AmericanRhetoric.com

Ronald Reagan:
Remarks to the National Association of Evangelicals

Delivered
8 March1983,
Orlando
FL

AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED:
Text
version below
transcribed
directly
from
audio

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you
very
much.

And, Reverend Clergy all, Senator Hawkins, distinguished members of the Florida
congressional delegation, and all of you: I can't
tell
you
how you
have warmed my heart with
your welcome. I'm delighted to be here today.

Those of you
in the National Association of Evangelicals are known
for your spiritual and
humanitarian work. And I would be especially remiss if I didn't discharge right
now one
personal debt of gratitude. Thank you for your prayers. Nancy and I have felt
their presence
many times in many ways. And believe me, for us they've made all
the difference.

The other day in
the East Room of the White House at a meeting there, someone asked me
whether I was aware of all the people out there who were praying for the President. And I
had
to say, "Yes, I am. I've felt
it. I believe in intercessionary prayer." But I
couldn't
help but say
to that questioner after he'd asked the question
that or
at least say to
them that if
sometimes when he was praying he got a busy
signal, it was just me in
there ahead of him. I
think I
understand how
Abraham Lincoln felt when
he said, "I
have been driven
many times to
my knees by the overwhelming conviction
that
I had
nowhere else to go." From the joy and
the good feeling of this conference, I go
to a political reception. Now, I don't
know why, but
that bit of scheduling reminds me of a story which
I'll share with you.

Transcription by
Michael
E. Eidenmuller. Property
of AmericanRhetoric.com. . Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
Page
1

AmericanRhetoric.com

An evangelical
minister and a politician arrived at
Heaven's gate one day together. And St.
Peter, after doing all the necessary formalities, took them in
hand to
show
them where their
quarters would be. And he took them to a small, single room with
a bed, a chair, and a table
and said this was for the clergyman. And the politician was a little worried about what might
be in store for him. And he couldn't believe it then when St. Peter stopped in
front of a
beautiful mansion with lovely grounds,
many servants, and told him that these would be his
quarters.

And he couldn't help but ask, he said, "But wait, how there's
something wrong how
do
I
get this mansion while that good and holy man
only gets a single room?" And St. Peter said,
"You
have to
understand how
things are up here. We've got thousands and thousands of
clergy. You're the first politician who ever made
it."

But I don't want
to contribute to a stereotype.
So I tell you
there are a great many Godfearing,
dedicated,
noble men and women
in public life, present company included. And yes,
we need your help to keep us evermindful
of the ideas and the principles that brought
us into
the public arena in the first place. The basis of those ideals and principles is a commitment to
freedom and personal liberty that, itself is grounded in the much deeper realization
that
freedom prospers only where the blessings of God are avidly sought and humbly accepted.

The American experiment in democracy rests on this insight. Its discovery was the great
triumph of our Founding Fathers, voiced by William Penn when
he said: "If we will
not
be
governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants." Explaining the inalienable rights of men,
Jefferson
said, "The
God who gave us life, gave us liberty at
the same time."
And it was
George Washington who said that "of all
the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."

And finally, that shrewdest of all observers of American democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville,
put
it eloquently after he had gone on a search for the secret of America's greatness and genius and
he said: "Not
until
I went into the churches of America and heard
her pulpits aflame with
righteousness did I
understand the greatness and the genius of America. America is good. And
if America ever ceases to be good, America will
cease to be great."

Well, I'm pleased to be here today with you who are keeping America great by keeping her
good. Only through your work and prayers and those of millions of others can we hope to
survive this perilous century and keep alive this
experiment in liberty, this last, best hope of
man.

I want
you
to know
that
this administration is motivated by a political philosophy that sees the
greatness of America in you, her people, and in your families, churches, neighborhoods,
communities: the institutions that foster and nourish values like concern
for others and
respect
for the rule of law under
God.

Now, I don't have to tell you
that
this puts us in opposition to, or at
least out of step with, a
a
prevailing attitude of many who have turned to a modernday
secularism, discarding the
tried and timetested
values upon which our very civilization is based.

Transcription by
Michael
E. Eidenmuller. Property
of AmericanRhetoric.com. . Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
Page
2

AmericanRhetoric.com

No matter how well
intentioned,
their value system is radically different from that of most
Americans. And while they proclaim that they're freeing us from superstitions of the past,
they've taken upon themselves the job of superintending us by government rule and
regulation. Sometimes their voices are louder than ours, but
they are not yet a majority.

An example of that
vocal
superiority is evident
in a controversy now going on in Washington.
And since I'm involved I've been waiting to hear from the parents of young America.
How far
are they willing to go in giving to government
their prerogatives as parents?

Let me state the case as briefly and simply as I
can. An organization of citizens, sincerely
motivated, deeply concerned about
the increase in illegitimate births and abortions involving
girls well below
the age of consent, some time ago established a nationwide network of clinics
to offer help to
these girls and,
hopefully, alleviate this situation. Now, again, let
me say, I do
not
fault their intent. However, in their wellintentioned
effort, these clinics decided to provide
advice and birth control drugs and devices to underage girls without
the knowledge of their
parents.

For some years now, the federal government
has helped with funds to subsidize these clinics.
In providing for this, the Congress decreed that
every effort would be made
to maximize
parental participation. Nevertheless, the drugs and devices are prescribed without
getting
parental consent or giving notification after they've done so. Girls termed "sexually active" and
that
has replaced the word "promiscuous" are
given
this help in order to
prevent
illegitimate birth or abortion.

Well, we have ordered clinics receiving federal funds to notify the parents such
help has been
given. One of the nation's leading newspapers has created the term "squeal rule" in
editorializing against
us for doing this, and we're being criticized for violating the privacy of
young people. A judge has recently granted an
injunction against an enforcement of our rule.
I've watched TV panel shows discuss this issue,
seen columnists pontificating on our error, but
no one seems to
mention
morality as playing a
part
in the subject of sex.

Is all of JudeoChristian
tradition wrong? Are we to believe that something so
sacred can be
looked upon as a purely physical thing with no potential
for emotional and psychological
harm? And isn't it the parents' right to give counsel and advice to keep their children from
making mistakes that may affect their entire lives?

Many of us in
government would like to know what parents think about
this intrusion
in their
family by government. We're going to
fight in the courts. The right of parents and the rights of
family take precedence over those of
Washingtonbased
bureaucrats and social engineers.

But
the fight against parental
notification is really only one example of many attempts to
water down traditional values and even abrogate the original
terms of American democracy.
Freedom prospers when
religion
is vibrant and the rule of law
under God is acknowledged.
When our Founding Fathers passed the First Amendment, they sought
to protect churches
from government interference. They never intended to
construct a wall of hostility between
government and the concept of religious belief itself.

Transcription by
Michael
E. Eidenmuller. Property
of AmericanRhetoric.com. . Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
Page
3

AmericanRhetoric.com

The evidence of this permeates our history and our government. The Declaration of
Independence mentions the Supreme Being no less than
four times. "In
God We Trust" is
engraved on our coinage.
The Supreme Court opens its proceedings with a religious
invocation. And the members of Congress open
their sessions with a prayer. I just
happen
to
believe the schoolchildren of the United States are entitled to
the same privileges as Supreme
Court justices and congressmen.

Last year, I sent the Congress a constitutional amendment to restore prayer to public schools.
Already this session, there's growing bipartisan
support for the amendment, and I am calling
on the Congress to act speedily to pass it and to let our children
pray.

Perhaps some of you read recently about the Lubbock school
case, where a judge actually
ruled that
it was unconstitutional
for a school district to give equal treatment to religious and
nonreligious student
groups, even when
the group meetings were being held during the
students' own
time. The First Amendment never intended to require government
to
discriminate against religious speech.

Senators Denton and Hatfield have proposed legislation
in the Congress on
the whole question
of prohibiting discrimination against
religious forms of student speech. Such
legislation
could
go far to restore freedom of religious speech for public school
students. And I
hope the
Congress considers these bills quickly. And with
your help, I think it's possible we could also
get the constitutional amendment
through
the Congress this year.

More than a decade ago, a
Supreme Court decision
literally wiped off the books of fifty states
statutes protecting the rights of unborn children. Abortion on demand now takes the lives of
up to one and a half million
unborn children a year. Human
life legislation ending this tragedy
will someday pass the Congress, and you and I
must
never rest
until
it does. Unless and until
it can be proven that
the unborn child is not a living entity, then
its right to
life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness must be protected.

You
may remember that when abortion on demand began, many, and indeed, I'm sure many
of you, warned that the practice would lead
to a decline in respect for human
life, that
the
philosophical premises used to justify abortion on demand would ultimately be used to justify
other attacks on the sacredness of human life infanticide
or mercy killing. Tragically
enough, those warnings proved all too
true. Only last
year a court permitted the death
by
starvation of a handicapped infant.

I have directed the Health and Human
Services Department
to make clear to
every health
care facility in the United States that the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973 protects all
handicapped
persons against discrimination based on handicaps, including infants. And we have taken
the
further step of requiring that each and every recipient of federal
funds who provides health
care services to
infants must post and keep posted in a conspicuous place a notice stating that
"discriminatory failure to
feed and care for handicapped infants in this facility is prohibited by
federal law."
It also lists a twentyfourhour.
tollfree
number so
that nurses and others may
report
violations in time to save the infant's life.

Transcription by
Michael
E. Eidenmuller. Property
of AmericanRhetoric.com. . Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
Page
4

AmericanRhetoric.com

In addition, recent
legislation
introduced by in
the Congress by Representative Henry Hyde
of Illinois not only increases restrictions on publicly financed abortions, it also addresses this
whole problem of infanticide. I urge the Congress to begin
hearings and to adopt legislation
that will protect
the right of life to all children, including the disabled or handicapped.

Now, I'm sure that you must get discouraged at times, but
there you've done better than you
know, perhaps. There's a great spiritual awakening in America, a renewal of the traditional
values that have been
the bedrock of America's goodness and greatness.

One recent survey by a Washingtonbased
research council concluded
that Americans were far
more religious than
the people of other nations. 95 percent of those surveyed expressed a
belief in
God and a huge majority believed the Ten Commandments had real
meaning in their
lives. And another study has found that an overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of
adultery, teenage sex, pornography, abortion, and hard drugs. And this same study showed a
deep reverence for the importance of family ties and religious belief.

I think the items that we've discussed here today must be a key part of the nation's political
agenda. For the first time the Congress is openly and seriously debating and dealing with the
prayer and abortion
issues and that's enormous progress right there. I repeat: America is in
the midst of a spiritual awakening and a moral renewal. And with
your biblical keynote, I say
today, "Yes, let justice roll on
like a river, righteousness like a neverfailing
stream."

Now, obviously, much of this new political and social consensus I've talked about
is based on
a positive view of American
history, one that takes pride in our country's accomplishments
and record. But we must never forget
that
no government schemes are going to perfect
man.
We know
that living in this world means dealing
with what philosophers would call the
phenomenology of evil or, as theologians would put it, the doctrine of sin.

There is sin and evil
in
the world, and we're enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to
oppose it with all our might. Our nation, too, has a legacy of evil with which it must
deal. The
glory of this land has been
its capacity for transcending the moral evils of our past. For
example,
the long struggle of minority citizens for equal rights, once a source of disunity and
civil war is now a point of pride for all
Americans. We must
never go back. There is no room
for racism, antiSemitism,
or other forms of ethnic and racial hatred in
this country.

I know that you've been horrified, as have I, by the resurgence of some hate groups
preaching bigotry and prejudice. Use the mighty voice of your pulpits and the powerful
standing of your churches to denounce and isolate these hate groups in our midst. The
commandment given
us is clear and simple: "Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself."

But whatever sad episodes exist
in our past, any objective observer must
hold a positive view
of American history, a history that has been
the
story of hopes fulfilled and dreams made into
reality. Especially in this century, America has kept alight the torch of freedom, but
not just
for ourselves but for millions of others around the world.

Transcription by
Michael
E. Eidenmuller. Property
of AmericanRhetoric.com. . Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
Page
5

AmericanRhetoric.com

And this brings me to my final point
today. During my first press conference as president, in
answer to a direct question, I
pointed out that, as good MarxistLeninists,
the Soviet
leaders
have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is that which will
further their cause, which is world revolution. I
think I
should point out I was only quoting
Lenin, their guiding spirit, who said in 1920 that they repudiate all morality that proceeds
from supernatural
ideas that's
their name for religion or
ideas that are outside class
conceptions. Morality is entirely subordinate to
the interests of class war. And everything is
moral
that is necessary for the annihilation of the old, exploiting social order and for uniting
the proletariat.

Well, I
think the refusal of many influential people to accept this elementary fact of Soviet
doctrine illustrates a historical reluctance to see totalitarian powers for what
they are.
We saw
this phenomenon in the 1930s. We see it
too often
today.

This doesn't mean we should isolate ourselves and refuse to seek an
understanding with
them. I intend to do everything I can to persuade them of our peaceful intent, to remind them
that
it was the West
that
refused to
use its nuclear monopoly in the forties and fifties for
territorial gain and which now proposes 50 percent cut in strategic ballistic missiles and the
elimination of an entire class of landbased,
intermediaterange
nuclear missiles.

At
the same time, however, they must be made to understand we will never compromise our
principles and standards. We will
never give away our freedom. We will
never abandon our
belief in
God. And we will
never stop searching for a genuine peace. But we can assure none
of these things America stands for through
the socalled
nuclear freeze solutions proposed by
some.

The truth is that a freeze now would be a very dangerous fraud, for that
is merely the illusion
of peace. The reality is that we must find peace
through strength.

I would agree to a freeze if only we could freeze the Soviets' global desires. A freeze at
current
levels of weapons would remove any incentive for the Soviets to
negotiate seriously in
Geneva and virtually end our chances to achieve the major arms reductions which we have
proposed. Instead, they would achieve their objectives through the freeze.

A freeze would reward the Soviet Union for its enormous and unparalleled military buildup. It
would prevent the essential and long overdue modernization of United States and allied
defenses and would leave our aging forces increasingly vulnerable.
And an
honest
freeze
would require extensive prior negotiations on
the systems and numbers to be limited and on
the measures to ensure effective verification and compliance. And the kind of a freeze that
has been suggested would be virtually impossible to
verify. Such a major effort would divert
us completely from our current negotiations on achieving substantial reductions.

A number of years ago, I
heard a young father,
a very prominent
young man
in
the
entertainment world, addressing a tremendous
gathering in California. It was during the time
of the cold war, and communism and our own way of life were very much on people's minds.
And he was speaking to
that subject.

Transcription by
Michael
E. Eidenmuller. Property
of AmericanRhetoric.com. . Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
Page
6

AmericanRhetoric.com

And suddenly, though, I heard
him saying, "I
love my little girls more than anything." And I
said to myself, "Oh, no, don't. You can't don't
say that."
But
I
had
underestimated him. He
went on: "I would rather see my little girls die now. still believing in
God, than
have them
grow up under communism and one day die no longer believing in God."

There were thousands of young people in that audience. They came to their feet with shouts
of joy. They had
instantly recognized the profound truth
in what
he had
said, with
regard to
the physical and the soul and what was truly important.

Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that
totalitarian darkness. Pray
they will discover the joy of knowing God.
But
until they do, let
us be aware that while they
preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict
its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil
in the modern
world.

It was C.S. Lewis who,
in his unforgettable Screw Tape Letters, wrote: "The greatest evil
is
not done now in those sordid 'dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not even done in
concentration
camps and labor camps. In
those we see its final result. But
it is conceived and
ordered.
moved, seconded, carried and minuted in clear,
carpeted, warmed, and welllighted
offices, by quiet
men with white collars and cut fingernails and smoothshaven
cheeks who do
not
need to
raise their voice."

Well, because these quiet men do not raise their voices, because they sometimes speak in
soothing tones of brotherhood and peace, because, like other dictators before them, they're
always making "their final territorial demand," some would have us accept them at their word
and accommodate ourselves to their aggressive
impulses. But
if history teaches anything,
it
teaches that simpleminded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It
means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.

So, I
urge you to
speak out against
those who would place the United States in a position of
military and moral
inferiority. You
know, I've always believed that old Screw Tape reserved his
best
efforts for those of you
in
the Church. So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze
proposals, I
urge you
to beware the temptation
of pride the
temptation of blithely declaring
yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and
the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant
misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong
and good and evil.

I ask you to
resist
the attempts of those who would have you withhold your support
for our
efforts, this administration's efforts, to
keep America strong and free, while we negotiate real
and verifiable reductions in
the world's nuclear arsenals and one day, with
God's help,
their
total elimination.

Transcription by
Michael
E. Eidenmuller. Property
of AmericanRhetoric.com. . Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
Page
7

AmericanRhetoric.com

While America's military strength
is important, let
me add here that
I've always maintained
that
the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by
armies or military might. The real
crisis we face
today is a spiritual one. at root, it
is a test of
moral will and faith.

Whittaker Chambers, the man whose own religious conversion made him a witness to one of
the terrible traumas of our time, the HissChambers
case, wrote that
the crisis of the Western
world exists to
the degree in which
the
West
is indifferent
to God,
the degree to which
it
collaborates in communism's attempt to make man
stand alone without God.
And then
he
said, for MarxismLeninism
is actually the secondoldest
faith, first proclaimed in the Garden
of Eden with
the words of temptation, "Ye shall
be as gods."

The Western world can answer this challenge,
he wrote, "but only provided that
its faith
in
God and the freedom He enjoins is as great as communism's faith
in Man."

I believe we shall rise to
the challenge.
I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre
chapter in human history whose last last
pages even
now are being written. I believe this
because the source of our strength
in the quest
for human
freedom is not
material, but
spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it
must
terrify and ultimately triumph over those
who would enslave their fellow man. For in the
words of Isaiah: "He giveth power to
the faint.
and to them that
have no
might
He increased strength. But they that wait
upon the Lord shall
renew
their strength. they shall
mount up with
wings as eagles. they shall run, and not be
weary. "

Yes, change your world. One of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine,
said, "We have it within
our power to begin the world over again." We can do
it, doing together what no one church
could do by itself.

God bless you and thank you
very much.

Transcription by
Michael
E. Eidenmuller. Property
of AmericanRhetoric.com. . Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
Page
8