A “Christian” Nation?
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very dictator in history knew the value of “the big lie.” Most recently, we’ve been told a “deep state” was at work undermining a presidency, and that the last election was stolen from Donald Trump. As is always the case, the reality is that if the dictator can control major channels of communication, an outright falsehood can be repeated over and over, and the public will believe it. The bigger the lie, the easier the sell.
Today, the biggest lie in our country does not come from politics, but from religion. In its quest to infect and control every aspect of society, the radical religious right promotes the falsehood that we are “a Christian nation.” This is entirely untrue.
The biggest hurdle in perpetuating this lie is to work around Jefferson’s words, “…(we) make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.” That seems pretty clear, and by 1833 all states had adopted a similar standard of separation. But despite this, leaders of the deep church are doing rhetorical backflips trying to contend that what Jefferson really said was not what Jefferson was really meant. They are wrong.
et’s explore what the framers of the Constitution really thought, in their own words. But first, it’s important to understand a key distinction. Some framers disdained religion altogether. Many others called themselves “deists”, believing there may be some unseen force at work organizing the marvels of nature. But deism is a far cry from “Christianity.” The founders’ belief was that every person should freely choose which gods to believer or not believe…and worship accordingly (or not worship at all.)
Here are quotes from high profile Founders on how they envisioned their new nation:
GEORGE WASHINGTON (1st President)
“The United States should have a foundation free from the influences of the clergy.”
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.”
“I have always let others enjoy their religious sentiments without reflecting on (what seemed) to me to be unsupportable and even absurd…”.
“When a religion is good, I conceive (that) it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it, so that (it’s) obligated to call for help of the (government), I comprehend it of being a bad one.”
THOMAS JEFFERSON (author, Declaration of Independence)
“I have recently been examining all of the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies.”
“The imperious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical…who assume dominance over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible…have established and maintained false religions over the greater part of the world and through all time.”
(as President of the University of Virginia) “A professorship of theology should have no place in this institution.”
“Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law.”
JAMES MADISON (principle author, Bill of Rights)
“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.”
“Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects.”
“In some cases, (ecclesiastical establishments) have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the throne of political tyranny; in no instance have they been seen the guardians of liberties of the people.”
“Freedom arises from the multiplicity of sects, which pervade America, and which is the best and only security for religious liberty. Where there is such a variety of sects, there cannot be a majority of any one sect to oppress and persecute the rest.”
JOHN ADAMS (2nd President)
“The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of government established on the simple principles of nature…it will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of heaven.”
“The question before the human race is whether the god of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fiction and miracles.”
“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…”.
hese words are the bricks in Jefferson’s wall between church and state. They should be enshrined, not ignored—or scorned. But politicians of all stripes are loath to cite these words; they know such truths would end their political careers.
Meanwhile, the malicious and cynical promotion of a “Christian nation” ceaselessly works to tear down the history of plurality and acceptance on which America is founded. This lie is our true existential threat. Until it is exposed, nothing else really can be solved.
Thus, to those who wrote and signed our Constitution, we can only offer apologies.
How far from grace we’ve fallen…
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