by Warren O. Brennan

Created on: May 26, 2010

The nation of America, when founded, took a radically different view of religious liberty than their counterparts in the “old world” and served as a model for future nations prepared to accept the value of religious liberty. The Founders were determined to found a nation based on enlightenment principles of free thinking and choice, which very necessarily required them to eliminate religious oppression by the government structure.  

However, with one particular phase, sighted by many, is a troublesome mark of distorted history and misrepresentation of the Founding Fathers intentions. It is a phrase seen in countless articles, books, and appears in daily conversation, but one in which I find to be rooted in a falsity; “America was settled to be a Christian nation”. I dismiss this view and would argue that historical fact refutes it.

To be sure, one would be correct in saying that several of the original thirteen colonies were founded with state sponsored religions. Virginia and Massachusetts very defiantly restricted the beliefs of their citizens. Pennsylvania, which is often noted as the first religiously tolerant colony, only went so far as to protect the various sects of the Christian faith from persecution before it spiraled into disarray after feuding among political and religious factions developed.

However, in order for the view to hold that America was founded as a Christian nation, or that it was intended to be founded as a Christian nation, the case would have to be made that this was the intent of the Founders either upon adoption of the Articles of Confederation or of the Constitution, and not prior. For, it was not until adoption of theses documents that the nation of America was truly established.

The colonial structure was a collection of English territories owing their allegiance to the crown and not to a unique nation of America. The Articles and Constitution changed that. I would submit that these documents did not form a Christian nation, never intended to form a Christian nation, and, instead, moved away from the restrictive practices of the colonial structure.

In looking at the Articles and the Constitution, we find that the Founders explicitly left issues of religion out of the documents. Both only mention the topic once (the Articles in terms of protections of the states against outside forces and the Constitution in terms of the “no religious test” clause) indicating there unwillingness to establish a state religion or even formalized government support for religion.

This attitude was furthered upon adoption of the First Amendment which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...". The amendment codified for the first time the government's unwillingness to establish a state sponsored church.

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