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Yes
by Rayne Britt
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Add to FavoritesTo say that the Christian influence was not present in the founding of our nation is a statement of ignorance. Patrick Henry, the great statesman best known for his speech proclaiming "give me liberty or give me death" also stated, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ."
The Mayflower Compact, one of America's first legal documents, states, "In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia;"
Until 1876, when many southern states were forced to rewrite their constitutions during the reconstruction period, North Carolina's State Constitution made it clear it was a Christian state with the following words: "That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State." The constitutions of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and Massachusetts all had similar statements in their original drafts proclaiming a belief in God in general and the Christian religion specifically.
The members of the Supreme Court of 1892 are rolling in their graves right now. When they made their ruling in Church of the Holy Trinity vs. U.S., they sited 87 precedents and came to the following conclusion: "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of Mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian." The 1962 members when ruling to outlaw prayer in school cited no precedents whatsoever. They made an illegal ruling based on their own opinions that should not have been given any merit.
Andrew Johnson said the following, "Let us look forward to the time when we can take the flag of our country and nail it below the Cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the olden times, and let us gather around it an inscribed for our motto: "Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever," and exclaim, Christ first, our country next!" The list of leaders, statesmen, and people who were there when our country was founded who made such statements proclaiming Christ in their lives, in the founders lives and as a central part of the American government continues with the likes of John Jay (signer of the Declaration of Independence and the first Justice of the Supreme Court), George Washington, Noah Webster, Daniel Webster, Chief Justice John Marshall and many others.
When presented with these facts, these statements from the men who were there, it is all too common for people to turn a blind eye. And why shouldn't they? If they have to face the fact there is a God, one true and living God, then they also have to face the fact that they must stand before Him. If you choose not to believe in God, you are free to do so in this great nation, but you cannot deny the evidence that America's founders believed in God and founded a nation based "not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ".
And I close with the words of the great President Ronald Reagan, "All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, but those who believe must be free to speak of and act on their belief, to apply moral teaching to public questionsWithout God, there is no virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we're mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society and without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure."
Resources:
ht tp://www.jeremiahpro ject.com/culture/csq uotes.html
http://quo tes.liberty-tree.ca/ quotes_by/patrick+he nry
http://www.langua geandlaw.org/TEXTS/C ASES/HOLYTRIN.HTM
htt p://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/John_Jay#Relig ion
Learn more about this author, Rayne Britt.
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No
This is a belief that America was founded as a Christian nation is held by many people, especially Christians. However, the answer is quite simple. No, America was not founded as a Christian nation. The intent for its founding was often that of religious freedom as many of the early Americans were those who were seeking a refuge from strict religious based government. The idea of America was that it was a place where freedom was to abide. The different churches, believing different things, could all be here, where persecution would not abide.
Additionally, the founding fathers where not all Christians. Many of them had philosophical beliefs that went beyond what is permissible in the Bible. Some of them were even claimed Deists. A deists is someone who believes in the existence of g/God or a higher power but does not believe that this being interferes with daily life of humans. One can not believe this and still claim to be Christian since the foundation of the Christian belief is that God sent a part of Himself to earth through the virgin Mary. His son, Jesus died on the cross for all of man kinds' sin. This is a belief that does not fit in with a god that observes, but does not participant.
Those who believe whole heartily that America was founded a Christian nation often use two pieces of evidence to show that they are right. The first is the fact that our money says, "in God we trust". This is a little sentence that can be found on every coin and bill in America. However, it isn't one that has been their forever. It can be found on many old coins, as can other phrases. It was added to all the money in 1956, long after the founding of the nation. The second is a little sentence that has caused a great deal of controversy in the public school system, "one nation under God..." which can be found in the Pledge of Allegiance that some schools have said daily for years. However, "one nation under God" was added to the pledge in 1954.
Of course, even if these sentences weren't our proof, we could always ask, is there any proof contrary to the fact that America was founded as a Christian nation. There are several of these proofs. First there is the intent of religious freedom in America. This can be seen very clearly in the Constitution. Then there is the separation on Church and State something that wasn't done very often and certainly not with a religion in mind for the country. This is why the Church of England exists. To govern the religion of the nation. However, the founders of America wished not to have an established national church.
Other little factors are a little more interesting. If we are going to use "in God we trust" from off the money, why not turn a dollar bill over for me. There on the left hand side is a pyramid. Above the pyramid is an eye. This symbol is that of the all seeing eye, which is not a Christian symbol. The all seeing eye was a Deist symbol. The idea behind it was that we were being watched all the time, and yet god was still there watching, but not acting upon it.
However, if you are strong for one belief or the other, I won't be able to convince you. See there are early quotes by founding fathers that could lean toward a Christian belief, and there are quotes that are not Christian in nature. The truth of the matter however is that America is a place where freedom should be held as the truth. We should set aside our differences and embrace our neighbor. That was what America is supposed to be.
Learn more about this author, Danelle Karth.
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