A Prelude to: City of Georgetown, or City of Georgetown's Baptist Churches?
The United States of America is a Christian nation only in the same sense that it is a Caucasian nation; the argument cannot be supported by legal documentation except as census data denoting a demographic domination. This simply means that Christians, like Caucasians, comprise a majority of the population. And, as is the case with Caucasian demographic dominance, Christians are not legally entitled to any particular preference in matters of law or governance.
The Founding Fathers deliberately set up a government absolutely separated from the religion(s) of its constituents. These men were products of Enlightenment thought and sought to put an end to the constant internal and external petty bickering and often warring predicated or justified over religious issues that had dominated European politics for centuries. They modeled their new government not on the ostensibly Christian Holy Roman Empire, but upon its pagan predecessor, the Roman Republic, with additional influence drawn from the lessons of the equally non-Christian Iroquois Confederacy. There was never an intention, evinced or concealed, to form a United States based upon any religious model or even morality. The only confluence there was that all religions, even humanism, teach a nearly identical code of moral behavior. The Founders wrote little in official documents regarding issues of Christianity or religion because they had no cause for reflection upon what, for them, was an unspoken given. Where they did write on the issue of religious influence of government, as in the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli, the Founding Fathers and their government always disparaged and disavowed the idea.
Though there are vocal minorities who falsely claim that the United States is a “Christian” nation, theirs are arguments that run counter to the many statements and acts of those who created this country. In the words of the Founding Fathers themselves is found the absolute denial of the concept of America as a Christian nation in law. Those who wish to frame the US as a Christian nation need a Constitutional Amendment undoing the First Amendment if they wish their statements to be true in fact. Otherwise, their claim is unconstitutional, un-American, and unchristian. A Constitutional Amendment alone will not be sufficient to overcome that final obstacle to claiming the US as a Christian nation.
George Washington:
Washington said to the United Baptist Churches in Virginia in May, 1789 that every man "ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience."
Thomas Jefferson:
In the many letters of Thomas Jefferson, he revealed his lack of belief in angels, spirits and other superstitious trappings of religion in general and Christianity in particular.
As Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Autobiography:
"Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."
Thomas Jefferson interpreted the 1st Amendment in his famous letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in January 1, 1802:
"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
While Jefferson admired the morality of Jesus, as one might today regard Gandhi, Jefferson did not think Jesus divine, nor did he believe in the Trinity or the miracles of Jesus. In a letter to Peter Carr, 10 August 1787, he wrote, "Question with boldness even the existence of a god."
John Adams:
John Adams, widely regarded as among the most pious of the Founders, still found it necessary to say, "I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved -- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"
And, “. . . Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind."
James Madison:
Often referred to as the father of the Constitution, James Madison voiced very strong views favoring the separation of church and State which he expressed in his letter to Edward Livingston, 10 July 1822:
"And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."
James Madison had no conventional sense of Christianity. Madison wrote in his 1785 Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments:
“During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
He went on to say, “What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."
Ben Franklin:
In an essay, “Toleration”, Ben Franklin writes of his disdain for Christianity:
"If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. These found it wrong in the Bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here [England] and in New England."
Thomas Paine:
Thomas Paine of Revolutionary and Constitutional thought literary fame, wrote in his The Age of Reason, "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my church. "
Paine, author of many respected pieces now considered US historical documents, also wrote, "Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifiying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. "
Early US government documents:
The Constitution of the United States reflects the views of our founders on their establishment of a secular, non-religious government, protecting the freedom of any belief or unbelief. The historian, Robert Middlekauff, observed, "The idea that the Constitution expressed a moral view seems absurd. There were no genuine evangelicals in the Convention, and there were no heated declarations of Christian piety." The reason there was little mention of any god, or calls upon Christ was that the Founders themselves showed little of any of the Christian faith and preferred to allow each man’s conscience to dictate his choices in faith as personal matters, keeping them entirely out of the realm of government.
The Declaration of Independence makes no comment about rights secured by Christianity or the Christian god and eschews entirely the modern Christian foundation implications thrust upon it.
The god mentioned in the Declaration of Independence is not that one of Christianity. The Declaration mentions “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” This “God of Nature” is an enlightenment phrase generally describing the natural order of things and how legal considerations should respect that above any particular religious ideology. It allows the humanist and rationalist to possess a faith while denying that faith a say in legal/governmental issues.
“As the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion,” -Treaty of Tripoli, 1796
In the Supreme Court's 1892 Holy Trinity Church vs. United States decision, Justice David Brewer wrote that "this is a Christian nation." While this might be interpreted as a legal endorsement of the concept, Justice Brewer wrote this in dicta; it was personal opinion only and cannot serve as a legal pronouncement. Justice Brewer later felt it necessary to provide an explanation, lest others misuse his statement, as they have: "But in what sense can [the United States] be called a Christian nation? Not in the sense that Christianity is the established religion or the people are compelled in any manner to support it. On the contrary, the Constitution specifically provides that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' Neither is it Christian in the sense that all its citizens are either in fact or in name Christians. On the contrary, all religions have free scope within its borders. Numbers of our people profess other religions, and many reject all."
Jesus:
As for the unchristian element of the claim to a Christian nation, Jesus himself said, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, render unto God what is God’s.” This teaching is a commandment that very directly points to the separation of religious and political interests. Much of Jesus’ ministry was pointed at breaking the people free from intertwinement of religion and politics that had occurred with the Roman occupation of Judea (or Palestine, if one prefers). The Jewish religious leaders had become heavily involved in the Roman administration and begun acting in manners unfit for priests because of their political relations with the Roman governors. Jesus sought to teach that one should not become overly concerned or involved in such matters, as they tended to corrupt one another, to the detriment of all.
The United States of America is not now, nor ever has been, nor was ever intended to be, a Christian nation. The Founding Fathers reflected easily upon centuries of various Christian nations and knew that the concept would always produce inequality and strife, internally and externally. They desired to create a nation that would at least rise above that particular pettiness so that true equality and freedom in matters of religion would be protected by the government’s guarantee of disinvolvement. This has largely worked to the advantage of the American people. However, there have been groups that have sought to dissolve that wall of separation and involve politics in religion. Those who seek to do so defy the wisdom of those who have gone before and whose words and example on the matter are expounded upon herein. These groups, in unwisely seeking to meddle in politics through the pulpit prove themselves in defiance of the Constitution, the United States of America, and the teachings of the Christ.
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