Does America have a national religion? Of course not. Were that true the founding fathers would be spinning in their graves. These gentlemen took great pains to make sure that the new Union they were forming would never fall victim to the curse of a national religion like the one, in England, that they were rebelling against. Hence the First Amendment of the Constitution specifically forbids the sanctioning any particular faith, whether in word or deed.

Contrary to the propaganda put forth by a narrow fundamentalist segment of our society, precious few of the Founders were Christan. To be sure, all of them believed in a creator, but they were deists, not Christians. In fact many viewed Christianity with more than a little suspicion.

Thomas Paine, pamphleteer and conscience of the revolution was openly hostile. Writing in "Of The Religion of Deism Compared With the Christan Religion", he offered the following view of Christianity:

"It is a doctrine not only dangerous to morals in this
world, but to our happiness in the next world. It holds
out such a cheap, easy and lazy way of getting to heaven,
and has a tendency to induce men to hug the delusion of
it to their own injury".

James Madison was equally skeptical. In his "Memorial and Remonstrance", written in 1785, Madison asked:

"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments
have on society? In some instances they have seen to erect a
spiritual tyranny on the ruins of civil society; on many
instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of
political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians
of the liberties of the people".

That is not to say that these men were hostile to everything Christian. They were not. What they were hostile to is the notion that any single religion should be granted exalted status by the State. To their credit they understood that with one religion you have theocracy. With two religions you have war, but with a thousand religions you have peace.

So the next time someone tries to tell you that we were founded as a Christian nation, tell them that they are wrong. Our Founding Fathers created a secular state whereby all religions could flourish without interference from Government. It's a model based upon mutual respect and can only survive if that respect remains mutual Which is something these narrow minded fundamentalist need to understand. They are a minority in this country. If they keep pushing for a theocratic society it may well turn out to be a version of religion they wouldn't like.

Learn more about this author, Dale Hoskin.
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