America- A Christian Nation? DEBATE!?

Question

Con smoke pole: Abraham Lincoln saw that....but you're right ><

Answer 1

Humans have made errors but not the Religion inspired by Jesus Christ. We described  &quot;Christian&quot; people  whose lives remains so much to be desired  with all the negative words, hypocrites one of them,; but its only God who will be the judge. Many have learned and &quot;educated&quot;, and became intellectual in their own right that in their quest chose to make justifications or various explanations of their own belief or unbelief of God, among others that differs eg. from their parents&#039; faith or upbringing.

America &quot;with all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams&quot; is still (for me) a Christian Nation.  America  being governed by humans, and like humans will have its good and bad times,  but it will not diminished the faith of its people to Jesus Christ who is one with God.

Answer 2

No. America *isn&#039;t* a Christian nation. Nor do they know their own religious teachings apart from everyone else.

Because if they did...?

We wouldn&#039;t have politicians, vicars, and powerful public figures trying to inject religion into our daily lives--and into our government.

And no...this nation *wasn&#039;t* founded on Christianity either.

Look up our Founding Father&#039;s religious backgrounds sometime. You&#039;ll discover quickly that none of them were ever true Christians either.

This nation was built and founded on the freedom from persecution of religious faiths by a group of people whom could no longer tolerate the iron rule of the British crown.

The phrase on the dollar bill: &quot;In God We Trust&quot;--does not automatically translate to &quot;WITH CHRISTIANITY WE MUST.&quot;

Answer 3

The definition of Christian is taken too lightly. there is much more to being Christian than just professing the Name, in other words there

is no sense in &#039;talking the talk if you&#039;re not walking the walk&#039;.  Christ in

His Warnings to His followers, &quot;Many will come in My Name, like wolves in sheep&#039;s clothing, deceivers, and those who teach the

doctrines of men and not the Way of The Lord, many will say &quot;Lord

Lord, but I will say depart from Me you workers of inequity and I will

spew them from My Mouth, The Road to Salvation is narrow because

few will find it, the road to destruction is wide for many will trod upon it!&quot;

Is America a Christian nation?  I hardly think so, more like a Hypocrite

nation which started in the right direction with the Pilgrams and William

Penn&#039;s Quakers, then it sort of fell apart and by the wayside, practicing

the doctrines of men by replacing God&#039;s Law with man made rules.

It is very difficult to tell the difference, since the 1960&#039;s, our children

have been taught the &#039;doctrines of men&#039; and that secular humanism

is the right path.   So, goes the widening of the road to destruction

and less need to widen the road to Salvation!  So my answer is

No, America is not a Christian Nation, it is a nation of Hypocrisy!

Answer 4

Yes a Christian Nation Dominated by Israelites ,

Israelites dominate,

US Media,

US Bible,

US economy,

and US foreign policy.

Answer 5

Well, your facts are wrong.

Christians are about 30% of the world&#039;s population, not the majority.

The rest of your argument just goes &#039;round and &#039;round and resolves to, &quot;America is a Christian nation because it&#039;s a Christian nation.&quot;

Not very convincing - sounds like you don&#039;t have anything to back the assertion up with.

Answer 6

Well majority of the population is Christian so I guess thats what it means. A country filled with Christians.  

Answer 7

I have seen a lot of debate over the question of whether or not the US is a “Christian nation”. I would like to take a few moments to express my opinion on the matter.

There are some that say we are a strictly secular nation, that religion was not a part of how we came into being as a nation. They point to the likes of Jefferson and Franklin as proof that the founding fathers were at best deists but more likely agnostic. They mention various writings from Madison, Jefferson, Washington, etc that question the divinity of Christ, the cornerstone of Christianity. They point to the Treaty of Tripoli and its clause declaring that the US is not a Christian nation as the greatest and clearest proof of this.

And yet, the government is closed on Sunday.

So let us look objectively at this claim. To do so, we start at the beginning. In the Declaration of Independence, we referred to Providence, a Christian concept. “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence”. The notion that God is active on human affairs is not seen in most religions. I have yet to see “Providence” used in any context other than a Christian one.

“the Laws of Nature and of Nature&#039;s God entitle them” At this point in history, Paganism was all but extinct, especially in the US. Islam was for all practical purposes not present, nor were any of the Eastern religions. Only Christianity, Judaism, and Deism held any theological position here. Scripture, both Christian and Jewish, acknowledge God as the God of all Creation, including the God over nature. Thus, to argue that this refers to anything except a theist reference if not a flat out Christian one is to ignore the historical context.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” is another passage along the same line. The intrinsic value of human beings was foremost in many of the founders minds, which is why the whole issue of slavery weighed so heavily on them and nearly pervented the Declaration from being signed in the first place. Again, Christianity, Judaism, and Deism were the only religious perspectives in the nation at the time and Christianity dominated the nation. To say, for example, that the “Creator” referred to here was a pagan reference is to make the statement an anachronism. It simply was not part of the landscape at the time.

Now let’s look at the Founding Fathers. These are, specifically, the 55 men who created the US Constitution. Of them, we have 28 Episcopalians, 8 Presbyterians, 7 Congregationalists, 2 Lutherans, 2 Dutch Reformed, 2 Methodists, 2 Roman Catholics, 1 unknown, and only 3 deists, specifically Williamson, Wilson, and Franklin. And Franklin is questionable. During the convention, he called for a time of prayer and referred to several Christian Scripture verses during a deadlock at one point in the debates. Furthermore, most of these guys were Calvinists. Thus, not only were they Christian, but also the most orthodox and reformed version of the faith.

“…in order to form a more perfect union…” is a passage I think is often overlooked from a theological perspective. If, as many humanists suggest, we were created as a secular nation, why is our constitution geared only toward making this a “more perfect union” as opposed to just a “perfect” union? Because, couched as they were in a Calvinistic Christian worldview, they knew that Man was imperfect and anything coming from Man would be imperfect. A secularist would hold that Man is the highest measure of all things, and as such could be perfected. Most religions of the world hold this position as well. Only Christianity believes that we can never be perfect, but only make progress towards being perfect. A goal sought but never achieved.

Let’s take a look at the structure of the government. The idea of 3 branches of government comes from Isaiah, which talks about God as the king (executive), judge (judicial) and lawgiver (legislative). All three of these branches are needed in the Founders minds because they held the belief, a Christian one, that Man is fallen and in need of restraint. Thus, no one branch of government was intended to trump the others, but they were to be held in balance. Just as the Christian concept of God is One God in Three Persons, we have One Government in Three Branches, all co-equal.

The government under Jefferson allotted federal funds to provide Bibles for the Indians. Jefferson also budgeted for chaplains to be provided to troops. Not exactly an example of separation of Church and State. At least not in the sense that most people believe that term to mean.

I think it is also worth noting that almost all of the state constitutions refer to God:

“We, the people of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this Constitution.”

“WE THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF IOWA, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those blessings, do ordain and establish a free and independent government, by the name of the State of Iowa, the boundaries whereof shall be as follows:”

“We, the people of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and to transmit the same, unimpaired, to succeeding generations, do ordain and establish this Constitution of government.”

“We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other; and of forming a new constitution of civil government, for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon, ordain and establish the following Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

While it is true that the Treaty of Tripoli refers to the US as a secular nation, I think it is safe to say that was done more for diplomatic reasons then anything else. We were, after all, at war with the Barbary states at the time who were all Muslim and who were concerned about a Christian nation pitted against them. If we look at another treaty, we  get a much different picture:

“Transcript of Treaty of Paris (1783)

The Definitive Treaty of Peace 1783

In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.

It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most potent Prince George the Third, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, arch- treasurer and prince elector of the Holy Roman Empire etc., and of the United States of America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences that have unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship which they mutually wish to restore, and to establish such a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse , between the two countries upon the ground of reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience as may promote and secure to both perpetual peace and harmony; and having for this desirable end already laid the foundation of peace and reconciliation by the Provisional Articles signed at Paris on the 30th of November 1782, by the commissioners”

And let us not forget, “In God we Trust” is our national motto and written on our currency.

And government offices have been closed every Christmas since before Christmas was something besides a Christian holy day.

And we open every session of Congress and the Supreme Court with prayer.

For all these reasons, and more, I think it is safe to say that the US was founded on Christian principles, though not as a theocracy. We are a Christian nation in that it was a Christian worldview of Christian men who formulated the beginnings of our country. Thankfully, the Christian worldview is tolerant enough to accept other people of different religions and non-religions, as it should. We did not establish a state religion, which was the main point of Jefferson’s “wall of separation” and the main fear of many people at the time. We wanted people to be free to follow their consciences.