Religion Was Not Meant to Be a Bad Topic

On the July 5, 2024 Independence Day week broadcast, Kim Monson welcomes historian and author Bill Federer to trace the religious and philosophical roots of American self-government, then sits down with retired Air Force Colonel Bill Rutledge for a sweeping account of General Hap Arnold, the officer who built the United States Air Force from the ground up. Faith, Self-Government, and the Danger of Silence Start listening at 1:37 – Hour 1 Bill Federer, creator of the American Minute and author of more than 30 books, traces the origins of self-government to the ancient Israelites, who for 400 years lived without a king under a system of personal accountability to God and the law. Federer argues that America’s founders drew directly from this model through the Calvinist Puritans, who built New England colonies on a covenant form of government where every citizen participated in both church and civic affairs. He contrasts this with the pietist movement in Germany, whose teaching that spiritual people should withdraw from politics left a vacuum that allowed tyranny to flourish, ultimately enabling the Holocaust. Federer warns that the same pattern threatens America today. When spiritual citizens disengage from government, power-hungry individuals fill the void, and liberty erodes through fear or dependency on free government benefits. He points to his book Silence Equals Consent, rooted in Numbers chapter 30, to argue that silence in the face of evil constitutes approval. From real estate law to the U.S. Constitution’s pocket veto provision, Federer demonstrates that the principle of tacit admission runs through every level of American jurisprudence. He challenges churches to break their silence on issues from child sex trafficking to school board elections, insisting that civic participation is not worldliness but duty. “If all the spiritual people withdraw from politics, who’s left to be involved but the less spiritual, because they’re less spiritual, they’re going to yield to their power hungry side and ambitions.” Bill Federer, Author and Historian The Father of the United States Air Force Start listening at 59:12 – Hour 2 Colonel Bill Rutledge, retired United States Air Force and 95 years young, recounts the life of General Henry “Hap” Arnold, born in 1886 on a Pennsylvania farm to a country doctor. Arnold entered West Point hoping to join the cavalry but graduated into the infantry. While stationed in the Philippines, he met a young George Marshall and astutely predicted Marshall would one day become Army chief of staff. A chance encounter with Louis Bleriot’s Channel-crossing airplane in Paris sparked Arnold’s curiosity about aviation, and he soon volunteered to learn to fly directly from the Wright brothers, becoming one of the Army’s first pilots. Rutledge details how Arnold worked alongside Billy Mitchell, the visionary who predicted Japan would attack Hawaii on a Sunday morning 15 years before Pearl Harbor. Arnold spent decades as a staff officer and logistical planner, building training programs and pushing for new bombers like the B-17. A pivotal 1938 letter from Charles Lindbergh warned Arnold that Germany possessed the world’s most powerful air force, and the margin was growing. When the war came, Arnold orchestrated the buildup of the 8th Air Force in England, secured air superiority over the English Channel for the D-Day invasion, and then pivoted to the Pacific theater. After the war, Arnold structured the Air Force into the commands that endure today, and the service became an independent branch in 1947. “Hap Arnold was the...