Increasingly, we are becoming the Fractured States of America instead of the united ones. It is heartbreaking that we see school shootings in the news with alarming frequency. Gun violence is on the rise, and the problem isn’t the guns. The problem is that America has lost its sense of shared values and moral compass. Instead of unifying, we’re drifting apart.

According to ChurchTrac, since 2000 there has been a steady decline in regular church attendance marked by a similar rise in no attendance.¹ Occasional attendance remains the steady. That means we keep the lukewarm, but lose the passionate ones. And the once passionate aren’t coming back.

This correlates to the rise of gun violence. I have to be careful here. I’m not saying that lack of church attendance causes gun violence. I’m saying that it correlates to it, and the reason is because at church we receive our moral upbringing. Fewer people are looking to church to provide that, instead looking inward to find their own guides.

There’s a biblical problem with that idea. The prophet Jeremiah wrote that the heart is deceitful and perverse.² There is a necessity for a new heart, one not of stone but one of flesh, that God himself will put inside of us.³ God will make us a new creation through Jesus Christ.⁴

I’m arguing America needs to become more Christian, not less. The current trend is less, and we are seeing the fruits of this now. Questioning biological reality, redefining marriage to mean any two people, and now squelching people who dare to dissent using gun violence.

I’m not trying to have a persecution complex, but there’s a reason that a Catholic school was targeted by a transgender shooter. And Charlie Kirk was all for being grounded in reality where gender is concerned, as well as keeping marriage to a man and a woman. Look how that turned out for him.

Would the Founding Fathers agree with me? After all, America wasn’t founded as a Christian nation and most of the Founding Fathers were deists. But they did advocate for the necessity of religion to teach and enforce moral codes, and without such moral codes our republic would not function properly. As much as the Founding Fathers were Christian, they’d agree with me. But at the minimum, they’d argue that a shared and objective moral code is necessary.

Don’t believe me?

John Adams (1778) said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Other Founding Fathers stated that the citizens of these United States must be highly moral, or the society would collapse in itself. James Madison (1785) said, “Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.” With an echo from Patrick Henry (1788), who states, “Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, are incompatible with freedom.”

We can also find multiple examples in writing. George Washington, writing to the Native American tribes in 1779 told them, “You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.” Adams (1776) wrote, “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.”

Madison (1773) cautioned, “A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves, lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.”

Benjamin Franklin, writing to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1757, told them, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” This is of particular note, since the Founding Fathers were trying to create a system of government that was not tyrannical. Unfortunately, we are currently finding ourselves in need of such tyranny.

Henry (1799) wrote to Archibald Blair, “The great pillars of all government and of social life… are virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible.”

Thomas Jefferson (1781) asked, “Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?” And Franklin (1787), in response to prayer in a government assembly, said, “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men.”

But I think the most powerful reminder came from our first President, in his farewell speech:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports… Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. (Washington, 1796)

There’s no doubt that the Fathers would have wanted us to have religion in our lives, and used that religion to govern our way of life, our choices, and our votes. One of the biggest problems with modern society is that these morals are no longer shared ideals. Even the existence of morals as an objective reality is under attack. Until we, as a people, return to a shared set of morals there is no hope.

Works Cited

Adams, J. (1776). Diary entry. In L. H. Butterfield (Ed.), The Adams Papers: Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Volume 2 (p. 3). Harvard University Press.

Adams, J. (1798, October 11). Letter to the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts. Founders Online, National Archives. Retrieved 24 September, 2025 from https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102.

Franklin, B. (1757, December 17). Letter to the Pennsylvania Assembly. In L. W. Labaree et al. (Eds.), The Papers of Benjamin Franklin (Vol. 7, pp. 130–132). Yale University Press.

Franklin, B. (1787, June 28). Speech at the Constitutional Convention. In M. Farrand (Ed.), The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (Vol. 1, pp. 450–452). Yale University Press.

Henry, P. (1788, June 5). Speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention. In J. Elliot (Ed.), The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (Vol. 3, pp. 45–46). Jonathan Elliot.

Henry, P. (1799, January 8). Letter to Archibald Blair. In W. Wirt (Ed.), Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry (pp. 516–517). Philadelphia: James Webster.

Jefferson, T. (1781). Notes on the State of Virginia. In M. D. Peterson (Ed.), Thomas Jefferson: Writings (pp. 123–325). Library of America.

Madison, J. (1773, November 9). Letter to William Bradford. Founders Online, National Archives. Retrieved 24 September, 2025 from https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-01-02-0042.

Madison, J. (1785, June). Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments. In G. Hunt (Ed.), The Writings of James Madison (Vol. 2, pp. 183–191). G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Washington, G. (1779, May 12). Letter to the Delaware Chiefs. Founders Online, National Archives. Retrieved 24 September, 2025 from https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-20-02-0176.

Washington, G. (1796, September 19). Farewell Address. In J. C. Fitzpatrick (Ed.), The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799 (Vol. 35, pp. 214–236). U.S. Government Printing Office.

1. https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-attendance-trends-and-statistics-2023 ↩︎
2. Jer 17:9, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2017%3A9&version=NCB ↩︎
3. Ez 36:26, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2036%3A26&version=NCB. Cf. 11:19 & 2 Cor 3:3 ↩︎
4. 2 Cor 5:17, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%205%3A17&version=NCB ↩︎