Was The United States Founded As A Christian Nation?

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   PhoenixVposted 8 years ago

   Was The United States Founded As A Christian Nation?

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   M. T. Dremerposted 8 years ago

   There is no doubt that many of the founding fathers were Christians. And, it's likely that their upbringing in that religion had an influence on their decisions as adults. However, if they had wanted the U.S. to be a Christian Nation, they would have written it into the constitution. And they certainly wouldn't have wanted any church/state separation.
   
   Let's say I'm a Christian and I want to start my own business. I go through all of the necessary channels and set up my shop. The name of my business is not religious, it doesn't have any religious iconography, and I didn't include religious language in any of the legal documents. Is it a Christian business? Was it founded on Christian values or business values? I make this comparison because Christian businesses do exist, where they make it known from the beginning that their faith is very important to them. And there are businesses that don't associate themselves with religion, even though their owners are religious.
   
   It is a conscious decision, on the owner's part, whether or not it will be a factor. And if they decide it won't be, then we can say it isn't a Christian business, it's just a business. And that's how we should look at the U.S. The founding fathers made a conscious decision to not declare a national religion and went a step further to separate government from religion. Therefore we can conclude that it isn't a Christian Nation, it's just a Nation.

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   feenixposted 8 years ago

   The United States of America WAS founded as a Christian nation and nowhere in the US Constitution does it state that there is supposed to be "separation of church and state." No where!
   
   "Separation of church and state" was a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson and others to clarify that there should be separation of state from church. As an example and constitutionally, " ... no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States ... " And that is as far as it is supposed to go. No farther.
   
   In other words, it was never intended for religious organizations not to have any input into the goings on of government. For example, just like such contemporary secular organizations as the NAACP, National Urban League, National Organization for Women (NOW) and AARP all have the right to lobby and offer input into government operations, religious organizations (including Christian ones, Jewish ones and Muslim ones) have that very same right.

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      Joshtheplumberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Perhaps it's a matter of semantics, but we're talking about christian principles as a guide, as common law is derived from KJV, but not to be forced. Attraction rather than promotion

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      feenixposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      All I know is, at least half of The Ten Commandments along with The Golden Rule underpin the US political and justice systems.

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      Joshtheplumberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      And how much easier YOUR life is for knowing that ;-)
      
      Now that I showed you what is hiding in an athiest's heart, you can discover the joy of letting them be wrong. This is the secret of why the founding fathers separated church from state.

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      feenixposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The Founding Fathers did NOT separate church from state. What they did was suggest that there be a wall between church & state. If there were a separation, each session of Congress would NOT open with a prayer to God. Then there is "In God We Tru

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      Joshtheplumberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Yes. While the masses are given enough freedom to walk right into every trap if they don't get it. The founding fathers knew exactly how to bring about the correction. We're watching it happen now. Are you enjoying the show? It's about to get crazy

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      feenixposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      @Joshua
      
      ... and your point is ...

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      Joshtheplumberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Apparently the point is nobody knows what to do about a bad odor from a sinus infection.

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      feenixposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      ... as well as the bad odor of left-wing Christian haters who are bent on transforming the US into a cesspool of immorality in which anything and everything goes.

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      Joshtheplumberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I agree. You'd think telling the truth would be enough. Funny how we've become so accustomed to being lied to almost no one knows what a genuine article is. If you'll excuse me, I've got to figure out how to pay the bills.

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   Joshtheplumberposted 8 years ago

   Simple answer: no. As dremer points out, many of the founders identified as christian, however they clearly did not want a theocracy as their government. They also clearly wanted spirituality to be a guiding principle as they pointed out in the declaration that we are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights. In particular life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Of course we aren't guaranteed happiness, only the right to pursue it.
   
   "Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be."
   
   -Abraham Lincoln

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   lambservantposted 8 years ago

   The declaration of independence and the constitution provide for freedom of religion! Not every founding father was a Christian, however the majority had a deep reverence for the Bible, our Soveriegn Creator, and Judeo Christian principals!  I think people said it was a Christian nation because that was the dominate religious choice back then and even up until just a few decades ago! But it was not mandated ! We've enjoyed the freedom to worship (or not to worship) however we wish! Sadly, our religious freedom is being systematically removed and denied! Many lawmakers, our president, and massive rganizations who have an agenda misread the constitution (deliberately, or in ignorance) to be freedom From religion! Christianity has become the enemy in their eyes because we don't support their beliefs and agenda!

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      feenixposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Lori, excellent response to this question. Absolutely excellent.

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   skperdonposted 8 years ago

   I sincerely doubt it. Christianity was the prevalent religion at the time, among the founding fathers.

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   Ericdierkerposted 8 years ago

   It seems to me and I could be wrong that the US was the first nation where the founding father did not force their belief system on others. I mean belief as far as religion goes. By today's standards they had some strange beliefs as far as women and slaves and property ownership go, but they were seemingly in general focused on freedom from tyranny from a government. At the time the biggest tyranny came from the government through the government church. Perhaps it goes too far but it is as though they were anti-Christian. I do not mean anti-Christianity but anti-Christian Churches. There is a great deal of that nowadays in the US. Somehow and someway churches seem to stray from providing to dictating. And in general US peoples are opposed to that. We note that it is a notion of separation of "Church" and state and not a separation of "beliefs" and state. We cannot separate those who lead us from their beliefs. (although some leaders seem to separate their leadership from their beliefs if they even have any)
   If a nation in a democracy is made of it's citizenry and that citizenry is mostly Christian, it appears appropriate to call it a Christian Nation. But on further examination a real democracy protects the rights of it's minority peoples and so it would be wrong to call a democracy a Christian nation or to say it was founded as such.
   So nope, not founded as a Christian Nation and not one now.

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