The approach of America’s 250th anniversary of independence has sparked a predictable response from the left about whether the United States was founded as a Christian nation. Last weekend’s prayer and rededication event on the National Mall drew the ire of the New York Times which reported, “The prayer event showed that the separation of church and state was ‘under extreme attack,’” according to Rachel Laser, who is the president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The Times further quoted Laser saying, “If Trump really wanted to celebrate what is unique and foundational about America, he’d be celebrating our promise of church-state separation and religious freedom for all.” It may be that Laser is ignorant of the circumstances surrounding the sentence fragment from Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in which he wrote of “separation between church and state" as a means of protecting the Connecticut Baptists from government harassment.
It’s difficult to take Laser and her like-minded comrades seriously. Were they truly committed to separating the government from the church, they might consider recalling every scrap of currency because it reads “In God We Trust.” So do our coins. They might then advocate for firing the chaplains in the House and Senate. After that, they could cross 1st Street Northeast and redo the Supreme Court building, where visitors can see Moses holding the 10 Commandments. These activists are intellectually dishonest and unserious because their church/state trope is only used when there is a political advantage.
But the central issue remains: Is America a Christian nation? Set aside for a moment the question of whether the founders were Christians or deists or rationalists or anything else. To say we are a Christian nation is not to suggest we’re all Christians or should be, nor is it to imply that Christianity ought to be formally sanctioned by the government. The phrase recognizes the remarkable parallels between how our civic life is organized and the biblical orthodoxy of reformed Christianity.
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution contain a number of direct references to Christianity. We can read overt assertions in the Declaration that people are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” and are entitled to the liberties of “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” The Constitution acknowledges the birth of Jesus Christ in Article VII, while Article I Section 7 goes so far as to recognize the Christian sabbath.
The structure of our government recognizes the biblical truth that all men are sinful by nature. The founders knew this and addressed it with a system of checks and balances to guard against the temptation of tyranny by a single man or institution. The biblical duty to protect one’s family and other innocents is reflected in the 2nd Amendment. Constitutional provisions for equal protection under law reflect the writing of Paul’s account of the Acts of the Apostles. Fourth Amendment prohibitions against unlawful search and seizure recognize Old Testament writings like those of Isaiah, who wrote that people, "will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes.”
Notwithstanding the question of their faith, the founders also recognized a simple political reality. The people of what would become the United States were overwhelmingly Christian in 1776. Some estimate the percentage of Christian colonists at more than 98%, most of them Protestants, and most of the colonies required the Protestant faith as a prerequisite for holding political office. Regardless of the faith of the founders, they knew they were dealing with a decidedly Christian constituency and needed to form a government to reflect that worldview or it risked rejection.
The founders also knew that government imposed religion was a bad idea. That’s why the original colonists and many others immigrated to the New World, and it was evident to the founders that repeating the mistake of a state religion would end badly. This likely accounts for why the first 16 words of the 1st Amendment guarantee religious liberty.
Some voices from the edge of public opinion seek a declaration that Christianity is the official religion of America, and as a practicing reformed Christian, I would be among the first to write in strenuous opposition to any such effort. But this perspective does not preclude the recognition of our nation as one formed in concert with the core precepts of biblical Christianity. Presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Donald Trump understand this, along with innumerable Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, and others who have long recognized the role of the Bible and Christianity in the structure of our civic life.
This is what the Rededicate 250 event was about. It was not an effort to establish a religion but the free exercise of it. When Rachel Laser and people like her attack a Christian gathering professing faith through praise, thanksgiving and prayer, one can’t help but wonder if the goal is not the preservation of the Constitution but the erosion of it.
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