Free PDF of Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence Book
As we celebrate the 249th anniversary of our nation’s birthday, we also need to honor the memory of the 56 brave men that made that birthday possible. They pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. The link below is for an 1870 PDF version of Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by Benson Lossing of a book originally published in 1848 contains short biographies of these brave men.
https://campconstitution.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/livesofsignersof0000bens.pdf
New Hampshire Educaton Options: Upsetting the Education Mafia
My late friend and mentor Sam Blumenfeld once remarked that the government school system is a “sick obsolete dinosaur being propped up by powerful lobbyists like the National Education Association, and government officials.” The truth of that statement was on full display recently at the Wolfeboro Library. On June 10th New Hampshire Education Options held an exposition inside while outside on the sidewalk in front of the library were a group of people demonstrating against New Hampshire Education Options’ presence. There were well over 100 attendees at the exposition, mainly young couples with small children who are seeking alternatives to government schools. Some of the attendees were already homeschooling their children or sending them to private or charter schools.
The folks demonstrating against free people making their own decisions about their children’s education outside of the library-about twenty- were trying to preserve the sick obsolete dinosaur that cost the taxpayers up to $30,000 a year per student while not only giving them a substandard level of education but are aggressively promoting a worldview that is hostile to a moral and free people. I suspect some, if not all of them, were government school employees or family members of government school employees that have a financial interest in preserving that sick obsolete dinosaur. The organizer of the protest was Bobbi Boudman who ran unsuccessfully for state rep. This sick obsolete dinosaur supporter called the Education Options organizers and the attendees “hate mongers.” Such a reckless and irresponsible statement from a mouthpiece of the Education Mafia will not deter the folks at Education Options. It will only inspire them. As the saying goes, “If you are catching flak, you must be over the target.”
From Education Option’s website:
Our mission is to provide information, support, and connections to families who want to explore education options. To do this, we hold expos in different regions around the state, connect people to the resources that will help them, and support families in their efforts to educate their children.
EdOpt is a 501(c)(3) non-profit education organization. We accept tax-deductible donations to help us with our mission.
2024 Year Founded 12 Expos Hosted 1000+ Providers Indexed 2+Upcoming Expos.
A few testimonials:
My daughter used to cry every morning and feel sick to her stomach before going to school – she never wanted to go.
We chose a drop-off learning center. Mom of a 10 Year Old
My kids were never excited to learn until they started at Micah Studios in Newport. Mom of 3 (ages 7, 9 and 12)
My third grader was struggling to read at 1st grade level. We chose to homeschool. Homeschool Mom
Its founder is Jody Underwood:
President/Chair Jody Underwood has spent almost all of her life involved in education. Retired in 2023, she’s a learning scientist-she designed and produced software to help students learn or be assessed. For many years she worked for the Research Division of Education Testing Service (ETS), the people who bring you the SAT, NAEP, and other standardized tests.
She served on the Croydon, NH School Board from 2010-2023, serving as chair much of the time. She’s a founding board member of the non-profit School District Governance Association (SDGA) whose mission is to help school board members discover their lawful powers. She has been involved in bill review, focusing on the vast number of education bills proposed each year for the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance and the SDGA.
Along with a small team, she began the process of starting a charter school in the Upper Valley Area. They found that the law wouldn’t allow them to do the type of school they wanted but learned a lot about the process along the way. Jody worked with the founders to set up Micah Studios, a learning center in Newport, NH, which started in September 2024.
She has a PH. D. in Science and Technology Education, and a B.S. and M.S. in computer science with a focus in artificial intelligence. Her dream has always been to revolutionize learning environments to engage individuals to move ahead at their own pace.
Camp Constitution has attended nine of the twelve expos held around the state so far. These expos, usually held in public libraries or churches, are free to both vendors and the public. Attendees find a wide variety of options to the inferior government schools from private prep schools to Christian schools to charter schools, to learning centers and, of course, home schools cooperatives. They also offer extracurricular activities like aviation schools, acting classes, music lessons, , organic farming, gardening, nature hikes forensics for children, organizations offering scholarships, and much more. We offer families our week-long family retreats and our Sam Blumenfeld Archives which is a free on-line resource for educators and homeschoolers.
It has been an excellent experience for us. We have met with dozens of people from young parents who are planning to homeschool their children to parents who are exploring options to government schools to parents looking for after school programs.
Members of the Education Mafia, and their allies are not pleased that their near monopoly on the minds of our nation’s children are under attack. Let’s continue to break that near monopoly. Readers are encouraged to attend and/or host a New Hampshire Education Options exposition in their area. For more information, please visit their website https://edopt.org/about/
The Weekly Sam: How to Dumb Down a Nation By Samuel L. Blumenfeld
It’s easy. Destroy its literacy, and you’ve dumbed it down. And once dumbed down, it
becomes the potential victim of any power that wants to dominate it.
If you look at the most illiterate nations on the planet, you find that they are ruled by
despots, their people live in abject poverty and have no hope for a better future. That
doesn’t mean that literate nations, like Germany, can’t produce monsters. But when they
do, we know that satanic influences are behind it.
America, from its beginning, was the most literate nation on earth, and the result was
positive in every respect. Why was it so literate? Because the people and their leaders
were governed by the precepts of the Bible, and biblical literacy was paramount in the
education of the country’s children.
But once we got a government schooling system, which was taken over by atheist
progressive educators, the God of the Bible was removed from the schools. It then
became possible to introduce a new socialist curriculum with teaching methods
calculated to reduce American literacy. The Bible was now relegated to an hour of study
in church on Sundays. And because it was no longer part of the curriculum, children no
longer considered it important to life.
A blatant, anti-biblical morality was introduced in the schools through such programs as
values clarification, sensitivity training, transcendental meditation, sex education, death
education, drug education, multiculturalism, psychotherapy, evolution, secular
humanism, and other such programs. Moral degeneration has been the inevitable result.
The result is that America has been greatly dumbed-down.
The Blumenfeld Archives: http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/main.htm
“Don’t Shoot Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes!” -June 1775, The Battle of Bunker Hill – American Minute with Bill Federer
Today marks the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.
“Don’t Shoot Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes!” commanded Colonel William Prescott, repeating the order of General Israel Putnam, JUNE 17, 1775.
Colonel William Prescott’s men were in the center redoubt located on Breed’s Hill, adjacent Bunker Hill, guarding the north entrance to Boston Harbor.
Samuel Swett wrote in his History of Bunker Hill, that as the 2,300 British soldiers advanced:
“The American marksmen are with difficulty restrained from firing. Putnam rode through the line, and ordered that no one should fire till they arrived within eight rods …
Powder was scarce and must not be wasted. They should ‘not fire at the enemy till they saw the whites of their eyes …’
The same orders were reiterated by Prescott at the redoubt.”
Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed March 20, 1942:
“Our Army is a mighty arm of the tree of liberty.
It is a living part of the American tradition, a tradition that goes back to Israel Putnam, who left his plow in a New England furrow to take up a gun and fight at Bunker Hill.”
At the beginning of the battle, a stray musket ball from a British gun killed an American soldier, resulting in other soldiers running away.
To stop the confusion, Colonel William Prescott climbed on top of the the wall of the fortification, stood upright and walked back and forth, rallying his men.
When British General Thomas Gage saw Prescott through his telescope, he asked a local loyalist, Abijah Willard, who happened to be Prescott’s brother-in-law, if Prescott had enough courage to fight.
Willard replied:
“Prescott is an old soldier, he will fight as long as a drop of blood is in his veins.”
Another recorded Willard’s statement as:
“As to his men, I cannot answer for them, but Colonel Prescott will fight you to the gates of hell.”
Historian George Bancroft wrote that at the redoubt in the center of battle:
“No one appeared to have any command but Colonel Prescott … His bravery could never be enough acknowledged and applauded.”
British General Gage had no respect for the rag-tag Americans, resulting in him pridefully committing the serious mistake of ordering a direct assault.
British General William Howe had intended to unleash an artillery bombardment from field pieces on the Americans prior to the British advance, but providentially for the Americans, the British brought the wrong caliber ammunition.
They had six pounder cannons but nine pound shot.
As a result, British artillery was not able to soften the resistance.
General Howe ordered some 2,300 British soldiers to fix bayonets, and in their wool uniforms, charge in the hot sun up the hill covered with fences and uneven rows of uncut grass.
Twice the Americans repelled them, but the third time they ran out of gunpowder.
Over 1,000 British were killed or wounded in this first major action of the Revolutionary War.
There were nearly 500 American casualties, including the notable Dr. Joseph Warren.
Amos Farnsworth, a corporal in the Massachusetts Militia, made this entry in his diary immediately after the Battle of Bunker Hill, JUNE 17, 1775:
“We within the entrenchment … having fired away all ammunition and having no reinforcements…were overpowered by numbers and obliged to leave …
… I did not leave the entrenchment until the enemy got in. I then retreated ten or fifteen rods.
Then I received a wound in my right arm, the ball going through a little below my elbow, breaking the little shellbone.
Another ball struck my back, taking a piece of skin about as big as a penny.
But I got to Cambridge that night …
… Oh the goodness of God in preserving my life, although they fell on my right and on my left!
O may this act of deliverance of thine, O God, lead me never to distrust thee; but may I ever trust in thee and put confidence in no arm of flesh!”
The British then burned the nearby town of Charlestown.
Daniel Webster declared at the Bicentennial Celebration at Plymouth Rock, December 22, 1820:
“In New England the war of the Revolution commenced.
I address those who … saw the burning spires of Charlestown; who beheld the deeds of Prescott, and heard the voice of Putnam amidst the storm of war, and saw the generous Warren fall, the first distinguished victim in the cause of liberty.
It would be superfluous to say, that no portion of the country did more than the States of New England to bring the Revolutionary struggle to a successful issue.”
This same day as the Battle of Bunker Hill, 300 miles away in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress drafted George Washington’s commission as commander-in-chief, for which he refused a salary.
Washington wrote to his wife, Martha:
“Dearest … It has been determined in Congress, that the whole army raised for the defense of the American Cause shall be put under my care, and that it is necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston to take … command …
I shall rely therefore, confidently, on that Providence which has heretofore preserved, and been bountiful to me.”
Washington ended:
“I … got Colonel Pendleton to Draft a Will … the Provision made for you, in case of my death, will, I hope, be agreeable.”
Yale President Ezra Stiles wrote May 8, 1783:
“Every patriot trembled till we had proved our armor, till it could be seen, whether … (we) could face the enemy with firmness.
They early gave us the decided proof of this, in the memorable Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775) …
This instantly convinced us, and for the first time convinced Britons themselves, that Americans both would and could fight with great effect.
Whereupon Congress put at the head of this spirited army, the only man, on whom the eyes of all Israel were placed (George Washington) …
This American JOSHUA was raised up by God, and divinely formed by a peculiar influence of the Sovereign of the Universe, for the great work of leading the armies … to liberty and independence.”
Less than a month after the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Continental Congress proclaimed a Day of Public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, as John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, July 12, 1775:
“We have appointed a Continental fast.
Millions will be upon their knees at once before their great Creator, imploring His forgiveness and blessing; His smiles on American Council and arms.”
Georgia’s Provincial Congress also passed a motion, July 5, 1775:
“That this Congress apply to his Excellency the Governor … requesting him to appoint a Day of Fasting and Prayer throughout this Province, on account of the disputes subsisting between America and the Parent State.”
Georgia’s Royal Governor James Wright replied July 7, 1775:
“Gentlemen: I have taken the…request made by … a Provincial Congress, and must premise, that I cannot consider that meeting as constitutional;
but as the request is expressed in such loyal and dutiful terms, and the ends proposed being such as every good man must most ardently wish for, I will certainly appoint a Day of Fasting and Prayer to be observed throughout this Province.”
Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull wrote to General Washington, July 13, 1775:
“The Honorable Congress have proclaimed a Fast to be observed by the inhabitants of all the English Colonies on this continent, to stand before the Lord in one day, with public humiliation, fasting, and prayer,
to deplore our many sins, to offer up our joint supplications to God, for forgiveness, and for his merciful interposition for us in this day of unnatural darkness and distress.
They have, with one united voice, appointed you to the high station you possess. The Supreme Director of all events hath caused a wonderful union of hearts and counsels to subsist among us …
… Now therefore, be strong and very courageous.
May the God of the armies of Israel shower down the blessings of his Divine Providence on you, give you wisdom and fortitude, cover your head in the day of battle and danger, add success, convince our enemies of their mistaken measures,
and that all their attempts to deprive these Colonies of their inestimable constitutional rights and liberties are injurious and vain.”
On July 19, 1775, the Journals of the Continental Congress recorded:
“Agreed,
That the Congress meet here tomorrow morning, at half after 9 o’clock, in order to attend divine service at Mr. Duche’s Church; and that in the afternoon they meet here to go from this place and attend divine service at Doctor Allison’s church.”
On July 20, 1775, General Washington issued the order:
“The General orders this day to be religiously observed by the Forces under his Command, exactly in manner directed by the Continental Congress.
It is therefore strictly enjoined on all Officers and Soldiers to attend Divine Service;
And it is expected that all those who go to worship do take their Arms, Ammunition and Accoutrements, and are prepared for immediate action, if called upon.”
—
American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate.
Happy Father’s Day! “America needs heroes on the battlefield of everyday life”-U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall – American Minute with Bill Federer
U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Center for Disease Control, and other agencies report that children from fatherless homes are:
- Five times more likely to live in poverty;
- Nine times more likely to drop out of school;
- Twenty times more likely to go to in prison;
- Higher risk of drug and alcohol abuse;
- Increased incidents of internalized and externalized aggressive behavioral problems;
- Greater chance of runaways and homelessness;
- Twice as likely to commit suicide.
The first “Father’s Day” was conceived by Grace Golden Clayton. She was inspired by the first Mother’s Day observance in 1908.
She reminisced of her father, Methodist Reverend Fletcher Golden, who raised her and her siblings after their mother died.
Grace was also moved by the West Virginia Monongah Coal Mine explosion, December 6, 1907 – the worst mine disaster in the nation’s history.
In the town of 1,000 people, 360 men died in the mine, leaving families fatherless.
Grace arranged for a single special service at Central United Methodist Church on July 5, 1908, saying:
“It was partly the explosion that set me to think how important and loved most fathers are. All those lonely children and those heart-broken wives and mothers, made orphans and widows in a matter of a few minutes. Oh, how sad and frightening to have no father, no husband, to turn to at such an awful time.”
The person responsible for making Father’s Day an annual observance was Sonora Louise Smart Dodd.
Hearing a church sermon on the newly established Mother’s Day, Sonora wanted to honor her father, Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, who had raised six children by himself after his wife died in childbirth.
The 28-year-old Sonora Louise Smart Dodd drew up a petition supported by the Young Men’s Christian Association and the ministers of Spokane, Washington, to celebrate Fathers’ Day on June 19, 1910.
Sonora , with the help of the Y.M.C.A, spread the celebration of Father’s Day on the third Sunday in June, to Oregon, then Chicago and then around the nation.
In 1916, Woodrow Wilson telegraphed a message to the Spokane Fathers’ Day service.
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signed a Father’s Day resolution:
“to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”
Coolidge stated:
“My father had qualities that were greater than any I possess. He was a man of untiring industry and great tenacity of purpose …
He always stuck to the truth. It always seemed possible for him to form an unerring judgment of men and things. He would be classed as decidedly a man of character.
I have no doubt he is representative of a great mass of Americans who are known only to their neighbors; nevertheless, they are really great.”
Coolidge wrote to his father:
“I am sure I came to it (the presidency) largely by your bringing up and your example.”
In 1966, Lyndon Johnson issued the first Presidential Father’s Day Proclamation.
In 1972, President Nixon established Father’s Day as a permanent national observance, Proclamation 4127, stating:
“To have a father — to be a father — is to come very near the heart of life itself.
In fatherhood we know the elemental magic and joy of humanity.
In fatherhood we even sense the divine, as the Scriptural writers did who told of all good gifts corning “down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17)—symbolism so challenging to each man who would give his own son or daughter a life of light without shadow … “
Nixon added:
“Our identity in name and nature, our roots in home and family, our very standard of manhood—all this and more is the heritage our fathers share with us …
It has long been our national custom to observe each year one special Sunday in honor of America’s fathers; and from this year forward, by a joint resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, that custom carries the weight of law …
Let each American make this Father’s Day an occasion for renewal of the love and gratitude we bear to our fathers, increasing and enduring through all the years.
Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby request that June 18, 1972, be observed as Father’s Day.”
On May 20, 1981, in a Proclamation of Father’s Day, President Ronald Reagan stated:
“‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it,’ Solomon tells us. (Proverbs 22:6)
Clearly, the future is in the care of our parents. Such is the responsibility, promise, and hope of fatherhood. Such is the gift that our fathers give us.”
Dr. Ben Carson explained:
“The more solid the family … the more likely you are to be able to resist peer pressure …
Human beings are social creatures. We all want to belong, we all have that desire, and we will belong, one way or another …
If the family doesn’t provide that, the peers will, or a gang will, or you will find something to belong to.”
On Father’s Day, 1988, Ronald Reagan said:
“Children, vulnerable and dependent, desperately need security, and it has ever been a duty and a joy of fatherhood to offer it.
Being a father requires strength … and more than a little courage … to persevere, to fight discouragement, and to keep working for the family …”
Reagan ended:
“Let us … express our thanks and affection to our fathers, whether we can do so in person or in prayer.”
On December 6, 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt addressed Congress:
“No Christian and civilized community can afford to show a happy-go-lucky lack of concern for the youth of to-day;
for, if so, the community will have to pay a terrible penalty of financial burden and social degradation in the to-morrow …”
Roosevelt continued:
“The prime duty of the man is to work, to be the breadwinner; the prime duty of the woman is to be the mother, the housewife.
All questions of tariff and finance sink into utter insignificance when compared with the tremendous, the vital importance of trying to shape conditions so that these two duties of the man and of the woman can be fulfilled under reasonably favorable circumstances.”
Genesis 18:19 records one of the reasons God chose Abraham:
“For I know him (Abraham), that he will teach his children … (to) keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment.”
Deuteronomy 4:9:
“Teach them to your children and grandchildren.”
Deuteronomy 6:7:
“And you shall teach them diligently to your children.
Williams Jennings Bryan gave over 600 public speeches during his Presidential campaigns, with his most famous being “The Prince of Peace,” which was printed in The New York Times, September 7, 1913:
“Christ promoted peace by giving us assurance that a line of communication can be established between the Father above and the child below.”
A warning from Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic, 380 BC, was that democracy is in the process of collapsing when the younger generation disrespect their fathers:
“Can liberty have any limit? Certainly not … By degrees the anarchy finds a way into private houses …
The son is on a level with his father, he having no respect or reverence for either of his parents; and this is his freedom …
Citizens … chafe impatiently at the least touch of authority … they will have no one over them … Liberty overmasters democracy …
The excess of liberty, whether in states or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery …
And so tyranny naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme form of liberty …”
Plato added:
“By heaven … the parent will discover what a monster he has been fostering in his bosom; and, when he wants to drive him out, he will find that he is weak and his son strong.
Why, you do not mean to say that the tyrant will use violence? What! beat his father if he opposes him?
Yes, he will, having first disarmed him … Then he is a parricide, and a cruel guardian of an aged parent; and this is real tyranny.”
George Orwell wrote in the book 1984 of what socialists do when they take over a country:
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.
And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped.
Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
U.S. Senate Peter Marshall commented on Marxist social deconstruction (20 Centuries of Great Preaching Vol. 12 Waco: Word, 1971 p. 11-19):
“The history of the world has always been the biography of her great men …
There was a time in these United States when youth was inspired by heroes … when a picture of Washington or Lincoln adorned every school room wall …
Along with the ponderous Family Bible on the Victorian table and the hymn books on the old-fashioned square piano, there looked down from the walls the likenesses of our national heroes …
Those were the days of great beliefs – belief in the authority of the Scriptures, belief that prayer was really answered, belief in marriage and the family as permanent institutions, belief in the integrity and worth of America’s great men.
These beliefs laid the groundwork for producing more great men, for many a boy figured, “If that man could do it, get an education, make his life count for something, then I can too …'”
Marshall continued:
“Then there dawned the day when the pictures of Washington and Lincoln did not fit in with our concept of modern décor … The old Family Bible looked embarrassingly out of place …
So the pictures and the Bible were often relegated to the Attic of Forgotten Things.
There went with them some of the most stabilizing influences of American life.
We had become a more sophisticated people, somewhat cynical of the cherished beliefs of our ancestors, rather blasé, frankly skeptical of old-fashioned sentimentalism.
Along with our higher education came a debunking contest. This debunking became a sort of national sport … It was smarter to revile than to revere … more fashionable to depreciate than to appreciate.
In our classrooms at all levels of education, no longer did we laud great men – those who had struggled and achieved. Instead, we merely took their dimensions and ferreted out their faults.
We decided that it was silly to say God sent them for a special task … They were merely … products of their environments …
The Constitution, that hitherto cherished charter of American liberties, was drawn up by men who never spoke on a telephone or flew in a plan, therefore, we should change the Constitution to suit modern ways.”
Marshall’s concerns were echoed by others.
Thomas Sowell, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, stated:
“Ours may become the first civilization destroyed, not by the power of our enemies, but by the ignorance of our teachers and the dangerous nonsense they are teaching our children. In an age of artificial intelligence, they are creating artificial stupidity.”
In writing for The Federalist, June 12, 2020, Katy Faust and Stacy Manning reported:
“NAACP president Kweisi Mfume, when asked if white racism or the absence of fathers posed a greater threat to black Americans, replied without hesitation, ‘The absence of black fathers.'”
Senate Chaplain Marshall added that sons and daughters need courageous fathers to defend them against predatory agendas:
“We failed to realize that when we were denying the existence of great men, we were also denying the desirability of great men.
So now, many of our children have grown up without the guiding star … holding in their hands only a bunch of … question marks, with no keys with which to open the doors of knowledge and life.
The young no longer had any particular ambition to become heroes.
Their ambition now was to make as much money as possible, as quickly as possible, in whatever way was most convenient …
Thus, our debunking is … a sign of decaying foundations of character to the individual and in the national life …
We who are Christians, believe that God gives the world a few great men to lead the rest of us closer to Him, that to depreciate or to deny their greatness is to deny one of God’s revelations of Himself to mankind.
The heroes the Christian cherishes … were (or are) human .. They have their weakness … Their faults are well-known to their friends, better known to themselves. But the point is that with God and His guidance, they can provide the moral leadership that our nation so sorely needs.
America needs heroes on the battlefield of everyday life … in our homes, in our schools, on college campuses, in offices and factories, who can lead us towards a return to idealism. For time is running out for us …”
U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall concluded:
“The call today is for Christian heroes and heroines … who are willing to speak a good word for Jesus Christ … who are willing to live by the undiluted values of Christian morality in the pagan atmosphere of our society surrounded by lewdness, pornography, and profanity.
This may be a higher bravery than that of any battlefield: to face ridicule, sarcasm, sneering disdain for what one believes to be right.
To fight for goodness and right … fighting the battle first in our own hearts and souls … seeking God’s help to overcome our particular temptations for the sake of peace .. for the sake of America … for our own sake … for God’s sake.”
In 1942, General MacArthur was named Father of the Year. He stated:
“By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder — infinitely prouder — to be a father.
A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys. The one has the potentiality of death; the other embodies creation and life.
And while the hordes of death are mighty, the battalions of life are mightier still.
It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me not from the battle but in the home repeating with him our simple daily prayer, ‘Our Father Who Art in Heaven.'”
MacArthur composed “A Father’s Prayer”:
“Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.
Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know Thee — and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.
Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail …
Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.
And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously.
Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the meekness of true strength.
Then, I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not lived in vain.'”
President Reagan ended his Father’s Day message:
“With God’s grace, fathers find the patience to teach, the fortitude to provide, the compassion to comfort, and the mercy to forgive.
All of this is to say that they find the strength to love their wives and children selflessly.”
—
American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate.
FLAG DAY “I pledge allegiance to the Flag and to the Republic …” – A Republic is where the citizens are co-kings! – American Minute with Bill Federer
Listen (text to speech)
Download as PDF …
Thirteen Stars and Thirteen Stripes.
It was on JUNE 14, 1777, that the Second Continental Congress selected the FLAG of the United States.
Our founders were in the midst of fighting an eight year long war to come out from under the dominion of the most powerful globalist king in world history.
In 1885, the first version of the Pledge of Allegiance was first written by Union Army Captain George Thatcher Balch, a veteran of the Civil War.
Balch became auditor of the New York City Board of Education where he authored Methods of Teaching Patriotism in the Public Schools, 1890.
He is largely responsible for flag poles being placed in front of public schools.
Balch ‘s Pledge, called a “salute to the flag,” was:
“I give my heart and my hand to my country—one country, one language, one flag.”
Balch’s Pledge was revised in 1892, the 36-year-old Baptist minister Francis Bellamy, who was ordained in the Baptist Church of Little Falls, New York.
Bellamy was a member of the staff of The Youth’s Companion, which published the Pledge of Allegiance on September 8, 1892, in Boston, Massachusetts.
The magazine recommended the Pledge be part of school programs celebrating the first “Columbus Day,” together with prayers, patriotic speeches, the singing of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”, also known as “America,” written in 1831 by Samuel Francis Smith, and the reading of President Benjamin Harrison’s proclamation July 21, 1892:
“Let THE NATIONAL FLAG float over every schoolhouse in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship …
Let there be expressions of gratitude to Divine Providence.”
Public-school children first recited the Pledge at the National School Celebration dedicating the Chicago World’s Fair, October 12, 1892, for the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson designated JUNE 14 as “NATIONAL FLAG DAY.”
“I … call your attention to the approach of the anniversary of the day upon which THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES was adopted by the Congress as the emblem of the Union …
I therefore … request that throughout the nation … the FOURTEENTH DAY of JUNE be observed as FLAG DAY with special patriotic exercises …
to give significant expressions to our thoughtful love of America, our comprehension of the great mission of liberty and justice … for an America which no man can corrupt, no influence draw away from its ideals, no force divide against itself …
Done at the City of Washington … in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and sixteen.”
In 1954, the Knights of Columbus led a campaign to add “One Nation Under God” to the Pledge, resulting in Congress passing Public Law 396.
President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954:
“Section 7. The following is designated as the Pledge of Allegiance to THE FLAG:
‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’
Such pledge should be rendered by standing with the right hand over the heart.
However, civilians will always show full respect to the flag when the pledge is given by merely standing at attention, men removing the headdress. Persons in uniform shall render the military salute.”
President Eisenhower then stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building and recited the revised Pledge of Allegiance for the first time.
The words “under God” were taken from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863:
“… that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”
In 1979, a publication approved by and printed under authority of Congress titled “The Capitol-A Pictorial History of the Capitol and of the Congress” (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979), p. 24, commented regarding the Pledge:
“This Pledge attests what has been true about America from the beginning. Faith in the transcendent, sovereign God was in the public philosophy – the American consensus. America’s story opened with the first words of the Bible, In the beginning God …
We are truthfully one nation under God ‘and our institutions presuppose a Divine Being,’ wrote Justice William O. Douglas in 1966 …
Only a nation founded on theistic presupposition would adopt a first amendment to ensure the free exercise of all religions or of none.
The government would be neutral among the many denominations and no one church would become the state church.
But America and its institutions of government could not be neutral about God.”
Speaking of the Flag, President Calvin Coolidge stated May 31, 1926:
“Our condition today is not merely that of one people UNDER ONE FLAG, but of a thoroughly united people who have seen bitterness and enmity which once threatened to sever them pass away, and a spirit of kindness and good will reign over them all.”
Coolidge stated May 25, 1924, at the Confederate Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia:
“It is the maintenance of our American ideals, BENEATH A COMMON FLAG, under the blessings of Almighty God … We know that Providence would have it so.”
President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated November 13, 1935:
“OUR FLAG for a century and a half has been the symbol of the principles of liberty of conscience, of religious freedom and equality before the law; and these concepts are deeply ingrained in our national character.”
During World War Two, President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated on FLAG DAY, June 14, 1942:
“The belief in man, created free, in the image of God – is the crucial difference between ourselves and the enemies we face today …
… We ask the German people, still dominated by their Nazi whip-masters, whether they would rather have the mechanized hell of Hitler’s ‘New’ Order or – in place of that, freedom of speech and religion …
We ask the Japanese people, trampled by their savage lords of slaughter, whether they would rather continue slavery and blood or – in place of them, freedom of speech and religion …
We know that man, born to freedom in the image of God, will not forever suffer the oppressors’ sword …”
Roosevelt continued:
“I am going to close by reading you a prayer …
‘God of the free, we pledge our hearts and lives today to the cause of all free mankind.
Grant us victory over the tyrants who would enslave all free men and Nations …
Grant us patience with the deluded and pity for the betrayed …
Grant us … valor that shall cleanse the world of oppression and the old base doctrine that the strong must eat the weak because they are strong.'”
After the Revolution, on June 14, 1783, General George Washington sent a “Circular Letter” to the thirteen Governors of the newly independent states. He stated:
“I am now preparing to resign …
Before I carry this resolution into effect, I think it a duty … to make this my last official communication, to congratulate you on the glorious events which Heaven has been pleased to produce in our favor …
The Citizens of America are from this period to be considered as the actors of a most conspicuous theater, which seems to be particularly designed by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity …
Heaven has crowned all its other blessing, by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness, than any other nation has ever been favored with …”
Washington continued with a warning:
“According to the system of policy the states shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall;
and by their confirmation or lapse, it is yet to be decided, whether the Revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse …
not to the present age alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved.”
Washington’s concern for “unborn millions” was indicative of the founders, who sacrificed prosperity for posterity.
Today, some are willing to sacrifice their posterity for prosperity, yoking future generations with ungodliness and unpayable debt.
John Adams wrote, April 26, 1777:
“Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it.
If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”
Washington concluded with an admonition to follow the example of “the Divine Author of our blessed religion”:
“I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the state over which you preside, in His holy protection;
that He would incline the hearts of the citizens … to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another … and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field;
and finally, that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy,
and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.”
Yale President Ezra Stiles spoke of the American flag, May 8, 1783, describing how this nation is different from others which dominate their people through concentrated power:
“That symbol of union, THE AMERICAN FLAG with it increasing stripes and stars, may have an equally combining efficacy for ages …
The senatorial constitution and consulate of the Roman Empire lasted from Tarquin — last Roman king, 509 B.C. — to Caesar — Roman dictator, 49 B.C. — …
The Assyrian endured without mutation through a tract of one thousand three hundred years from Semiramis — legendary ancient Babylonian queen — to Sardanapalus — alleged last Assyrian ruler, 627 B.C. — …
Nor was the policy of Egypt overthrown for a longer period from the days of Metzraim — upper and lower Nile kingdoms, c.3,300 B.C. —
till the time of Cambyses — Persian conqueror of Egypt, 525 B.C. — and Amasis — last great Egpytian ruler, 526 B.C. — …
The Medo-Persian — 550-330 B.C. — and Alexandrine Empires — 356-323 B.C. –, and that of Timur — 1370-1405 A.D. –, who once reigned from Smyrna to the Indus, were … of short and transitory duration …
Pragmatic sanction … secured the imperial succession in the House of Austria for ages — Habsburgs, 1020-1780 — …
Whatever mutations may arise in the United States, perhaps hereditary monarchy and a standing army will be the last.”
Ben Franklin warned June 2, 1787:
“There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh – get first all the people’s money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants forever …
There is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly government … I am apprehensive … that the government of the states may, in future times, end in a monarchy.”
Yale President Ezra Stiles continued:
“This great American revolution, this recent political phenomenon … will be … contemplated by all nations …
Navigation will carry THE AMERICAN FLAG around the globe itself; and display the thirteen stripes and new constellation at Bengal and Canton, on the Indus and Ganges, on the Whang-ho and the Yang-tse-kiang; and with commerce will import the wisdom and literature of the east …
That prophecy of Daniel is now literally fulfilling – there shall be a universal traveling to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
This knowledge will be brought home and treasured up in America: and being here digested and carried to the highest perfection, may re-blaze back from America to Europe, Asia and Africa, and illumine the world with truth and liberty …”
Ezra Stiles added:
“John Adams … observes — in letter from Amsterdam, April 28, 1782 — …
‘But the great designs of Providence must be accomplished … The progress of society will be accelerated by centuries by this revolution …
American ideas of toleration and religious liberty … will become the fashionable system of Europe very soon. Light spreads from the Dayspring in the west — Luke 1:78 — ; and may it shine more and more until the perfect day — Proverbs 4:18 — …'”
Stiles concluded:
“The United States will embosom all the religious sects or denominations in Christendom …
The Presbyterian,
the Church of England …
the Unitas Fratrum … Moravian bishops …
Ancient Bohemian churches …
the Baptists,
the Friends — Quakers –,
the Lutherans,
the Romanists …
the Dutch,
and Gallic,
and German reformed or Calvinistic churches …
There is a Greek church brought from Smyrna …
There are Wesyans, Mennonites … all … who will give the religious complexion to America …
Episcopal … Greek and Armenian patriarchates …
With a most generous benevolence … of a friendly cohabitation of all sects in America, proving that men may be good members of civil society, and yet differ in religion …
Little would civilians have thought ages ago, that the world should ever look to America for models of government.”
President James Buchanan stated March 4, 1857:
“We ought to cultivate peace, commerce, and friendship with all nations … in a spirit of Christian benevolence toward our fellow-men …
The people, under the protection of THE AMERICAN FLAG, have enjoyed civil and religious liberty.”
In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln commented to State Senator James Scovel of New Jersey:
“If God gives me four years more to rule this country, I believe it will become what it ought to be – what its Divine Author intended it to be – no longer one vast plantation for breeding human beings for the purpose of lust and bondage.
But it will become a new Valley of Jehoshaphat — Joel 3:2, 12 –, where all the nations of the earth will assemble together UNDER ONE FLAG, worshiping a common God, and they will celebrate the resurrection of human freedom.”
When Lincoln died, President Andrew Johnson stated April 25, 1865:
“In order to mitigate that grief on earth which can only be assuaged by communion with the Father in heaven …
I … appoint … the 25th day of May next, to be observed, wherever in the United States THE FLAG OF THE COUNTRY may be respected, as a day of humiliation and mourning, and I recommend … citizens … assemble in their respective places of worship, there to unite in solemn service to Almighty God.”
President Rutherford B. Hayes noted in his diary that during the Civil War:
“Archbishop John Baptist Purcell strung THE AMERICAN FLAG, in the crisis of our fate, from the top of the Cathedral in Cincinnati April 16, 1861! The spire was beautiful before, but the Catholic prelate made it radiant with hope and glory for our country!”
When Rutherford B. Hayes died, President Benjamin Harrison described him, January 18, 1893:
“He was a patriotic citizen, a lover of THE FLAG and of our free institutions, an industrious and conscientious civil officer, a soldier of dauntless courage, a loyal comrade and friend, a sympathetic and helpful neighbor, and the honored head of a happy Christian home.”
President Andrew Johnson stated while serving as a Senator from Tennessee (The Life and Public Services of Andrew Johnson-State Papers, Speeches and Addresses, by John Savage, NY: Derby & Miller, 1866, p. 247, appendix p. 87, January 31, 1862):
“Let us look forward to the time when we can take THE FLAG OF OUR COUNTRY and nail it below the Cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the olden times, and let us gather around it and inscribe for our motto: ‘Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever,’ and exclaim, ‘Christ first, our country next!'”
In dedicating the Oregon Trail, President Warren G. Harding stated July 3, 1923:
“Never in the history of the world has there been a finer example of civilization following Christianity.
The missionaries led under the banner of the Cross, and the settlers moved close behind under the STAR-SPANGLED SYMBOL OF THE NATION.”
On January 10, 1963, Democrat Congressman Albert Sydney Herlong Jr., of Florida, read into the Congressional Record the 45 communist goals for America, which included:
“… 12. Do away with all loyalty oaths …
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack …
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV …
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible …
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned …
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the ‘common man.’
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the ‘big picture’ …
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ‘united force’ to solve economic, political or social problems.”
Socialist Howard Zinn wrote A People’s History of the United States, 1980, in order to debunk America’s heritage.
An exposé revealing Zinn’s manipulation of the facts was written by Mary Garbar, Debunking Howard Zinn: Exposing the Fake History That Turned a Generation against America, 2019.
The Founding Fathers, for all their human failings, gave a present to future Americans, namely, each citizen gets to determine their own destiny, in a sense, be the king of their own life, and then all citizens, together, are the king of the country.
The pledge is “to the Flag and to the Republic for which it stands.”
A “republic” is where the people are king, ruling the country through their public servants called representatives.
Kings have subjects, who are subjected to the king’s will.
Republics have citizens. The word “citizen” is Greek for co-ruler, co-sovereign, co-king.
When a person pledges allegiance to the Flag, they are pledging allegiance to us being in charge of ourselves. They are saying that we, the people, are the king, not some power-usurping globalist totalitarian deep state dictator.
When someone protests the flag, they are effectively saying:
“I don’t want to be the king anymore, I protest this system where I participate in ruling myself, I would rather relinquish authority over my life to deep-state government bureaucrats.”
Whether they fully realize it or not, those who dishonor the flag are effectively rejecting:
- equality before the law,
- freedom of speech,
- freedom of conscience,
- freedom of religion, and
- inalienable rights from the Creator.
“Kneeling” is the universal sign of surrender.
Old Testament believers, such as Daniel, or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, would rather be thrown into the lion’s den or into the fiery furnace than kneel to something other than God.
Early Christian believers would rather be martyred in the Roman Colosseum than kneel to something other than God.
At the Dodger versus Giants baseball game, July 23, 2020, Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod was to only player not to kneel.
When asked why, Coonrod stated: “I’m a Christian, so I just believe that I can’t kneel before anything besides God.”
The Christian Post reported, August 3, 2020:
“Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac was the lone player to stand during the national anthem …
He cited the Gospel later when asked to explain his reasoning.
‘I don’t think that kneeling … for me, personally, is the answer … For me, black lives are supported through the Gospel, all lives are supported through the Gospel. My life has been supported by the Gospel …
Everyone is made in the image of God and we all share in His glory …'”
Isaac continued:
“We all make mistakes but I think the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that there’s grace for us and that Jesus came and died for our sins, and that we all will come to an understanding of that and that God wants to have a relationship with us.”
The 6’11” NBA Player Jonathan Isaac concluded:
“We all fall short of God’s glory, and at the end of the day, whoever will humble themselves and seek God and repent their sins, then we could see our mistakes and people’s mistakes and people’s evil in a different light,
and that it would help bring us closer together and get past skin color, get past anything that’s on the surface that doesn’t really deal with the hearts of men and women.”
One of the first Gospel songs that nearly all children in America were taught, was:
“Jesus loves the little children;
All the children of the world;
Red, and yellow, black, and white;
They are precious in His sight;
Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
On CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, February 1, 2019, singer Gladys Knight-the Empress of Soul, explained why she was going to sing the National Anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner, at Super Bowl 53:
“As far as this is concerned, I grew up with the national anthem … We used to sing it in school before school started.
We used to say prayers in school before school started, and we just don’t have that anymore and I’m just — I’m just hoping that it will be about our country and how we treat each other and being the great country that we are.”
On the Great Seal of the United States is the Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum, which means “Out of many, one.”
Though there are many sources for this phrase, one is that of Roman statesman Cicero, who, in De Officiis, described basic family and social bonds as the origin of society:
“When each person loves the other as much as himself, it makes one out of many — unum fiat ex Pluribus– .”
Further back, this concept was written in Leviticus 19:17-18:
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
The opposite of this is the Latin phrase divide et impera, meaning “divide and rule” or “divide and conquer.”
This division concept was utilize throughout history, such as:
Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, Philip the Second of Macedon, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars, Niccolò Machiavelli, British in India, Napoleon in Europe, and others.
On a biological level, an autoimmune disease is a disease where the body attacks itself.
On a “body politic” level, this is happening in America, a type of cultural autoimmune disease, where citizens are taught to attack their own country.
Eleanor Roosevelt is credited with saying:
“Pit race against race, religion against religion, prejudice against prejudice. Divide and conquer! We must not let that happen here.”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who spent eleven years in socialist gulag labor camps, warned in a speech titled “Godlessness: the First Step to the Gulag,” May 10, 1983:
“Western societies are losing more and more of their religious essence as they thoughtlessly yield up their younger generation to atheism …
Atheist teachers in the West are bringing up a younger generation in a spirit of hatred of their own society.”
Attorney Chris Banescu, a regular contributor to OrthodoxyToday.org, wrote July 18, 2011:
“As a survivor of the Communist Holocaust I am horrified to witness how my beloved America, my adopted country, is gradually being transformed into a secularist and atheistic utopia, where communist ideals are glorified and promoted, while …
God has been progressively erased from our public and educational institutions …
Those of us who have experienced and witnesses first-hand the atrocities and terror of communism understand fully why such evil takes root, how it grows and deceives, and the kind of hell it will ultimately unleash …
Godlessness is always the first step towards tyranny and oppression!”
Emphasizing America’s dedication to God, President Eisenhower stated on Flag Day, June 14, 1954:
“From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.
… To anyone who truly loves America, nothing could be more inspiring than … this re-dedication of our youth, on each school morning, to our country’s true meaning …
… In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource, in peace or in war.”
—
American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate.
Helping Camp Constitution
Camp Constitution’s 17th Annual Family Camp is one month away. Thanks to our generous supporters over the years, we are able to make our week-long camp affordable to families. We have never turned away for lack of funds. We hope this year will be no exception.
We are asking our friends to consider making a donation to help a family attend our camp this year. The full cost for those thirteen and older is $300., and those twelve and under $200. Any donation would be greatly appreciated. Donations can be made via our PayPal account accessed from our website’s homepage https://www.campconstitution.net or via check payable to Camp Constitution and mailed to me at 146 Powder Mill Rd. Alton, NH 03809
Our recent news release announcing our upcoming camp:
Camp Constitution Announces Its 17th Annual Family Camp
Camp Constitution will hold its 17th Annual Family Camp at the Singing Hills Christian Camp https://www.singinghills.net/ Plainfield, NH. from Sunday July 13 to Friday July 18, 2025
Returning instructors include Pastor David Whitney of the Institute on the Constitution, Keith Hanson of Critical Dynamic, Professor Willie Soon, world renowned astrophysicist and climate realist, Catherine White of The Constitution Decoded, Alex Newman, author and host of the Sentinel Report, and Rev. Steve Craft, Camp Constitution’s chaplain.
Guest instructors include Mr. Kurt Hyde, retired Lieutenant Colonel from the US Air Force, and election fraud expert, and Michelle Gallagher author of Forefathers Monument Guidebook. In addition to the classes, the camp will offer marksmanship courses, martial arts, hiking, basketball, volleyball, wiffleball, and optional field trip and swimming, chess, gaga and corn hole tournaments. Campers and staff end the day with an evening campfire.
Camp Constitution’s annual camp is a family camp open to entire families, unaccompanied minors, and adults. The cost for the week which includes lodging, meals and class handouts is $300 for those 13 and over. $200. For campers 12 and under, and three and under with parents are free. A link to the camp registration: https://campconstitution.net/camp-registration/
For more information contact Hal Shurtleff (857) 498-1309 campconstitution1@gmail.com 
What On Earth Is Going On In Maine?
(This is from Liberty Counsel http://www.lc.org
Under Gov. Janet Mills, Maine has become one of the most anti-Christian states in the nation. In fact, Liberty Counsel has sued this particular governor more than any other governor in the Union! And the only state we have sued more often in our 36-year history is California.
But even CA Gov. Gavin Newsom learned the hard way, during the COVID shutdowns, that Liberty Counsel will not allow anti-God governments to discriminate against Christians. But the State of Maine has somehow missed the message.
The anti-God political machine running the Pine Tree State seems bent on eradicating Christianity from the state.
ONE church appears to be “ground zero” for Maine’s anti-Christian attacks — Calvary Chapel.
Liberty Counsel is fighting back.
Maine has a rich religious history. Catholic missionaries arrived in the state in 1604. The first Christian mass in all of New England was held on Maine’s Swan Island in 1611.
During the colonial years, the Puritans, followed by the Congregationalists, dominated Maine. The colony even required towns to fund a Congregational church and minister. Methodists, Baptists, and Freewill Baptists arrived in the 18th century, and Jews soon followed at the end of the 19th century.
But fast-forward to the 21st century and Maine is tied with Vermont for being “the least religious state” in the nation.
Since being targeted by Gov. Mills’ unconstitutional COVID lockdowns on churches, Calvary Chapel of Bangor has birthed six churches spanning the sparsely populated state. Pastor Ken Graves and Calvary Chapel are working to change Maine’s spiritual landscape by sharing the gospel and transforming broken people. But an anti-God governor and a league of similarly minded bureaucrats is doing their darndest to try to stop the revival happening in Maine.
During the COVID shutdowns, ME Gov. Janet Mills threatened to throw the participants in Calvary Chapel Bangor’s drug rehabilitation program in prison if they read the Bible and prayed together during Mills’ unlawful church shutdowns. Mills ordered that the group could meet, so long as they DID NOT read the Bible or pray.
Liberty Counsel took Mills and Maine to court, and Mills and her crew had to end her outrageous restrictions on churches and places of worship.
In 2022, Maine lost again, this time at the U.S. Supreme Court when the state allowed vouchers for any schools — except Christian schools. The High Court ruled Maine’s law unconstitutional.
Then, a Maine state family court judge banned a member of Calvary Chapel from taking her own daughter to church. The judge cited the opinion of a Marxist California professor in declaring that churches are “cults.”
Liberty Counsel has taken up this case on appeal, and continues to fight for this born-again Christian mother and her daughter’s right to attend the church of their choice.
Now, the University of Maine System is refusing to sell an excess university property to the highest bidder solely because the winning bidder is a Christian church. That church is Calvary Chapel Belfast.
Liberty Counsel is taking Maine back to court again…and we intend to win.
Don’t let anti-God governors and bureaucrats silence the gospel! Support our legal fund today!
I don’t know what Gov. Mills and the anti-God political machine running Maine have against Calvary Chapel’s network of churches, which extend from the cold shores of Portland through the Highlands and right to the St. Crois Valley, which borders Canada. Maybe it’s because Calvary Chapel is saving so many souls, bringing lost people back into Christ’s flock.
What I do know is that discrimination against Christians and churches is against the law.
Liberty Counsel will not stop fighting until the State of Maine stops attacking Christians and their churches.
For over 35 years, Liberty Counsel has been defending life, religious freedom, and the natural family. We’ve won 37 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and thousands of others before state courts and the U.S. Courts of Appeal.
We NEVER charge for our work because most people — and churches — could not afford to defend themselves against anti-Christian governors and governments. Our clients rely on YOU, the faithful Liberty Counsel supporter, to ensure liberty remains free.
A generous supporter has established a special Challenge Grant to support our work. But that grant only kicks in when you do. Every donation made to our legal fund today will be DOUBLED in impact. Even recurring monthly donations will be doubled for the duration of the grant! Please, help us defend the faith with your generous gift today.
Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel
TAKE ACTION
Even a small recurring monthly donation would be incredibly helpful in defending life, religious liberty, and the natural family, AND that recurring donation will be DOUBLED in impact for the duration of the Challenge Grant!
Sources:
“Catholic Sites in Maine.” Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. Accessed March 3, 2025. Portlanddiocese.org/catholic-sites-maine.
Hatlen, Burton, Joshua M. Smith, Peter Lodge, and Michael Hermann. “A Sampler from the New Historical Atlas of Maine: Religion in Maine.” Maine Policy Review 11.1 (2002): 48 -57, Digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol11/iss1/11.
“Least Religious States 2023.” Wisevoter. Accessed March 3, 2025. Wisevoter.com/state-rankings/least-religious-states.
Judd, Richard. “Religion on Maine’s Frontier.” Maine History Online. Accessed March 3, 2025. Mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/825/page/1235/display.
“The History of Our Presbyterate.” Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. Accessed March 3, 2025. Portlanddiocese.org/vocations/history-our-presbyterate.
Instructor Catherine White of The Constitution Decoded Returns to Our 17th Annual Family Camp
Camp Constitution is blessed to have an incredible group of instructors and one of those is Mrs. Catherine White. She has been an instructor for at least then years, and she is returning to our 2025 camp which runs from July 13-18.
A Massachusetts native – born in Worcester, raised in Quincy, Mrs. White is a graduate of MIT. Many years, ago she started
a book club to read W. Cleon Skousen’s “The 5,000 Year Leap.” Out of that grew a monthly US Constitution study group. She
also coordinates a schedule of lectures, talks,study groups, and events – all centered on teaching the Constitution. You can contact
her, read her articles and watch videos at her
web site: http://www.constitutiondecoded.com/videos–text-of-talks.html
Tremble, hetero swine, when we appear before you without our masks: The “Gay” Manifesto from 1988
I first learned about this vile screed from my friend Warren Bradley, a retired Boston policeman back in 1988. He was a subscriber to Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority newsletter, and it had reprinted this manifesto. I didn’t believe that it was true. I called the now defunct “Gay Community News” which was based in Boston and the man who answered confirmed that the paper did indeed publish it. He told me that the author was a “poet from Connecticut.” I asked him if printing such things was a way to gain supporters for the homosexual cause. He didn’t respond.
(First Published in Gay Community News, Feb. 15-21, 1987 and also put into the Congressional Record. Author – Michael Swift)
We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theater bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all male clubs, in your houses of Congress, wherever men are with men together. Your sons shall become our minions and do our bidding. They will be recast in our image. They will come to crave and adore us.
Women, you cry for freedom. You say you are no longer satisfied with men; they make you unhappy. We, connoisseurs of the masculine face, the masculine physique, shall take your men from you then. We will amuse them; we will instruct them; we will embrace them when they weep. Women, you say you wish to live with each other instead of with men. Then go and be with each other. We shall give your men pleasures they have never known because we are foremost men too, and only one man knows how to truly please another man; only one man can understand the depth and feeling, the mind and body of another man.
All laws banning homosexual activity will be revoked. Instead, legislation shall be passed which engenders love between men.
All homosexuals must stand together as brothers; we must be united artistically, philosophically, socially, politically and financially. We will triumph only when we present a common face to the vicious heterosexual enemy.
If you dare to cry faggot, fairy, queer, at us, we will stab you in your cowardly hearts and defile your dead, puny bodies.
We shall write poems of the love between men; we shall stage plays in which man openly caresses man; we shall make films about the love between heroic men which will replace the cheap, superficial, sentimental, insipid, juvenile, heterosexual infatuations presently dominating your cinema screens. We shall sculpt statues of beautiful young men, of bold athletes which will be placed in your parks, your squares, your plazas. The museums of the world will be filled only with paintings of graceful, naked lads.
Our writers and artists will make love between men fashionable and de rigueur, and we will succeed because we are adept at setting styles. We will eliminate heterosexual liaisons through usage of the devices of wit and ridicule, devices which we are skilled in employing.
We will unmask the powerful homosexuals who masquerade as heterosexuals. You will be shocked and frightened when you find that your presidents and their sons, your industrialists, your senators, your mayors, your generals, your athletes, your film stars, your television personalities, your civic leaders, your priests are not the safe, familiar, bourgeois, heterosexual figures you assumed them to be. We are everywhere; we have infiltrated your ranks. Be careful when you speak of homosexuals because we are always among you; we may be sitting across the desk from you; we may be sleeping in the same bed with you.
There will be no compromises. We are not middle-class weaklings. Highly intelligent, we are the natural aristocrats of the human race, and steely-minded aristocrats never settle for less. Those who oppose us will be exiled.
We shall raise vast private armies, as Mishima did, to defeat you. We shall conquer the world because warriors inspired by and banded together by homosexual love and honor are invincible as were the ancient Greek soldiers.
The family unit-spawning ground of lies, betrayals, mediocrity, hypocrisy and violence–will be abolished. The family unit, which only dampens imagination and curbs free will, must be eliminated. Perfect boys will be conceived and grown in the genetic laboratory. They will be bonded together in communal setting, under the control and instruction of homosexual savants.
All churches who condemn us will be closed. Our only gods are handsome young men. We adhere to a cult of beauty, moral and esthetic. All that is ugly and vulgar and banal will be annihilated. Since we are alienated from middle-class heterosexual conventions, we are free to live our lives according to the dictates of the pure imagination. For us too much is not enough.
The exquisite society to emerge will be governed by an elite comprised of gay poets. One of the major requirements for a position of power in the new society of homoeroticism will be indulgence in the Greek passion. Any man contaminated with heterosexual lust will be automatically barred from a position of influence. All males who insist on remaining stupidly heterosexual will be tried in homosexual courts of justice and will become invisible men.
We shall rewrite history, history filled and debased with your heterosexual lies and distortions. We shall portray the homosexuality of the great leaders and thinkers who have shaped the world. We will demonstrate that homosexuality and intelligence and imagination are inextricably linked, and that homosexuality is a requirement for true nobility, true beauty in a man.
We shall be victorious because we are fueled with the ferocious bitterness of the oppressed who have been forced to play seemingly bit parts in your dumb, heterosexual shows throughout the ages. We too are capable of firing guns and manning the barricades of the ultimate revolution.
Tremble, hetero swine, when we appear before you without our masks.
