GloryB

I see this statement a lot from Christian's and wanted to see what others thought about this statement.
Here is some info from the Freedom from Religion Foundation on our founding fathers to show we have always been a nation about ALL religions, not just Christianity.

-Ten Prominent Founders

# George Washington was nominally an Episcopalian. Because he seldom attended church and was not a communicant, he was accused of being an agnostic and even an atheist. He denounced the Calvinist doctrine of original sin, he never mentioned Jesus in his writings, and he used the term Providence as synonymous with destiny or fate. His prayer at Valley Forge (kneeling in the snow) is now acknowledged to be a fabrication. He was a Deist.

# John Adams studied for the ministry at Harvard. Doubts about his Christian convictions led him to shift to the law. Although he wrote favorably of Christianity and Jesus throughout his life, he rejected orthodox Christian dogma. He was a Unitarian.

# Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence, wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and coined the oft-repeated phrase, "the wall of separation between church and state." Political opponents called him a "champion of atheism and immorality" because he denied the deity of Jesus, he did not think the bible was God's word, and he rejected the Christian concept of hell as a state of everlasting punishment. Yet, he greatly admired Jesus' moral teachings and assembled them into a booklet referred to as Jefferson's Bible. He was a Deist.

# James Madison is known as the father of the U.S. Constitution. He did not attend church, but he spoke out repeatedly on behalf of freedom of conscience, which he believed was a basic right of citizenship. He opposed any form of government support for religion, because history demonstrates that established churches tend to produce "superstition, bigotry, and persecution." He opposed the appointment of a chaplain for the U.S. Congress. In his writings, he used the terms Governor of the Universe and Universal Sovereign. He was a Deist.

# James Monroe attended an Episcopal church, but never talked about his religious beliefs because he considered religion to be a private matter. A reference to the Divine Author of All Good in his second annual message to Congress suggests that he may have been a Deist.

# John Quincy Adams was not a regular church-goer, causing some religious people to call him an atheist. Ironically. he read at least three chapters of the bible each day and read through the entire bible every year. A lifelong opponent of slavery, he severely criticized clergy and parishioners for not condemning slavery on religious and moral grounds. Like his father, he was a Unitarian.

# Benjamin Franklin rejected nearly all doctrinal aspects of Christianity. While he doubted Jesus' divinity, he applauded his ethical teachings. He considered morality to be independent of religion and stressed the cultivation of civic virtue in his writings. He opposed oaths and religious tests for public office. He was a Deist.

# Ethan Allen was a military hero of the American Revolution, best known for conquering the British stronghold at Fort Ticonderoga. He formulated a Deistic philosophy based on reason, disavowing revelation and miracles. His treatise, Reason the Only Oracle of Man, was the first openly anti-Christian book published in the U.S. He was a Deist.

# Thomas Paine is best known for his immensely popular book, Common Sense, which developed the argument for independence from England. In another persuasive volume, The Age of Reason, he demonstrated that the bible's claims could not be true and he ridiculed Christianity, which he regarded as an obstacle to social and political reform. The charge that he was an atheist is false; he believed in God and an afterlife. He was a Deist.

# Joel Barlow was a revolutionary political writer and diplomat. As U.S. Consul to Algiers, he negotiated the Treaty of Tripoli which assures that "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." The treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams, thus making it the supreme law of the land. He was later U.S. minister to France, where he died during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. He was a Deist.

GloryB

DizzyDee

What a great post - I added positively to your reputation. The US seems to be positioning itself as a "Christian" nation in order to extrapolate itself from the ideologies of it's enemies, and I believe remember history in it's proper context adds awareness of North American roots. The people responsible for creating the US were amazing in their politics and their ideologies.

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DizzyDee

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

}SoC{Sumguy

while the US may be mostly christian, we are not a christian state. the only thing that might influence the decision making and rule of our country that would have to do with our religios beleifs is our sense of right and wrong. we always have been, and reamin, a country of all religions.

__________________
"And now you've seen his face,
and you know that there's a place
in the sun, for all that you've done.
For you and your children.
You always wanted to beleive.
Just ask and you'll receive,
beyond your wildest dreams.
And you already know how this will end...."

Grant

If, by "Christian", you mean "I'm gonna put 'God' at the top of my interests list on myspace and then go live for myself and not so much as mention God anywhere but there", then yes, the US is a Christian nation. My generation (15) is so far from Christianity it will be ridiculous to call the US Christian when we're older... There are a lot of older Christians though.

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Hey.

Paula62

Glory B, wonderful reminder of the richly active intellectual life of our founders.

As for this being a "christian nation," I'm not sure exactly what the folks who claim that mean by it, but I sure hope they're wrong. We're truly one of the few countries int eh world that is not geographically determined by ethnic divisions, and we are one of an even smaller number who has pretty successfully (albeit not perfectly) managed to survive with a very mixed populace.

Let's hear it for community first and personal beliefs second.

Gringo

No matter how or why America was formed, in 2006, America is NOT a Christian nation.

There are Christians IN this wonderful land.

But today one cannot pray to God in school.

One cannot have religious inscriptions in state buildings.

They are thinking of taking "In God We Trust" off of our currency.


In Contrast

In Iran, one MUST pray to their god

One must follow the tenets of their religion.

What is the difference?

One worships a being (Allah)

The other worships a thing (freedom)

America's god-ess lies in New York Harbour.

}SoC{Sumguy

we dont worship it, only admire and love it.

__________________
"And now you've seen his face,
and you know that there's a place
in the sun, for all that you've done.
For you and your children.
You always wanted to beleive.
Just ask and you'll receive,
beyond your wildest dreams.
And you already know how this will end...."

mtatum4496

Just a quick snippet on Thomas Jefferson. He once made the prediction that all the young men of his generation would become Unitarians. Unfortunately for me, that did not come to pass - it would be nice to have as many UU churches in my city as there are Baptists! I could hit more pot luck dinners that way.

Jefferson also did something that scandalized folks - he took a sharp razor and proceeded to cut everything out of the New Testament that did not appear to him to be direct quotations from Jesus. That work is still available today as "The Jefferson Bible" and its focus is almost entirely on the ethical teachings of Jesus, with very few interpolations by Paul and other early leaders of the first century church.

Passion24

I definitely think the US is not a Christian nation even though that is the religion that is heard about mostly.There are many varieties of religions here for all types of faiths.All is accepted compared to other countries.I know in my old town there was more then 40 different churchs and this was a less then 20000 pop. town.Thats whats so great about the US.You can practice any religion or none at all without repercussions from the government.

LilOne1989

I think that at one point in time the Christian religion has major influence over the day to day activities in this country but over time that has changed, thankfully for many of us. I think that one of the reasons this country is looked at as a "Christian" country is the fact that the Christians have a very large and spendable amount of money and make themselves seen EVERYWHERE. They are on TV, radio, TV, TV, TV, can they get off my TV! Where I live everywhere you turn there is another church with new once popping up every single day. Just within my county there are 5286 Churches and Places of Worship (this is inaccurate since this was updated two months ago, I've seen at least three buildings converted since then). Every single hour is marked with church bells tolling all over the city for about three minutes everywhere. If this isn't a christian country you would never know it to walk around where I live.