(AgapePress) - The executive director of the Center for Christian Statesmanship says many Christian Americans are lacking in their understanding of how Christianity played a key role in the founding of America.

Dr. Frank Wright says when Francis Scott Key penned the words of "The Star Spangled Banner," he clearly had spiritual themes in mind. Wright says Key's anthem was a way of acknowledging America's dependence on God, just as the founding fathers did 38 years earlier at the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

According to Wright, there was a sense of reliance on the providence of God throughout the founding era. "We are a nation that was founded upon Christian principles [and] Christian ideals," Wright says, "and it's wise for us as a nation -- even wiser, perhaps, of the church -- to remember that God still, as [Benjamin] Franklin said, rules in the affairs of men."

Sunday, March 3, marks the 71st anniversary of the date "The Star Spangled Banner" became the national anthem of the United States. Wright says that anniversary is just another instance of recognizing that our heritage as a nation is a Christian heritage.

"I think it would behoove all Americans today to reflect upon our heritage and remember that there are times when that flag has been sullied ... knocked down [or] in retreat," he says, "and yet by the grace of God, we are a nation that continues to rally around that very flag because we are mindful that [it] represents liberty that has been bought with the blood of patriots."

Wright says Key was a committed Christian and, as evidenced in the anthem, a man who had a great trust in God.

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