In God We Trust

Astronaut Victor Glover, the pilot for a team of three other astronauts, lifted off the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 15 to take part in a science mission that includes experiments, robotic operations and space walks.

This is Glover’s first mission to outer space and he relies heavily on his Christian faith to help him throughout this huge mission.
“I want to use the abilities that God has given me to do my job well and support my crewmates and mission and NASA,” he said.

The California native revealed that even in outer space, he will still continue with his church routines.

Nancy Pearcey writes: “At Thanksgiving--let's thank the Puritans for the concept of self-government by covenant

"In November 1620, the individuals we know as the Pilgrims created the first social contract in the New World. That short document, the Mayflower Compact, set a precedent for religious freedom and ordered liberty that became a foundation for later charters of self-government in North America.

The text of the Mayflower Compact trumpets profound religious commitment while organizing a civil government:

'Having undertaken for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together in a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony.'

Where did the Pilgrims come up with the idea of creating a social contract?

[The] place to look for the origins of the 1620 Mayflower Compact is found in the theology of the text itself, specifically the word “covenant.” The idea of covenant, used as a verb (“Covenant and Combine ourselves”), is rooted in biblical covenants...

They covenanted to form a community of mutual obligations....

As one historian observed, this was “an important milestone in the development of self-governing political institutions.” Another scholar concluded that the Pilgrims “articulated and practiced a theory of rule by consent of the governed.”...

At a time when some challenge the morality and religious character of America’s first founders, the plain facts of the 1620 Mayflower Compact, a theologically informed social compact for believers and non-believers alike, remind us of the good seeds planted in our shared past."