I know many people believe today that America once was but is no longer a Christian nation. I wish to disagree with them. America has never been a Christian nation. We have been a nation of Christians but not a Christian nation. I say this for the simple truth—a nation cannot considered Christian unless certain characteristics are met.
If there ever was a Christian nation is would have been Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire (Roman Empire). This city, founded by Constantine, was declared a Christian realm and its entire citizenry was ordered to be baptized into the Christian faith. With the later Edict of Thessalonica, Constantinople and the whole Roman Empire was declared to be a Christian nation and heretics (those whose beliefs differed from the state-accepted view) were banned from much of its realm. Though many who lived in the land were apt to be Christian in name only, this is likely the only realm, so far, that can claim the title of ‘Christian nation’.
Christianity has never been the official religion of America. When this country was founded, it was considered a haven for those who wish to have religious freedom, that is, the freedom to worship their God in a way that met their spiritual convictions. The First Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed the citizens of this land that right. Congress, the lawmaking arm of the government, was not to create or impose any laws that would hinder or curtail a person’s right to freely express their religious convictions. This was primarily in support of Christianity but not Christianity alone. Other religions were also included in this Amendment—Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Para-Christian religions like Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The Founding Fathers created the First Amendment to the Constitution with the intention that there not be a state-sponsored or state-endorsed religion, such as was the case in England with the Anglican Church. Yet, they did not set up Christianity as the official religion of the land because there were differences in faiths even among them. Some were Deists; some were Agnostics; some were Unitarians, but all believed in the right of the individual to choose for themselves if they would worship and whom they would worship.
I do not believe that we have ever been a Christian nation. We have been (and, to some extent, still are) a nation of Christians. Unfortunately, the degree to which that is true is waning, and eventually, that statement may no longer be true. A mass immigration of people of different faiths into our land and the waning of Christianity among native-born Americans may make us as much a nation of Christians as Constantine’s proclamation made Constantinople a Christian nation.
In my next posting, I will continue this discussion of the Founding Fathers, the First Amendment along with this notion of ‘Separation of Church and State’. Was this a desire of the Founding Fathers? Does the Constitution support such a doctrine? Is such a doctrine legal? Is it enforced universally?
