Is America a Christian Nation?
It's not uncommon that I hear it expressed that 'America needs to get back to its roots as a Christian nation' or some similar sentiment, usually in response to a Leftist political view. This seems to be a desire to return to some former glory days of the past, but to which time I'm not so sure. The reason I don't believe this is a correct or healthy expression is because, no, I don't believe we are a Christian nation. I also don't believe that we ever were, nor were ever intended to be one.
I am an individual who identifies as a conservative evangelical Christian, which happens to be the most likely demographic of those who hold to the belief I am offering a kind refute to. Although I self-identify in this way, I must also acknowledge that I am much less politically staunch than many of my comrades. Even in light of this, I don't believe my thoughts here are politically or emotionally driven, but are actually grounded in facts.
What is a Christian Nation?
This is my first question because the more I think about it, the more I realize that I'm not even sure what is actually meant when we are declared a Christian nation. Does this mean that American citizens should all worship Jesus Christ as Lord? Does it mean that we are a nation with a Christian heritage that we have fallen away from? Does it mean that our government needs to be more well versed and driven by specific theology? Does it mean our forefathers were all Christians who believed they were creating a theocracy? Does it mean that God is our true leader and we need to learn to submit to him collectively as a people so that we can do his will for the world?
I'm not sure of the answer. If I had to offer my opinion of what is meant it would be something like this: Our nation was founded by Christian men who desired to create a land where they were free to worship that Christian God. This has been broken by immorality-liberalism, Islam, homosexuality, atheism, evolution, etc-which explains why we seem to find ourselves in a more and more broken place. The answer to deliver us from this growing brokenness is to return to what our founders intended-people to believe in the Christian God and have laws and culture that reflect this. I know this is a bit simplistic, but I don't believe it is far from the truth that is felt when this desire is expressed, even if that truth is below the surface.
I believe this idea is at best untrue and dangerous.
What did our founders say about religion?
The answer is, in fact, very little. The first amendment to the US Constitution includes the following statement: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." And the Declaration of Independence states that we may "assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle [us]" and that we are "endowed by [our] Creator with certain unalienable Rights." That is really all our forefathers explicitly left for us in our founding public documents.
While it's true that the only religion to be prominent during the founding days of our republic are various forms of Christianity, this is because there was really almost no other religion practiced by the European settlers who came here. It's even debatable how much everyday life was affected by religion, as two of the most prominent historical markers of the time were chattel slavery and Manifest Destiny. Although not the subject here, it seems that many of the founding fathers were deists, confessing a distant, inactive God rather than a personal one.
The genius of our founders prevented them from forming a Christian nation. I believe they were aware of the dangers and conflicts of interest this could easily lead to. As a result, they were very explicit in their efforts to establish the concept of religious liberty as a foundational tenet of their new nation. Although Christianity was nearly universal in terms of religion of confession and practice, they were very careful to allow the freedom of religious belief or lack of. It was an enormous point of emphasis among the founding fathers to not allow the government to favor any religion, as this always leads to unjust persecution, abuse, and suppression of minority expressions. As most of the framers of our nation were from Great Britain, they were well aware of the dangers of collusion between church and state.
Though there were groups of people, notably the Puritans, who believed that America did have a purpose rooted in the gospel to serve as a light of Protestantism to the world, our founders were not of this persuasion. They were also confessing Christians, but they did not want Christianity or any other religious expression to be favored over others. This was very wise. So, no, it was not their intent, expressly or implicitly, to form a Christian nation.
Do we really want a Christian nation?
This may surprise some, but I believe the answer to this is no. My answer is influenced by my religious belief as well as my own notion of fairness and justice. Let me explain.
As a Christian, I do not even believe that there actually can be such a thing as a Christian nation, particularly a unique one that is actually set apart by God himself. Since Jesus Christ established a new covenant, God's dealings with man are no longer through a theocratic nation-state (old covenant Israel). It is theological error to identify any state as set apart by God. He now calls and works through those who are part of his worldwide church, which is to be made of all ethnicities and cultures. So, I don't believe God is interested in establishing or working primarily through any earthly nation. I don't believe that in God's eyes America is any more special than Afghanistan or Sudan. I also believe that affirming the view that God desires to exalt America will too easily lead to ethnocentric pride, racism, and unnecessary conflict. Sadly, I believe in many cases those are the very things that foster such a belief.
As a matter of fairness and justice, I do not wish to see Christianity given a special status by our nation. It saddens me to see Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and other religious observers feel less free, safe, or secure in their religious expressions. This is what I think would disappoint our founding fathers as well. I will be the first to say that, as a committed Christian, I believe that my religion offers the only hope for the souls of man and is the only source of true salvation. Most deistic religious believers have the same conviction. But, I have no desire to see others' right to legal and peaceful religious practices frowned upon, stifled, or given secondary status by anyone. The danger in desiring a state to advance a religion or discourage another is that the tables can be turned. If Christians allow our own religion to receive special treatment, then what's to prevent another religion from reaching that same status in the future, stifling our right to religious freedom? That's the inherent danger in embracing America as a Christian nation.
Conclusion
Religious freedom is a great thing, but is only a farce if not equally applied to everyone. I am all for personal attempts at proselytizing, apologetics, and debate. What I'm not for is calling our clearly secular state a Christian nation (or maybe later a Muslim nation or an Atheist nation). I have no desire to see our government advance any religion over another, or for any group of religious people to seek to identify their beliefs with the governing power of our country. Our founding fathers would never have wanted this, and I don't believe we should either if we put more thought into it.
To my Christian brothers and sisters: God is not a Republican, a Democratic, or an American. I don't believe that Christians' identities should be so strongly tied to political factions or any temporal powers. This is often a form of idolatry that we fail to recognize. There is a higher kingdom that we should identify more strongly with, which will not be brought into its true form by any nation. In this kingdom, there will be no ties to anything (nations, parties, denominations, etc) besides God Himself.
So, to conclude: No, we are not a Christian nation, have never been a Christian nation, and I don't believe we should desire to be a Christian nation.
What is a Christian Nation?
This is my first question because the more I think about it, the more I realize that I'm not even sure what is actually meant when we are declared a Christian nation. Does this mean that American citizens should all worship Jesus Christ as Lord? Does it mean that we are a nation with a Christian heritage that we have fallen away from? Does it mean that our government needs to be more well versed and driven by specific theology? Does it mean our forefathers were all Christians who believed they were creating a theocracy? Does it mean that God is our true leader and we need to learn to submit to him collectively as a people so that we can do his will for the world?
I'm not sure of the answer. If I had to offer my opinion of what is meant it would be something like this: Our nation was founded by Christian men who desired to create a land where they were free to worship that Christian God. This has been broken by immorality-liberalism, Islam, homosexuality, atheism, evolution, etc-which explains why we seem to find ourselves in a more and more broken place. The answer to deliver us from this growing brokenness is to return to what our founders intended-people to believe in the Christian God and have laws and culture that reflect this. I know this is a bit simplistic, but I don't believe it is far from the truth that is felt when this desire is expressed, even if that truth is below the surface.
I believe this idea is at best untrue and dangerous.
What did our founders say about religion?
The answer is, in fact, very little. The first amendment to the US Constitution includes the following statement: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." And the Declaration of Independence states that we may "assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle [us]" and that we are "endowed by [our] Creator with certain unalienable Rights." That is really all our forefathers explicitly left for us in our founding public documents.
While it's true that the only religion to be prominent during the founding days of our republic are various forms of Christianity, this is because there was really almost no other religion practiced by the European settlers who came here. It's even debatable how much everyday life was affected by religion, as two of the most prominent historical markers of the time were chattel slavery and Manifest Destiny. Although not the subject here, it seems that many of the founding fathers were deists, confessing a distant, inactive God rather than a personal one.
The genius of our founders prevented them from forming a Christian nation. I believe they were aware of the dangers and conflicts of interest this could easily lead to. As a result, they were very explicit in their efforts to establish the concept of religious liberty as a foundational tenet of their new nation. Although Christianity was nearly universal in terms of religion of confession and practice, they were very careful to allow the freedom of religious belief or lack of. It was an enormous point of emphasis among the founding fathers to not allow the government to favor any religion, as this always leads to unjust persecution, abuse, and suppression of minority expressions. As most of the framers of our nation were from Great Britain, they were well aware of the dangers of collusion between church and state.
Though there were groups of people, notably the Puritans, who believed that America did have a purpose rooted in the gospel to serve as a light of Protestantism to the world, our founders were not of this persuasion. They were also confessing Christians, but they did not want Christianity or any other religious expression to be favored over others. This was very wise. So, no, it was not their intent, expressly or implicitly, to form a Christian nation.
Do we really want a Christian nation?
This may surprise some, but I believe the answer to this is no. My answer is influenced by my religious belief as well as my own notion of fairness and justice. Let me explain.
As a Christian, I do not even believe that there actually can be such a thing as a Christian nation, particularly a unique one that is actually set apart by God himself. Since Jesus Christ established a new covenant, God's dealings with man are no longer through a theocratic nation-state (old covenant Israel). It is theological error to identify any state as set apart by God. He now calls and works through those who are part of his worldwide church, which is to be made of all ethnicities and cultures. So, I don't believe God is interested in establishing or working primarily through any earthly nation. I don't believe that in God's eyes America is any more special than Afghanistan or Sudan. I also believe that affirming the view that God desires to exalt America will too easily lead to ethnocentric pride, racism, and unnecessary conflict. Sadly, I believe in many cases those are the very things that foster such a belief.
As a matter of fairness and justice, I do not wish to see Christianity given a special status by our nation. It saddens me to see Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and other religious observers feel less free, safe, or secure in their religious expressions. This is what I think would disappoint our founding fathers as well. I will be the first to say that, as a committed Christian, I believe that my religion offers the only hope for the souls of man and is the only source of true salvation. Most deistic religious believers have the same conviction. But, I have no desire to see others' right to legal and peaceful religious practices frowned upon, stifled, or given secondary status by anyone. The danger in desiring a state to advance a religion or discourage another is that the tables can be turned. If Christians allow our own religion to receive special treatment, then what's to prevent another religion from reaching that same status in the future, stifling our right to religious freedom? That's the inherent danger in embracing America as a Christian nation.
Conclusion
Religious freedom is a great thing, but is only a farce if not equally applied to everyone. I am all for personal attempts at proselytizing, apologetics, and debate. What I'm not for is calling our clearly secular state a Christian nation (or maybe later a Muslim nation or an Atheist nation). I have no desire to see our government advance any religion over another, or for any group of religious people to seek to identify their beliefs with the governing power of our country. Our founding fathers would never have wanted this, and I don't believe we should either if we put more thought into it.
To my Christian brothers and sisters: God is not a Republican, a Democratic, or an American. I don't believe that Christians' identities should be so strongly tied to political factions or any temporal powers. This is often a form of idolatry that we fail to recognize. There is a higher kingdom that we should identify more strongly with, which will not be brought into its true form by any nation. In this kingdom, there will be no ties to anything (nations, parties, denominations, etc) besides God Himself.
So, to conclude: No, we are not a Christian nation, have never been a Christian nation, and I don't believe we should desire to be a Christian nation.
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