What Is a "Christian Nation?"

Is America a Christian nation?  To answer that, first you have to ask yourself "What is a 'Christian nation?'"

Is it a nation of Christian laws? Are the majority of its citizens Christian of one stripe or another? Are all the leaders of said nation Christian? Is Christianity the official philosophy/religion/faith? Are other faiths allowed? It isn't anything quite so superficial.

Supreme Court Justice David Brewer (1837-1910) explained it this way:

[I]n what sense can [America] be called a Christian nation? Not in the sense that Christianity is the established religion or that the people are in any manner compelled to support it. On the contrary, the Constitution specifically provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Neither is it Christian in the sense that all its citizens are either in fact or name Christians. On the contrary, all religions have free scope within our borders. Numbers of our people profess other religions, and many reject all. Nor is it Christian in the sense that a profession of Christianity is a condition of holding office or otherwise engaging in public service, or essential to recognition either politically or socially. In fact, the government as a legal organization is independent of all religions. Nevertheless, we constantly speak of this republic as a Christian nation – in fact, as the leading Christian nation of the world.

What makes America a “Christian nation?”

According to Justice Brewer, America was “of all the nations in the world . . . most justly called a Christian nation” because Christianity “has so largely shaped and molded it.”

Constitutional law professor Edward Mansfield (1801-1880) said:

In every country, the morals of a people – whatever they may be – take their form and spirit from their religion. For example, the marriage of brothers and sisters was permitted among the Egyptians because such had been the precedent set by their gods, Isis and Osiris. So, too, the classic nations celebrated the drunken rites of Bacchus. Thus, too, the Turk has become lazy and inert because dependent upon Fate, as taught by the Koran. And when in recent times there arose a nation [i.e., France] whose philosophers [e.g. Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Helvetius, etc.] discovered there was no God and no religion, the nation was thrown into that dismal case in which there was no law and no morals. . . . In the United States, Christianity is the original, spontaneous, and national religion. The United States wouldn't have become what it once was, still should be, and may return to someday, if not for Christianity. Many of our most noble traditions are a direct result of Biblical Christianity, ostensibly still enjoyed today, but slowly and inexorably disappearing, including:

A republican rather than a theocratic form of government;

The institutional separation of church and state (as opposed to today’s enforced institutional secularization of church and state);

Protection for religious toleration and the rights of conscience; a distinction between theology and behavior, thus allowing the incorporation into public policy of religious principles that promote good behavior but which do not enforce theological tenets (examples of this would include religious teachings such as the Good Samaritan, The Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, etc., all of which promote positive civil behavior but do not impose ecclesiastical rites); and A free-market approach to religion, thus ensuring religious diversity.

When King DingleBarry announced to the world that Americans “do not consider ourselves a Christian nation,” he became the 1^st “president” to make that claim. For someone who claims to be so in touch with the people, the Perpetual Campaigner somehow missed the fact that somewhere in the neighborhood of two-thirds of Americans currently consider America to be a Christian nation and/or Christians themselves (see links just below). Essentially, the Vacant Vacationer unilaterally offered a repudiation of what made America great and a refutation of the declarations of his presidential predecessors.

http://www.people-press.org/2005/05/10/beyond-red-vs-blue/)

http://www.newsweek.com/id/192311)

http://www.gallup.com/poll/117409/Easter-Smaller-Percentage-Americans-Christian.aspx

There are a multitude of quotes from Presidents throughout our history that DIRECTLY refer to America as a Christian nation, from the “father of the country” George Washington, to Richard Nixon and others. Here's a small, but representative, sample of quotes:

“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . . . the general principles of Christianity.” - John Adams

“[T]he teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally….impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teaching were removed.” - Teddy Roosevelt

“America was born a Christian nation – America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.” - Woodrow Wilson

“American life is builded, and can alone survive, upon . . . [the] fundamental philosophy announced by the Savior nineteen centuries ago.” - Herbert Hoover

“This is a Christian Nation.” - Harry Truman (leave it to Truman to be so blunt about it.)

“Let us remember that as a Christian nation . . . we have a charge and a destiny.” - Richard Nixon

There are many additional examples, including even that of Thomas Jefferson. Yes, THAT Thomas Jefferson, the one many now claim to have been rabidly anti-Christian. Read on...

Thomas Jefferson himself helped establish weekly Sunday worship services in the U.S. Capitol building (services which persisted through the 19^th century), as well as being a regular and faithful attendee at said service, determined that not even foul weather would stop his weekly horseback rides to the Capitol church. That the U. S. Capitol building was available for church on Sundays was due to the constitutional requirement (Art. I, Sec. 7) that forbade federal lawmaking on Sundays. This recognition of the Christian Sabbath in the Constitution was cited by federal courts as proof of the Christian nature of America, one court even noting that the various Sabbaths were “the Friday of the Mohammedan, the Saturday of the Israelite, or the Sunday of the Christian.” Not every Christian observes a Sunday Sabbath, but no other religion in the world honors Sunday except Christianity.

Why was Jefferson a faithful attendant at the Sunday church at the Capitol? He once explained to a friend while they were walking to church together:

No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example.

President Jefferson even closed presidential documents with “In the year of our Lord Christ”

Even President Jefferson, the supposedly avowed and staunch anti-Christian himself, recognized and treated America as a Christian nation. Clearly, the Head Jackass' declaration is refuted both by history and by his own presidential predecessors and is an unabashed attempt at historical revisionism. Of such efforts, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wisely observed, “no amount of repetition of historical errors . . . can make the errors true.”

Americans must decide whether centuries of presidents, congresses, and courts are correct or whether his Royal Lowness is, but historical fact does not change merely because the “president” declares it.

The best antidote to the type of revisionism embodied by King DingleBarry's statement is for citizens - 1) to know the truth of America’s history and - 2) share that truth with others. I challenge ALL who read this to share this TRUTH. ~ Hunter