One of the key strengths of the American republic was the fact that our founding fathers believed in the necessity of virtue and morality as the bedrock foundation for the success of our country. The leaders of the French Revolution destroyed the foundation of God and the church, and that led to widespread murder, chaos, and dictatorship. That never happened in England or in America. We retained a Christian heritage and tradition for another 150 years.

Here’s what some of the early leaders of our country said about how important morality and virtue are for the health and strength of the nation.

• Washington: Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.
• Thomas Jefferson asked: Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?
• John Adams: Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.

Many of our founding fathers believed the same thing: our nation was built on the foundation of Christian morality and virtue. Without those values, the nation cannot stand.

It’s highly questionable whether most Americans today are moral and religious people. Few of the leading figures of American society believe in biblical definitions of virtue or morality. Many of the most famous people in America are deeply immoral people. Most professing Xns are not genuinely Xn in their attitudes and actions. Many of our citizens don’t believe in God, at least not the God of the Bible. Some of the most admired people call evil good and good evil.

A perfect case in point is the practice of abortion. In 1973, the SCOTUS handed down a ruling legalizing abortion. Since that time, about 60M legal abortions have been performed in the US. These days, the annual number of abortions stands at about 1M per year. Many promote and encourage the practice.

I would suggest that one of the biggest moral and human rights issue facing our country today is the issue of abortion. If a country legalizes abortion and defends the practice, what does that say about the morals and ethics of the citizens of that nation? Any nation that tolerates the practice of abortion proves that it has no sense of virtue or morality. Or really, it has a corrupt and perverted sense of morality. A country that allows abortion is the opposite of moral and virtuous. And without a foundation of morality and virtue—without the simple compassion we should have toward the most helpless and the most innocent—our country is on the fast track toward failure and destruction.