Hope

Hope is only hope when things seem hopeless.  Our nation is the oldest enduring republic in the history of the world, with a set of political institutions and traditions that have stood the test of time.  We have lost a lot of the world's respect recently.  Through the prophet Ezekiel God offers us hope (36:24-28): "I will give you my own spirit to lead you in my ways faithful to what I command.  Then you will live in the land the land I gave your ancestors.  You will be my people and I will be your God."
We have talked so much about the separation of church and state that we may not remember that, while our country was not founded on a particular denomination, it was founded on a kind of natural religion that almost all the great faiths of the world have in common: belief in God, an after-life, divine reward and punishment, responsibility to others.  Roger Williams, the strong proponent of the separation of church and state insisted that natural religion was a necessary condition for any free republic to maintain order and to be effective.  Our Declaration of Independence says that "all men are created."  We needn't be bashful about it.