America was NOT born as a Christian nation.

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/09/america-was-not-born-as-christian-nation.html

Dr. Robert Jeffress, the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, has just written a book entitled, America is a Christian Nation. For a pastor of one of the flagship churches of the Southern Baptist Convention, with an impressive list of degrees, including one from a credible university, he's not very capable of interpreting written history as far as his contention is concerned.

Jeffress is typically Southern Baptist on most social issues. He is vehemently opposed to women serving as church pastors or ordained leaders of any kind. He is also vehemently opposed to any kind of same sex marriage or LGBTQ rights, and he is a staunch defender of the anti-abortion activist position, desiring it to be eliminated as an option anywhere in the United States.

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According to Rodney Kennedy, author of the linked article from Baptist News Global says Jeffress' premise is flawed by a "false reading strategy." Jeffress, says Kennedy, is of the opinion that gathering snippets of sayings by founding fathers that include the words "God," "Christian," "Bible," and "belief," constitutes the proof necessary to declare their intentions to make America a Christian nation.

Another of Jeffress' flaws in making his point is his reliance on the work of David Barton, the founder of a group known as "Wallbuilders," dedicated to undoing the wall of separation that the Constitution establishes between church and state. Barton, who is not a historian, but holds a degree in religious education from Oral Roberts University, is a Fundamentalist source of misinformation and of completely re-writing history. Jeffress almost completely relies on Barton as the source of his information for his book, which Kennedy calls "an extended version of one of Jeffress' sermons." Barton's historical interpretations have been debunked, to the point where many Evangelical Christian schools won't use his stuff.

If America was founded as a Christian nation, and specifically, if the writing of the Constitution is the result of a foundation of "Biblical truth," where, exactly, are the examples of Biblical truth in the Constitution and where are the citations of references from the Bible to support those Biblical principles? Use of the term "divine Providence" does not constitute a Christian confession of faith. It doesn't necessarily indicate the users actual belief in God in the same context as conservative Christians do.

The strongest evidence against the idea that the Founders intended to establish a Christian nation is the establishment clause of the First Amendment. This ended the existence of a state church in America, and it set all churches free from state oversight, regulation, approval of the appointment of its ministers and from dictating the content of the preacher's sermons. It also created a completely secular state, in which those who were in government service, as members of a legislative body, head of state, or in the judicial system as magistrates, mayors and other political leaders, were no longer required to hold membership in a church in order to serve in office.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. The United States was NOT founded as a christian nation

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The founders signed a treaty affirming that the US was NOT founded as a christian nation

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[lees1975]

2. Not very many of the Founders were Christian in the way conservative Evangelicals interpret what that means.

Religious liberty was at the core of what many settlers came to America to experience, escaping the tyranny of a state church, which, in England, was the epitome of empty religion and a form of Christian nationalism that was brutal and tyrannical to those who were not members of the church of England.

That's what the founders walked away from.

[FakeNoose]

3. I think it's truthful to say the Founding Fathers were against organized religion

In those days, opposing the King of England also meant opposing the King's Church of England. That's not to say that the Founding Fathers were anti-Christian or anti-Catholic. They just felt very strongly that the new American government shouldn't be influenced by ANY church or ANY organized religion.

[lees1975]

4. They saw the church being used as a political tool.

Sort of like the Republicans are doing to conservative Evangelical churches.