Don't Know Much

Who said It-3/4/2013

Ronald Reagan, “Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals” in Orlando, Florida” (March 8, 1983)

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.

Source: Reagan Foundation

This speech is best known as the “evil empire” speech in which Reagan used that term to describe the Soviet Union. It was also a spirited call for allowing public prayer in schools and opposing abortion. With frequent references to Christianity in American history, Reagan cited the views of a number of Founding Fathers on the role of religion in America. He closed with a quote from Thomas Paine,

We have it within our power to begin the world over again.

It is somewhat ironic that Reagan chose to close with the words of a man who had by the end of his life rejected Christan orthodoxy. As Paine wrote in The Age of Reason (Part 1):

My own mind is my own church. All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.