagle Forum has been leading the pro-family movement since 1972. Its mission is to enable conservative and pro-family men and women to participate in the process of self-government and public policy-making so that America will continue to be a land of individual liberty, respect for life and family integrity, public and private virtue, and private enterprise.

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Reading the Declaration of Independence also gives us the chance to check the reading skills of schoolchildren. Can they read these big words from the Declaration?

If schoolchildren stumble over these words, that is a sure clue that they were never taught how to read by phonics. You can check your school-children's reading skills further by giving them Eagle Forum's "First Reading Test " in the privacy of your own home. It takes less than 30 minutes.