Being a Christian Nation

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For as long as I can remember conservative Christians have bemoaned the fact that we have fallen from our Christian roots. We had such great Christian Forefathers that created a Christian nation. I just kind of went along with this thinking that yes we are a Christian nation but I have learned a few things over the years.

In the Declaration of Independence the Founding Fathers cry out to "Nature's God." It goes on to say that we are granted certain unalienable rights by our Creator, such things as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. At the very end of the Declaration they state that they are relying on the protection of Divine Providence. Clearly, God is a part of the our Nation. But does this nessecarily mean God, the Father of the Trinity. It seems more to be a generic form of god. Depending on what your faith base is "the Creator" might be Allah, Yahweh, or God, the Father.

So are we a Christian nation?

To understand this better I thought I would look back on history and what some of the Founding Fathers had to say. Most of the quotes below are taken from American Gospel. It is an exhaustive study of what our nation was founded on and what has happened since then. I highly recommend it.
"In a treaty with the Muslim nation of Tripoli initiated by Washington, completed by John Adams and ratified by the Senate in 1797, the Founders declared that 'the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion'"(p.19).

It seems that we have our answer straight from the mouth of those who were there. I do not contest the fact that we were founded on Christian morals but I do not think we are a Christian nation like Israel was considered to be once.

In one of Benjamin Franklin's last letters he professed his faith in God. You can read it here. He basically says that he believes in a Creator of the universe and that our greatest service can be to help others. Then he has this to say about Jesus: I think the System of Morals [devised by Jesus] and his Religion as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw, or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes. He states later on that he doubts the divinity of Christ. Does this make him a Christian? Jesus says in John 14:7, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Franklin seems to voice the opinions of many people of that era. You look at the statements of faith from Adams, Washington, and numerous others and there seems to be a stress on doing good to others but questioning whether Jesus was God.

In a treatise entitled "Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments" James Madison declared what the writers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were trying to create. "Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and observe the religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us."

Ben Franklin and many other people felt that there should be religious influence in a nation to serve as a moral compass. He stated that it was important to study history so that we could see this in action. Machiavelli stated in The Discourses that the Romans "turned to religion as the instrument necessary above all others for the maintenance of a civilized nation."

Jon Meacham expresses his opinion on all of this by saying, "The great good news about America is that religion shapes the life of the nation without strangling it. Belief in God is central to the country's experience, yet for the brood center, faith is a matter of choice, not coercion. Driven by a sense of providence and an acute appreciation of the fallibility of humankind, they created a nation in which religion shold not be singled out for special help or particular harm."

So what do you think?

I think that we can't really complain about falling away from being a Christian nation. Maybe we can cry out that we are falling away from the morals that the nation was originally founded on but what good does that do. Soap boxes are never a good place to try to change things or get peoples attention. More than anything it can turn people off.

Recently I read the transcript of an interview of Jerry Falwell by Pat Robertson shortly after 9/11 and I was horrified. He blames "pagans, abortionists, feminists, and homosexuals" as the reason that such an atrocity happened. It was a punishment from God since we are no longer a Christian nation.

Shouldn't our approach be to be grateful for the freedom that we have and to live out our lives as we see fit. As Christians, we are to follow the mandates of the Bible. If we whole-heartedly pursue Christ then our individual lives will become the change agents for those around us. I do not believe that the United States will ever be a Christian nation but that does not mean that we stop living our faith. Sure, things may seem bad now but just remember this:

"We are not of this world!"

Look at the world around you as a field of opportunity to let people know of the love you have received from the Creator and Savior of the World.

"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."--Matthew 9:37-38

Stop complaining about the state of our country and GO!