U.S. Constitution establishes a Christian nation

A recent poll by the First
Amendment Center has determined that most Americans believe that the U.S.
Constitution establishes a Christian nation.  55% say that the
founders put Christianity into the Constitution.  Of course, such a
finding is not surprising given the steady drum beat of the various
fundamentalist Christian evangelical leaders and televangelists over the
last two decades.  Unfiltered by the media and traditional mainline
religious groups they declare  that the United States was founded as
a “Christian nation” and that it must be brought back to these roots, or
lose its divine guidance and calling by God to be the new chosen
people.   

This theme has reached hysterical
levels in the wake of September 11^th and has
often dangerously borrowed the bellicose language of the Crusades to
declare a holy war against the Muslim world; the same Crusade in which it
was proclaimed ‘to kill a pagan is to win glory, for it gives glory to
Christ.’ With these words came the slaughter of 70,000 Muslims and
Jews.  For contemporary evidence of where such unbridled rhetoric
leads we have only to witness the tragic results of the ill-fated invasion
and occupation of Iraq fueled by the misguided words of some of our
leaders: 

In the words of President Bush,
post 9-11, “This is a new kind of evil and we understand, and the American
people are beginning to understand, this crusade, this war on terrorism is
going to take awhile.” 

Lt. General William Jerry Boykin,
former Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence who has made claims that
his God is “bigger than theirs,” has repeatedly described from America’s
pulpits that our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a “Christian holy
crusade against Islam,” a religion he suggested was aligned with Satan,
who he said wants to destroy us as a nation, and as a Christian
army… 

Just for the record, before the
next poll is taken, it should be compulsory for every American to
reexamine just exactly what our founding fathers thought about the role of
religion/Christianity in America.  Having fought to escape religious
persecution in Britain their thoughts should come as no surprise. 
 

While all the founding fathers
recognized religion’s valuable social role, they cherished the separation
of church and state and so did their government.

All of them emphasized the
supreme importance of individual reason and conscience – not
ecclesiastical authority and dogma.  Author, Bruce Bawer, in his
book, Stealing Jesus, gives us a summary of some of these
thoughts: 

Jefferson said that he was not
generally disposed to seek his religion outside the dictates of his own
reason and feelings of his own heart. Jefferson also said, “There is not a
young man now living in the United States who will not die a
Unitarian.” 

Washington could not accept the
conclusions [of religion] on the basis of authority or long-standing
belief; he was no mystic.  “He felt he did not know and could never
know.”  He added that he didn’t care which religion immigrants to the
United States might profess:  “…If they are good workmen, they may be
Mohammedans, Jews, or Christian of any sect, or they may be
atheists. 

Stephen Prothero, professor of
religion and author of the best-selling book, “Religious Literacy,” offers
a wise and well informed warning to those religious Americans who would
put God and country on the same line. He summarizes the case with three
salient points:   

“First, separation of church and
state is not so much a protection of American values as a protection of
Christianity.  Second, instead of being the faith that would change
hearts and minds it has become a religion of exclusivity.  Public
Christianity in America in all too many cases  has become what you
are opposed to, where “the religious dimension of America has collapsed
into the political dimension.” 

Because we have so closely
blurred the lines between our nation and our religion we have diminished
both of legitimacy and meaning; we have lost the prophetic voice that can
speak truth to both, and ultimately heal our spirit.  This is what
happens when we put God and country on the same line.  

While not a majority, this recent
poll demonstrates that there are still many millions of Americans who
believe that being saved by America and being saved by Christianity is not
one and the same.