A new study showing that most Tea Partiers say America is a "Christian nation" has reignited an age-old argument about our nation's roots. Traditionally, the debate has been polarized with social conservatives like Fox News host Glenn Beck claiming our country was founded as a sacred Christian nation and left-leaning thinkers asserting that America was and should stay a non-religious country. Proponents of both views can drum up quotes by historical figures to support their position.
Recently, however, a third way has emerged among a surprising demographic: younger Christians. In the last three years, I've conducted hundreds of interviews and focus groups with the next generation of Christian leaders and found a new view that threads the needle between the left and the right.
Rather than view America's founding as either wholly secular or sacred, many claim to believe that we are a country influenced by Christian ideas. On the one hand, they recognize that many early patriots and politicians were deeply influenced by their faith. No doubt such influence can readily be seen in the many American icons and traditions where God is acknowledged.
On the other hand, they are quick to point out that being influenced by such ideas does not equal the establishment of a Christian state. They uphold that the founders did not mean to legislate or authorize any one religious viewpoint over others. As the Treaty of Tripoli, signed by John Adams and ratified unanimously by the U.S. Senate in 1797, states, "the Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..."
In times past, religious Americans have been some of the most vocal opponents to this way of thinking. The now-deceased former Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell was famous for publicly claiming that America "was founded by Christians as a Christian nation." Evangelicals of that day followed him in droves. And according to Barna Research, today some 43 percent of Protestants still believe it would be good to pass an amendment to the Constitution making Christianity the official religion of the United States.
But support for such views is waning among the general public. According to a 2009 Newsweek poll, the number of people who consider the United States a "Christian nation" has fallen nine points in the last five years, seven points in the last year alone. Public sentiments in this debate are shifting, and the next generation of Christians is too -- albeit to a new paradigm.
Those who champion this third way often express that religious freedom for those outside of Christianity must be a priority. Many of our national architects were undoubtedly people of faith, but they also carefully sewed a spirit of religious toleration into the fabric of our land. Constitution-quoting Americans who support the idea of a "Christian nation" should be reminded of the Establishment Clause in our founding document.
While this third way may sound like splitting historical hairs, such a paradigm shift is a significant departure from the stance of older religious people and is impacting the way Christians are engaging the public square.
Faced with so-called "moral decline" and the secularization of culture, the faithful have long been asking whether to fight back or embrace our new reality. Many older Christians fought to keep God in the public square and advocated for Christian leadership throughout government. They wanted to reclaim what they perceived was the vision of their ancestors.
But young Christians who accept this third way see our current pluralistic setting as well within the founder's vision. In a favorite passage of the Bible among young Christians, Jesus reminds us that one of the greatest commandments it to "love your neighbor as yourself." They recognize this still applies when your neighbor isn't Christian and never will be.
Indeed, rather than being engaged in a divisive cultural war in the hopes of turning back time, they're engaged in pressing social concerns that benefit the common good -- not just the Christian good. Reaching out to all doesn't threaten Christianity, rather it creates the type of relationships, perspectives and dialogues that reinvigorate and renew their commitment to faith.
Turns out, the "Christian nation" debate is just as important as everyone thought it was. By forging a third way of thinking, young Christians have diffused a cultural bomb and made way for two bitterly opposed constituencies to dialogue and perhaps work together. So while the Tea Partiers may be creating chatter, a new generation of Christians is changing the conversation.
Gabe Lyons is author of The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America (Doubleday).
Tom Krattenmaker: Q Gathering 2010: Heralding the Arrival of a Post-Christian America
Meacham: The End of Christian America - Newsweek
Jeff Schweitzer: Newsweek is Wrong: Christian America is as Strong ...
Richard Albert: Is America a Christian Nation?
America a Christian Nation - Is the United States a Christian Nation?
Christian Coalition of America | Defending America's Godly Heritage!
Religion in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Once people believe such arrogant sectarian nonsense, their humanity is forfeit. The next stop is "tolerance." Tolerance is sooner-or-later is followed by inquisition. After inquisition comes auto de fé. The arrogance of exclusive "Truth" is the most dangerous delusion on earth. No civil society survives being poisoned by "Faith."
That may be difficult for you to understand, but it does not have to lead to an "inquisition." True faith doesn't need people to agree with it.
I realize you will likely reply with something like you've seen god, miracles etc, but you're unaware of how evidence, proof, facts, reason, logic and science all work so please spare us the anecdotes and learn that the word faith in the context of religion means belief without evidence.
and to Scientologists, and to Mormons, and to Catholics, and to Evangelicals, and to Buddhists, and, and, and ...
Harvard's first Dane Prof. of Law, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, appointed by James Madison, had this to say at his Inaugural Address at Harvard, in 1829:
“I may add, too, that if the student of the law entertains but a just reverence for its precepts, it will teach him to build his reputation upon the soundest morals, the deepest principles, and the most exalted purity of life and character.
One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is, that Christianity is a part of the common law, from which it seeks the sanction of its rights, and by which it endeavours to regulate its doctrines. And, notwithstanding the specious objection of one of our distinguished statesmen, the boast is as true as it is beautiful.
There never has been a period, in which the common law did not recognise Christianity as lying at its foundations."
His books, (available on Google)" Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States" were standard law school texts for about a century, so perhaps he knew 'a thing or two' about the subject... .
Lucky for us he didn't write the Constitution. Lucky for us he didn't rule on Church/Wall/State cases.
Mr. Lyons seems to think it's important that many of those who framed the Constitution were Christians who were "deeply influenced by their faith". To him, apparently, this makes America "kind of a Christian nation."
Well, they were also white, and no doubt deeply influenced by their racial background. And they were male, and deeply influenced by the gender roles in their society, not to mention testosterone. Does this in ANY way make it sensible to say "America is a white nation" or "America is a male nation"? Even "kind of"?
Here's an exercise for Mr. Lyons and anyone else who believes Christian values were vital to our founding. Please state exactly which values expressed by the US Constitution came from Christianity.
I think the things Christians call "Christian values" are actually values shared by most people throughout history, of all cultures, regardless of religion. I think Christians believe they're unique to Christianity due to ignorance, simply because most of them know next to nothing about any other belief system. The only value I know of that's uniquely Christian is belief that Jesus represented God better than anyone else, and that's really more a belief than a value.
It seems to me that the FF were far more influenced by the philosophers of the day and perhaps Freemasonry, since there were many far more active in that than in any religion.
Utter nonsense.
There is no reading of ANY writings of our Founders, least of all the Constitution or the Federalist Papers, that lends any support, whatsoever, to the tattered, but common, untruth that America was founded as a Christian nation.
This is the kind of false equivalencies in reporting that give credence, indeed a platform, to ignorant, egregious or malicious political operatives who don't like the facts the way they are, and want to alter reality to reflect their peculiar, perhaps delusional, world views.
That's irresponsible on the part of the author---it is promoting untruths, dissembling or pernicious lying and putting it on the same level as historical research.
What possible motive could anybody have for doing THAT?
school science and history textbooks, state constitutions, school boards etc. are all under assault from the Christian Right even to this day.
To Self realize from the ego material self to the enlighten Whole SELF.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 ¶ But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12 ¶ Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
1. For touching Mount Sinai Exodus 19:13
2. For taking "accursed things" Joshua 7:1-26
3. For cursing or blaspheming Leviticus 24:16
4. For adultery (including urban rape victims who fail to scream loud enough) Deuteronomy 22:23-24
5. For animals (like an ox that gores a human) Exodus 21:28
6. For a woman who is not a virgin on her wedding night Deuteronomy 22:13-21
7. For worshipping other gods Deuteronomy 17:2-5
8. For preaching the wrong religion Deuteronomy 13:5-10
9. For disobeying parents Deuteronomy 21:18-21
10. For witches and wizards Leviticus 20:27
11. For giving your children to Molech Leviticus 20:2
12. For breaking the Sabbath Numbers 15:32-56
13. For cursing the king 1 Kings 21:10
I'm planning on buying stock in my local quarry. What do you think?
GOD the Father (all SPIRIT awareness), the Son (SPIRIT awareness in body, the Holy Ghost (SPIRIT awareness in atomic particles) walked the earth and taught the WORD.
Not unlike Buddha, Krishna and Mohammad who rose from the son of man to the SON of GOD (SPIRIT awareness in body) or any man that become SPIRIT. No difference between them at this stage of awareness
Churchianity is not Christianity
Hip Hip Hooray!!!! ask any xian Nationalist to tell you what the Flushing Remonstrance was, and you'll get a quizzical look. Ask them how many years of religious strife were apparent in the colonies and you'll get another. Look up Truro Synagogue and the content of the letter from our first President still on display. We were designed for freedom of conscience, and nothing less.
I hope that is correct, but there is a lagging indicator. DSWhat is the percentage of elected officials who believe that the US is a "Christian Nation?" Or if, as is probably the truth, that most of them believe in nothing except whatever lie will help get them elected, what percentage of politicians claim to believe that the US is a "Christian Nation?"
Whatever the congressional percentage was, it looks like were about to get a whole lot more of them.
I believe that the attempt to deny that the Separation of Church and State is a bedrock principle of American democracy, is treason.
Remember there are four other rights in the first amendment. Each will fall if freedom of religion falls.
Sadly with the activist and extremist SCOTUS there is a possibility that this most basic of our freedoms will fall.
As a culture warrior — i.e someone who has done public-battle with the delusions of Christian crusaders over the proper role of religion in a pluralistic society for over 40 years, it would be a great disservice to millions of decent people to assert that doing good works and living honestly was turning over a new leaf for Christians.
Besides doing activism — writing "Voice for Choice" letters for PlannedParenthood; standing up in clinic defense against the ugly intrusions of "Operation Rescue;" writing and fighting for human rights whether they be civil rights for African Americans or gay & Lesbian Americans, fighting against the farce that is America's puritanical, fraudulent and failed drug war, etc. — I directed a public street outreach program for over 20 years. During that time, i worked with volunteers from Catholic Charities, many Christian Churches, several synagogues and an mosque. Among those organizations are many of the finest human beings I have known — people who, out of the goodness of their hearts with zero desire for recognition, contribute their time, energy, talent and resources to help ease the suffering or improve the lives of their fellow humans. The good works of these decent religiously inspired people never stopped.
These good folks did now wait for the high-tide of bad religion (ie. religions that is ugly, greedy and manipulative) to go out. They served their God by being of use to humanity.
And as it says in the Treaty of Tripoli, ratified unanimously by the Senate and signed by President John Adams: "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..."
There is a lot of money to be made by setting up situations where ordinary working folks can't keep the homes the were encouraged to think were such a great deal.
It's all very well to say people should "just say no" ( that's worked for drugs too huh?) but when the power of billions of dollars is harnessed by the most subtle and ingenious psychological manipulation in advertising, well..... "No" doesn't stand much chance overall. And the christian churches need to recognize their own implication in the pursuit of mega riches by the Wall Street crowd by supporting political candidates whose only real loyalty is to money and those who have it. Some one in the christian tradition once ( maybe even twice) said something like: "It is more difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through they eye of a needle.....