On Ted Cruz & God & America &c.

I enjoy The Federalist, a proudly and unabashedly conservative blog, very much. Didn't enjoy I'm an Evangelical And I Don't Support Ted Cruz [Ted Cruz doesn’t get how to be a Christian in the public square] very much atall atall.

As a self-described "evangelical," Paul David Miller is entitled to his theological opinion of course. As background--for those who came in late--nobody actually can define what an "evangelical" even is. In that respect, Mr. Miller offers as a bona fide "I'm an Evangelical," but that should be swallowed with a big handful of salt: No "evangelical" can speak for any other. It's in the rules, in the definition of Protestantism's freedom of conscience.

And as an American, on the question of divine providence, Mr. Miller must be aware that historically, Ted Cruz is no outlier either. To business:

“From the dawn of this country, at every stage America has enjoyed God’s providential blessing,” [Cruz] said.

For the record, Mr. Miller, so did George Washington.

"No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.  

And in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their United Government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most Governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.

These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me I trust in thinking, that there are none under the influence of which, the proceedings of a new and free Government can more auspiciously commence."---GWash, First Inaugural, 1789

And FTR, George Washington was no "evangelical" either, no matter what they say or how you define the term. What makes this all the more interesting is that those who believed most in God's power and benevolence on earth were often those who quibbled about the details the least.

The greatest believers in America as the recipient of God's favor weren't the theologians or the theocrats. Merely the grateful.

"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station; it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge."---GWash, Ibid.