God, bless America--or godless America?

Question

Which view is more in keeping with U.S. foundations in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?

John Adams, quoted by Gov. Mitt Romney this morning: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Hey, Simon: Sure there's no comma? Aren't we using direct address, asking in prayer for God to bless America?

Answer 1

God Bless America!

No comma.

Have a nice day.

ST

Answer 2

God bless America

Answer 3

There is no nation who God does not bless.

God is forever faithful to us,... even when we are not to Him.

""Which view is more in keeping with U.S. foundations in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?""

Neither. Although i would rather answer with "God bless America".

But the US foundations of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are based on what had transpired,... the experiences of those who came together to achieve that goal,... which most likely were Christians at that time...

But as Jesus had taught us, "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." We must have discipline in ourselves to know that there should be a separation with the statutes of the State and the statutes of the Church because "obviously" there would be conflict.

Answer 4

God bless America

Answer 5

God, bless America

Answer 6

Gods bless America

Answer 7

It is a very subtle question at first glance, friend, but it is really deep when you think about it. So I gave you your first star, for a really great question!

God's dominion is not on earth, so Jesus did not destroy the Roman Empire, although he could have!

Rather. our Lord said "Give unto Ceasar, that which is Ceasar's, and unto God what is God's"

Here are the passages in the declaration of independence that mention God and the creator:

"When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation."

- and -

"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
Of course, there is nothing else within either document that indicates who exactly this God or creator is. Moreover, the specific phrase "Nature's God" is quite Deist in its tone (Deism is incompatible with Orthodox Christian belief). The arguments that many Christians have is that these people were believers so therefore these references exclusively mean the Christian God. Yet I have to point out that the basic ideas of Democracy and a Republic are more Athenian in their roots than Judeo-Christian. Moveover, I cannot remember any passage in Scripture that outlines either implicitly or explicitly the idea of a Democracy. Yet are we to believe that the founding fathers of the United States were born-again Christians who saw Democracy as the natural outworking of the Christian faith? The founding fathers certainly believed that a Creator God led them to revolt against colonial rule and establish their own independent nation - yet this idea is nowhere found in the US Constitution later on."

Answer 8

Our founding fathers would be shocked at how the intent and meaning of our Constitution have been twisted. Although we were established so that government could not control religion, we have taken it out of context. God was a huge part of the lives of those who lived during the Revolutionary War. It was not their intent to remove God, rather that the government could not control the people like, for example, the Church of England did at that time. So, in answer to your question, God Bless America is way closer to our founding father's vision.

Answer 9

God Bless America is an expression of those who believe in god and blessing.

Godless America incorrectly refers to the idea of Separation of Church and State - in other words to the fact that this nation is founded on secularism meaning it has no official religion or religious doctrine. This is not comparable to "God Bless America" because that is something individuals do and the Secular State is the form of Government. Two entirely different things.

Answer 10

Simon is correct.

No, they were not presuming to use direct address (imperative mood) to God. Since they were mostly Deists, directly addressing a request to God would have been absurd.

"God bless America" is grammatically in the subjunctive mood: it means "may God bless America". Distinctive subjunctive verb forms in modern English have mostly disappeared*, but are still common in archaic and religious language, particularly prayer (e.g. "Glory be to God" rather than "Glory is to God" or "Thy Kingdom come" rather than "Thy Kingdom cometh" or "Your Kingdom comes").

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive

Adding a comma changes the sense to the imperative mood. It's a subtle, but telling, difference, and changes a wish to an order or request.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperative_mood#Imperative

The subjunctive mood is usually used to express the speakers' state of desire, or an emotional state, or conditionality. The imperative mood expresses an order or request. The indicative mood (the most common of the three moods in English) expresses a statement of fact.

A small point, but an important one if you want to understand the intentions of writers from two centuries ago, who were, by and large, Deists, not Theists.

Fundamentalists often confuse mood in religious discourse. Scriptural fundamentalists confuse the subjunctive for the indicative. Doctrinal fundamentalists often confuse the subjunctive for the imperative.