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Is America a Christian nation? Was it founded as a Christian nation? Did we cease to be a Christian nation at some point? These are questions that many have tried to answer, but today there does not seem to be much of a consensus in the general response.

However, there was such a concensus among the Founding Fathers of America. They believed that we were founded as a Christian nation. The following statement is from Founder John Jay, co-author of The Federalist Papers, a chief architect of New York's first state constitution, and the First Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (appointed by President George Washington):

"Providence [God] has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our CHRISTIAN NATION to select and prefer Christians for their rulers" (Letter to John Murray, Jr., October 12, 1816; emphasis added). Now why would John Jay make a statement like that? He explained his position in the same letter: "It certainly is very desirable that a pacific disposition should prevail among all nations. The most effectual way of producing it, is by extending the prevalence and influence of the gospel. REAL Christians will abstain from violating the rights of others, and therefore will not provoke war" (emphasis original).

Jay's words imply a very politically incorrect truth: that only real Christians (those who live out the biblical gospel) are qualified to hold public office in America, because only those people can be trusted to refrain from trampling upon the rights of others and from unnecessary war.

But why should we care what John Jay said? Very few Americans even recognize his name. To that, I answer that Jay was one of the many important Founders whom America does not recognize. It took more than Jefferson's pen and Franklin's lightning rod to create this land of liberty.

But what did the other Founders have to say? What about other, more prominent Founding Fathers? What did they have to say about this issue?

Christianity is not specifically named in the Constitution or in the Declaration (and does not need to be; previous founding documents like the Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, two major cornerstones of our Constitution and Declaration, name it as the religion of the US), an important creator and ratifier of the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton (the chief author of The Federalist Papers and the First Treasury Secretary), believed that Christianity was essential to the preservation of true constitutional principles. Late in life, he began to see a decline in America, and wrote to a friend, Congressman James A. Bayard of Delaware:

"In my opinion, the present Constitution is the standard to which we are to cling. Under its banners, bona fide must we combat our political foes - rejecting all changes but through the channel itself provides for amendments. By these general views of the subject have my reflections been guided. I now offer you the outline of the plan which they have suggested. Let an Association be formed to be denominated, 'The Christian Constitutional Society.'" The two goals of the society were to be "1st. The support of the Christian religion. 2nd. The support of the Constitution of the United States" (Letter to James A. Bayard, April 1802).

The CCS would carry out these goals by writing and distributing information far and wide explaining and defending both Christianity and the Constitution; by choosing men who supported the aims of the CCS for public office on the local, state, and federal levels, and by creating and managing charities and academies.

Hamilton's society was never realized because he never gained enough support for it in those last two years he had to live (he was killed by Aaron Burr in 1804). However, it is clear that he knew the importance of keeping alive the truths of Christianity and of the Founding for America to survive. I have researched this subject and written about it extensively on my blog The Foundation Forum. For more on Hamilton's letter, read this article.

Our Founding Fathers established a Christian nation - not the kind of Christian nation that was many of the Catholic nations in medieval Europe - but the Christian nation composed of a Christian majority, a nation that recognizes that our inalienable rights are given to us by God, and that it is the Bible that forms the basis of our fundamental laws. That is the Christian nation established by our Founders. It allows those of other religions to live here freely, and they are not persecuted for their beliefs; however, it is Christianity that was meant to shape our world-view as a nation, and others are simply allowed to live here freely and enjoy the benefits thereof.

Learn more about this author, Hercules Mulligan.
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