Predictably, many progressives and pundits immediately began talking about gun control in response to the Las Vegas tragedy. But instead of gutting the Second Amendment, I propose that we resuscitate the First Amendment.

Among other things, the First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion. So, let’s “unban” God. What do I mean by that? When our founders gave birth to a new country, they repeatedly called on the God of Abraham for His guidance and blessings.

In the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, our founders wrote that we are all created equal and endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights — the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The central idea of America is a profoundly religious idea, the roots of which are found in the Torah and the New Testament.

In the first inaugural address ever delivered, George Washington said that America would not exist without the hand of Providence. Washington wanted America to be dedicated to the “Maker” of all things. No one at the time found his language unusual or offensive.

Presiding over the greatest carnage America has ever experienced, President Abraham Lincoln, in his one-page second inaugural address, expressed his fear that God would allow the Civil War to continue until all the blood shed by North and South equaled “every drop of blood drawn” by the slave master’s lash.

If a president today suggested as an explanation for national suffering that God judges nations, as well as individuals, he would quickly be labeled an extremist and mocked by our elites.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the most liberal president America ever had up until that time, led the nation in prayer during the D-Day invasion. And without any hesitation, Roosevelt told the American people that World War II was a battle between the cross of Jesus Christ and the crooked cross of Nazism.

Today radical secularists and humanists are conducting a scorched earth campaign to push displays of faith into the closet. On rare occasions, they trot out a distorted view of scripture but only then to try to justify socialist economic policies.

Prayer was kicked out of the schools in 1962. Bible readings were banned in 1963. It is hard to identify any measurement that suggests our society is better off for it.

When the space shuttle Challenger exploded in front of hundreds of thousands of school children who had been watching the launch live on TV, teachers in numerous schools, fearing the ACLU, took their children outside to say a prayer for those who had been lost.

Political figures who publicly thank God are excoriated in today’s pop culture. Pastors who continue to preach the biblical meaning of marriage have been harassed by left-wing officials. Some even faced subpoenas for their sermons to determine if they were preaching hate.

The power of the federal government was brought down on the heads of the Little Sisters of the Poor, who refused to be complicit in abortion.

The effort to marginalize God in our society undermines America. The founders knew that only a virtuous, God-fearing people could remain free.

If a citizen does not believe there is much chance of facing legal consequences for their acts in this life, and does not believe there is another life in which a just God will judge them, there will be no government big enough or powerful enough to control their passions without taking away their liberty.

Of all the poignant imagery of suffering and heroism from Las Vegas, I have found that one of the most moving moments happened about an hour before the shooting when the group Big & Rich led the crowd in singing “God Bless America.” Watch it here.

It is a wonderful sentiment, even though polls show that the number of people who believe there is no God and that America shouldn’t be blessed is growing.

As beautiful as that song is, it is really a prayer in its own way. Perhaps someone should try writing a song entitled, “America Bless God.” I doubt anything will get better unless and until we turn our hearts toward Him.