Is America a Christian nation, or a nation with Christians?

Perhaps the greatest challenges for America today, is to answer the question, “What kind of nation are we?” For many, that answer would be, “We are a Christian nation.” For others, the answer would be, “We are a nation with a lot of Christians in it.”

In America’s founding documents, the framers were very careful with their wording. In the Declaration of Independence, they use words like Creator, Nature’s God, or Supreme Judge, to reference God. They were careful to not actually use the word God, but recognized the value of a deity who gives dignity and liberty to humans. The irony, of course, is that most of them held slaves. 

The Constitution makes no reference to God at all. But Article VII includes “the year of our Lord,” which some would argue is a direct reference to Jesus, but is clearly a common phrase in the eighteenth-century to reference a date. If it is a reference to Jesus, it is purposely veiled while the rest of the Constitution uses very precise language. So that seems unlikely. 

In short, our nation’s founders were very careful and precise not to use the word God in our founding documents.  

And a lot of people have not been happy with it ever since. 

In fact, in 1861, during the Civil War, several northern ministers came to believe that much of the conflict of the war could be attributed to the godlessness of the Constitution and its implied atheism. They created the National Reform Association, which asserted that civil government derives its legitimacy from Jesus Christ. The official draft of the amendment of the Preamble to the Constitution that they sent to congress in 1863 reads, “We, the people of the United States (recognizing the being and attributes of Almighty God, the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures, the law of God as the paramount rule, and Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior and Lord of all) in order to from a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”[1]

Congress did not hear the proposal and over the next hundred years a dozen similar proposals were sent to congress. None of them passed. But congress did acknowledge that there were extra-constitutional religious practices and language, what Eugene Rostow, the dean of students at Yale Law School, described as “ceremonial deism,”[2] that included prayers in legislative halls, appeals to the Almighty, oaths in a courtroom, etc. These practices, they concluded, did not violate the First Amendment. It was recognized that within our nation’s institutions, “God” was regularly invoked, but Jesus seldom, if ever, was. 

If there was ever a time for America to constitutionally become a Christian nation, it would have been between 1861 and 1969. Particularly in the 1950’s and 60’s where evangelicalism was at fever pitch, and IN GOD WE TRUST was added to our money and ONE NATION UNDER GOD to our pledge. And while it’s not always popular with many Americans, we must conclude, that America is not constitutionally a Christian nation, but rather, a nation with a lot of Christians in it (and a lot of other religions or lack thereof as well).

I certainly can’t speak for every Christian (or any other religion for that matter), but I have no interest in forcing my religious beliefs or practices on anyone. 

It’s not biblical, and it’s not American. 

[1]Allision, Jim.  The NRA (National Reform Association) and the Christian Amendment

[2] Kruse, Kevin. One Nation Under God (p. 99). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.”

 

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