A “Christian” Nation?
INTRODUCTION
There are two extreme contrasting views regarding the founding fathers of our nation and their religious convictions. One side insists the founders of the good ol’ USA intended on a purely secular government with little or no “Christian” influence. The opposite side contends that nearly every founding father was an orthodox, practicing, devout Christian.
Which is correct? Does the very foundation of our nation rest firmly upon Christian ideology? Or did the founders attempt to separate religion entirely from public life?
A CLOSER LOOK
I do not have the time in one message to delve deeply into details regarding both sides of the argument. But let us, at the very least, on this Independence weekend attempt to settle within our hearts the “broad” or “general” intentions of the founding fathers. I will draw heavily from an excellent article I read from Mark David Hall, Ph.D (“Did America have a Christian Founding?” Heritage.org).
It always amazes me how historians gather oftentimes limited information and draw so-called “air tight” conclusions concerning historical figures “persona,” lifestyle, thought processes, and worldviews. In other words, they think they have the person “all figured out.” We typically have at our disposal only a few historical documents or books written by or about the person, especially if the historical figure lived hundreds of years ago. Therefore we attempt to make conclusions about the person but must also realize those conclusions are oftentimes subjective.
The same holds true for our founding fathers. We have more documents for some than for others, but our information is very limited. So we attempt to piece together facts from their letters and quotes from other acquaintances and books and public documents and the prevailing culture of their day and their upbringing, etc. in order to better understand them. The process is complex. Therefore, we can probably only accurately arrive at some general conclusions regarding the religious convictions (or lack thereof) of our founding fathers. But those can be significant.
Both sides will take one quote from a historical figure and run with it…and keep running. Clearly (hopefully) one quote does not reveal the totality of the beliefs and values of an individual. I mean, after all, most of us do not have an especially clear picture of the religious convictions of the people we know who are sitting in front or behind us in the same church!
The eighteenth century America was not so different from our own 21st century in this regards. We can be sure that several of our founding fathers were devout, committed, practicing believers in Christ. I am not aware of any dedicated atheists whatsoever. As far as we know, every single founding father was, at minimum, a believer in the Christian God. We can be certain the measure of their commitment to God through Jesus Christ varied considerably. Simply put, they possessed different maturity levels of faith and held various beliefs about God.
Franklin T. Lambert, a professor at Purdue University, thoroughly studied the religious affiliations and beliefs of the Founders. Out of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, he discovered that 49 were Protestant Christians and two were Roman Catholic. Out of the Protestant delegates, 28 were members of the Church of England (Episcopalian), 7 were Congregationalists, 2 were Lutherans, 2 were Dutch Reformed, and 2 were Methodists (Franklin T. Lambert. The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America. Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press, 2003).
Even though each founder’s beliefs and dedication to Christianity varied, we are still able to draw a few broad conclusions about their religious convictions as they framed our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. So allow me to take a rather complex issue and make a few simple, general conclusions.
ONLY CHRISTIANITY
Out of the religions of the world, ONLY CHRISTIANITY influenced the founding fathers to any degree. Why? Most were natives (born) of the thirteen colonies. There were virtually no Hindus or Buddhists or Muslims or any other religion in the New World at that time. Also, nearly all originated from Europe where Christianity was basically the only religion that was practiced. Hall notes, “In 1776, every European American, with the exception of about 2,500 Jews, identified himself or herself as a Christian. Moreover, approximately 98 percent of the colonists were Protestants, with the remaining 1.9 percent being Roman Catholics.” Remember, there was no “world” connection anything similar to our day and time.
Do not misunderstand, these were all scholarly men who I am sure understood the basic tenets and practices of other religions, but the cultures were so vastly different. EVERY major, modern, educated, progressive world power of that day had Christianity as their predominant religion. Again, out of all of the religions of the world, the ONLY one that impacted and oftentimes directed the culture of the New World was Christianity. There were no others that influenced our culture at that time whatsoever.
DEISM
Although there were no other official “religions” that directly impacted our founding fathers, many secular historians do note the influence of “Deism” in that period of time. Deism is closely aligned with the “enlightenment” period of Europe in the 18th century. At that time the world was being transformed by the scientific method and progress and rational thinking, sometimes at the expense of faith.
Deism did embrace the existence of a Supernatural God who created the universe. Furthermore, according to their view, God established at creation all natural and scientific laws to govern the universe and instilled rational thinking within humans in order to make use of those natural laws. But that’s about as far as they went with God’s involvement in our universe. In simple terms, they believed God created the universe and its natural laws, and then sorta’ wound the clock of the universe (i.e. set it in motion), stepped back, and allowed us humans to live our lives. Sometimes I wonder if Christians today remain relatives to this sort of belief.
There is no doubt that the theology of Deism did influence some of our forefathers. Thomas Jefferson is often presented as a prime candidate of an influential forefather who might have incorporated some of the Enlightenment ideology into his own theology, but no one really knows to what extent. We do know that Jefferson was raised, baptized, married, and buried in the Anglican or Episcopal Church.
INFLUENCED
We cannot prove that every one of our nation’s founding fathers was a devout, orthodox believer. However, every single one was profoundly influenced by Christian thought and truth and worldview. For example:
1. Their faith taught them that humans were sinful, so they established the “balance of powers” (three branches of government) in our constitution.
2. They believed that God ordained moral standards, and the government should do all in its power to uphold these morals.
3. Christianity helped define “liberty” for them as the freedom to choose what is right and moral.
4. They believed that all humans were created “imago Dei” or “in the image of God.”
5. Finally, since they believed in a God and moral law, they understood that religious liberty must be protected.
CHRISTIAN NATION
So was our nation founded as a distinctly “Christian” nation? It all depends on one’s definition of “Christian” nation. If it means that the United States of America was established as a Theocracy or a civil government under the authority of one official Christian church over the entire nation, then “No, it is not Christian.” Our founding fathers never intended for our nation to have one official “state” church sanctioned by the civil authorities. This is the definition of “freedom of religion.” We have the freedom to worship whoever or whatever we want, or nothing or no one at all, although religion was stressed as a desirable moral element for a successful nation.
Furthermore, if your definition of a “Christian nation” is that every founding father of our nation was a devout, orthodox Christian, then the answer again cannot be entirely “Yes,” but maybe “mostly” (as we have discussed).
On the other hand, if your definition of a Christian nation is the fact that the framers of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution and other early leaders were influenced a great deal by Scriptural truths and thus established our nation in accordance to many of these guiding principles, then the answer would be a resounding “yes.” Furthermore, if your definition of a Christian nation means that every forefather believed in God, then, again, the answer must be “yes.”
CHRISTIAN NATION TODAY?
I guess a better question might be, “Does any of this matter?” To many, it might, which is the reason I preached on the subject today. But I do believe a better question would be, “Is our nation, overall, a ‘Christian nation’ today?” My definition does not include a nation that has a “state” church of Christianity established by the government, but, in general, a nation who recognizes the God of the Bible as its God.
You see, we have the perfect scenario. We live in a nation where we have been granted the inalienable freedom to worship God and His Son Jesus Christ and practice our faith without fear of retribution. We are, furthermore, allowed by law to promote and propagate our faith. This freedom is not possible in many countries of our world today.
A 2009 Pew Research Center Study (Pewforum.com; “Global Restrictions on Religion”) concluded that 70% of the world’s population lives under government rules and laws that place “high” to “very high” restrictions on the practice of religion. That’s 70% of our world!
CONCLUSION
The church of Jesus Christ has no excuse in America. We have the freedom to worship the Lord with our whole hearts and to openly/publicly share that faith with others, with only a handful of restrictions. We can share with anyone at anytime about Jesus Christ without the fear of repercussion.
It is high time we do just that. Let us, together, make this nation a truly, voluntary “Christian nation” by the choice of the people as they receive the love of and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
INTRODUCTION
There are two extreme contrasting views regarding the founding fathers of our nation and their religious convictions. One side insists the founders of the good ol’ USA intended on a purely secular government with little or no “Christian” influence. The opposite side contends that nearly every founding father was an orthodox, practicing, devout Christian.
Which is correct? Does the very foundation of our nation rest firmly upon Christian ideology? Or did the founders attempt to separate religion entirely from public life?
A CLOSER LOOK
I do not have the time in one message to delve deeply into details regarding both sides of the argument. But let us, at the very least, on this Independence weekend attempt to settle within our hearts the “broad” or “general” intentions of the founding fathers. I will draw heavily from an excellent article I read from Mark David Hall, Ph.D (“Did America have a Christian Founding?” Heritage.org).
It always amazes me how historians gather oftentimes limited information and draw so-called “air tight” conclusions concerning historical figures “persona,” lifestyle, thought processes, and worldviews. In other words, they think they have the person “all figured out.” We typically have at our disposal only a few historical documents or books written by or about the person, especially if the historical figure lived hundreds of years ago. Therefore we attempt to make conclusions about the person but must also realize those conclusions are oftentimes subjective.
The same holds true for our founding fathers. We have more documents for some than for others, but our information is very limited. So we attempt to piece together facts from their letters and quotes from other acquaintances and books and public documents and the prevailing culture of their day and their upbringing, etc. in order to better understand them. The process is complex. Therefore, we can probably only accurately arrive at some general conclusions regarding the religious convictions (or lack thereof) of our founding fathers. But those can be significant.
Both sides will take one quote from a historical figure and run with it…and keep running. Clearly (hopefully) one quote does not reveal the totality of the beliefs and values of an individual. I mean, after all, most of us do not have an especially clear picture of the religious convictions of the people we know who are sitting in front or behind us in the same church!
The eighteenth century America was not so different from our own 21st century in this regards. We can be sure that several of our founding fathers were devout, committed, practicing believers in Christ. I am not aware of any dedicated atheists whatsoever. As far as we know, every single founding father was, at minimum, a believer in the Christian God. We can be certain the measure of their commitment to God through Jesus Christ varied considerably. Simply put, they possessed different maturity levels of faith and held various beliefs about God.
Franklin T. Lambert, a professor at Purdue University, thoroughly studied the religious affiliations and beliefs of the Founders. Out of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, he discovered that 49 were Protestant Christians and two were Roman Catholic. Out of the Protestant delegates, 28 were members of the Church of England (Episcopalian), 7 were Congregationalists, 2 were Lutherans, 2 were Dutch Reformed, and 2 were Methodists (Franklin T. Lambert. The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America. Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press, 2003).
Even though each founder’s beliefs and dedication to Christianity varied, we are still able to draw a few broad conclusions about their religious convictions as they framed our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. So allow me to take a rather complex issue and make a few simple, general conclusions.
ONLY CHRISTIANITY
Out of the religions of the world, ONLY CHRISTIANITY influenced the founding fathers to any degree. Why? Most were natives (born) of the thirteen colonies. There were virtually no Hindus or Buddhists or Muslims or any other religion in the New World at that time. Also, nearly all originated from Europe where Christianity was basically the only religion that was practiced. Hall notes, “In 1776, every European American, with the exception of about 2,500 Jews, identified himself or herself as a Christian. Moreover, approximately 98 percent of the colonists were Protestants, with the remaining 1.9 percent being Roman Catholics.” Remember, there was no “world” connection anything similar to our day and time.
Do not misunderstand, these were all scholarly men who I am sure understood the basic tenets and practices of other religions, but the cultures were so vastly different. EVERY major, modern, educated, progressive world power of that day had Christianity as their predominant religion. Again, out of all of the religions of the world, the ONLY one that impacted and oftentimes directed the culture of the New World was Christianity. There were no others that influenced our culture at that time whatsoever.
DEISM
Although there were no other official “religions” that directly impacted our founding fathers, many secular historians do note the influence of “Deism” in that period of time. Deism is closely aligned with the “enlightenment” period of Europe in the 18th century. At that time the world was being transformed by the scientific method and progress and rational thinking, sometimes at the expense of faith.
Deism did embrace the existence of a Supernatural God who created the universe. Furthermore, according to their view, God established at creation all natural and scientific laws to govern the universe and instilled rational thinking within humans in order to make use of those natural laws. But that’s about as far as they went with God’s involvement in our universe. In simple terms, they believed God created the universe and its natural laws, and then sorta’ wound the clock of the universe (i.e. set it in motion), stepped back, and allowed us humans to live our lives. Sometimes I wonder if Christians today remain relatives to this sort of belief.
There is no doubt that the theology of Deism did influence some of our forefathers. Thomas Jefferson is often presented as a prime candidate of an influential forefather who might have incorporated some of the Enlightenment ideology into his own theology, but no one really knows to what extent. We do know that Jefferson was raised, baptized, married, and buried in the Anglican or Episcopal Church.
INFLUENCED
We cannot prove that every one of our nation’s founding fathers was a devout, orthodox believer. However, every single one was profoundly influenced by Christian thought and truth and worldview. For example:
1. Their faith taught them that humans were sinful, so they established the “balance of powers” (three branches of government) in our constitution.
2. They believed that God ordained moral standards, and the government should do all in its power to uphold these morals.
3. Christianity helped define “liberty” for them as the freedom to choose what is right and moral.
4. They believed that all humans were created “imago Dei” or “in the image of God.”
5. Finally, since they believed in a God and moral law, they understood that religious liberty must be protected.
CHRISTIAN NATION
So was our nation founded as a distinctly “Christian” nation? It all depends on one’s definition of “Christian” nation. If it means that the United States of America was established as a Theocracy or a civil government under the authority of one official Christian church over the entire nation, then “No, it is not Christian.” Our founding fathers never intended for our nation to have one official “state” church sanctioned by the civil authorities. This is the definition of “freedom of religion.” We have the freedom to worship whoever or whatever we want, or nothing or no one at all, although religion was stressed as a desirable moral element for a successful nation.
Furthermore, if your definition of a “Christian nation” is that every founding father of our nation was a devout, orthodox Christian, then the answer again cannot be entirely “Yes,” but maybe “mostly” (as we have discussed).
On the other hand, if your definition of a Christian nation is the fact that the framers of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution and other early leaders were influenced a great deal by Scriptural truths and thus established our nation in accordance to many of these guiding principles, then the answer would be a resounding “yes.” Furthermore, if your definition of a Christian nation means that every forefather believed in God, then, again, the answer must be “yes.”
CHRISTIAN NATION TODAY?
I guess a better question might be, “Does any of this matter?” To many, it might, which is the reason I preached on the subject today. But I do believe a better question would be, “Is our nation, overall, a ‘Christian nation’ today?” My definition does not include a nation that has a “state” church of Christianity established by the government, but, in general, a nation who recognizes the God of the Bible as its God.
You see, we have the perfect scenario. We live in a nation where we have been granted the inalienable freedom to worship God and His Son Jesus Christ and practice our faith without fear of retribution. We are, furthermore, allowed by law to promote and propagate our faith. This freedom is not possible in many countries of our world today.
A 2009 Pew Research Center Study (Pewforum.com; “Global Restrictions on Religion”) concluded that 70% of the world’s population lives under government rules and laws that place “high” to “very high” restrictions on the practice of religion. That’s 70% of our world!
CONCLUSION
The church of Jesus Christ has no excuse in America. We have the freedom to worship the Lord with our whole hearts and to openly/publicly share that faith with others, with only a handful of restrictions. We can share with anyone at anytime about Jesus Christ without the fear of repercussion.
It is high time we do just that. Let us, together, make this nation a truly, voluntary “Christian nation” by the choice of the people as they receive the love of and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
