Civics U: A Christian Nation?
Is America a Christian nation? There are several possible answers to this question: America is a Christian nation. America was a Christian nation. America is a post-Christian nation. America is a multi-religious multicultural nation. America is a secular nation.
I. Christian
It has generally been accepted that America was founded on Christian principles and was considered to be a Christian nation. Even though God is not mentioned in the Constitution, and the first amendment prohibits the government from establishing religion, various characteristics have identified the country as a Christian nation:
1. Freedom of religion first meant freedom to obey one’s conscience, and to worship in the way thought right within a Christian context. Of course, the freedom of religion now also legally protects the freedom to believe in various non-Christian religions and religious traditions as well as the freedom “from” religion as found in atheism and secular humanism.
2. The majority of the country’s founders were Christians (or deists who subscribed to certain Christian values) who framed the constitutional governmental system in light of Biblical teaching and historical experience.
3. A majority of citizens have been Christian (as opposed to being Buddhist, Muslim, atheist, or followers of hundreds of other religions and belief systems.)
4. The American social and political system still derives from and reflects Christian or Judeo-Christian principles. Anglo-Saxon law was based on Biblical teaching, and the colonial founders of the United States based their system of law and government on these same principles. The free market system including respect for private property, justice under the law, and enforcement of contracts are derived from Biblical principles.
5. All of the states’ constitutions make reference to God and/or divinity. Typically this is found in the constitutions’ preambles in wording such as the following:
“We, the people of the State of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom….”
“We, the people of the State of Michigan, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of freedom….”
“We, the people of the State of Florida, being grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty…”
“…we the people of Georgia, relying upon the protection and guidance of Almighty God…”
“We, the people of the state of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty….”
6. “In God We Trust” on currency, and “nation under God” in the pledge of allegiance demonstrate people’s historic Christian faith.
II. Post Christian
Today many philosophers, social scientists, and theologians call America “post-Christian”. This is based on several factors.
(1) The majority of citizens do not regularly attend church services, and the percentage of Americans who belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque declined to below 50% in 2021, although the majority of Americans still “affiliate” with some kind of organized religion.
(2) The number of Americans who belong to a church declines in younger age groups.
(3) In March 2022 only 27% of U.S. adults said they had attended religious services in person during the previous month.
But the matter is not mainly one of membership and attendance statistics. It is a question of world views.
The historic Christian worldview believes in absolute and revealed truth as a basis for understanding right and wrong. However, 18th century philosophical movements during the Enlightenment believed that human reason is capable of determining right and wrong without divine revelation. But the realization that human reason has limits led to a belief that there is no universal moral standard that can be known. And this led to moral relativism and ethical relativism where ‘good’ is defined as whatever is thought to serve a person or society, or meets social or cultural standards.
III. Foundations and Sources
One reason for raising this topic is that it is important to understand what our nation’s principles and values are, to understand where they came from, and to also reflect on what our current and often conflicting views and values are, and where they are coming from.
Our country, our society, is polarized in many ways, over many issues. Without a fixed and shared standard of truth, of right and wrong, it is difficult to see how it could be otherwise. Many current divisions and disputes are framed in terms of rights. Many are framed in terms of justice. But it is difficult to reason together, to agree on the meaning of terms, even to debate constructively, when underlying assumptions, presuppositions, and world view beliefs are left unidentified and unarticulated.
In some contexts the (U.S.) Constitution is looked to as a transcendent and even moral standard of reference. But this, too, is subject to differing interpretations and applications.
The intent here is not to end on a note of pessimism. But space is limited, so this article will close by pointing to the need for depth in civic education studies, and to the need to establish and reestablish the foundation for ethics in our government and society. This is no small challenge since it is as difficult as it is important to define and maintain a nation “with liberty and justice for all.”
Postscript. The book America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, William J. Federer, Fame Publishing, Inc. 1994 contains over 2,100 quotations from nearly 700 sources that document and convey the Christian and religious history of the United States.
At the same time, the generalizations in this brief article are not meant to deny that there are multiple and even conflicting ‘sub-theologies’ within Christianity, or that there are useful lessons that can be learned from other traditions.