In the early years of our American nation, religion fared very well even in the Supreme Court. Joseph Story (1779-1845) served as a Supreme Court Justice at the age of 32. He was the youngest to serve in that position. Her served from 1811 to 1845. He wrote several remarkable decisions of the High Court. The most memorable was the Amistad decision (now a movie), which he read out loud in the Court.

Here is a remarkable statement that he made during his tenure on the Court.

“The promulgation of the great doctrines of religion, the being, and attributes, and providence of one Almighty God; the responsibility to Him for all our actions, founded upon moral freedom and accountability; a future state of rewards and punishments; the cultivation of all the personal, social, and benevolent virtues;–these never can be a matter of indifference in any ordered community. It is indeed difficult to conceive, how any civilized society can well exist without them.”

Benjamin Rush, a signer of The Declaration of Independence, and a friend to John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, taught that “Students must be taught republican principles, and learn to cherish with a more intense and peculiar affection their country.” And “Education must be grounded in religion.”

Oh well, these were ancient men without wisdom of our ages. Or did they have their own remarkable wisdom?