Christian nation

Presidential candidate John McCain (R-Arizona) recently made waves in the sea of media with statements he made on an evangelical website, www.beliefnet.com. One of his comments that has been highlighted says “The Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”

The comment drew both praise from the religious sector of society, and worry from those concerned by its implications. Though McCain is the most recent to stoke the fire of this issue, the fire has long been burning. He is not the first to suggest that America is a Christian nation. Public figures from Michael Medved to Hollywood roundhouse ass-kicker Chuck Norris have publicly promoted that America is Christian. Though the thought has followed this country from its birth, the question still remains for many of us: Is America a Christian nation?

If one were to accurately look at our founding, at the people who guided this country into being, we can come to the safe conclusion that America is, in fact, not a Christian nation.

Most can recite the cliché “wall between church and state.” This phrase was never included in any legal document; rather, it was a comment by Thomas Jefferson about the First Amendment, and the history of the colony’s religious tendencies. In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson pointed out that when most people came to the New World expecting freedom of religion, they found a land where it was only free for the “reigning sect.”

This posed a problem, as it did not produce peace and unity. He notes how Quakers were legally discriminated against, unable to assemble and punished for even entering the colony. This was not the foundation he or the other founding fathers wished to build America upon. The solution was to make it so that no law would be made to support or deny any religion, making America, her people and their religion free.

This thought was so significant that the very first line of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This set a precedent in our nation that, unlike the former governments of the world, we would not allow this form of influence in our government. A large concern for our founders was the authority that religion held over previous European governments, posing a threat to any possible power held by the people. Democracy cannot exist without this key factor.

For those who need a clear statement that America is not a Christian nation, further evidence can be found in the treaty between the United States and Tripoli, a treaty that has fallen into the shadow of history. Signed in 1796 by John Adams, it addressed the concerns of the nation of Tripoli, largely Muslim. A fear in this Muslim world was that any nation dominated by Christians would be tempted to repeat moments in history, like The Crusades. To ease this tension, we included Article 11 in the treaty, which states one of our founding philosophies: “… the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

The presence of Christianity in America-from its founding colonies, to its Declaration of Independence, to the present day-is undeniable. Today, 75 to 80 percent of Americans call themselves Christians. Our most popular holidays are, perhaps loosely, Christian holidays. To claim that America has been void of Christianity and that it has had no influence upon our culture is ignorant. However, this fact doesn’t change our country’s founding nature, our guiding philosophies.

Being that America is not a Christian nation, this does not mean that Christians are excluded. No religion or belief is illegal here. We are a nation of many religions, cultures and people. From our diversity, not our exclusion, comes our strength. It is how we have progressed so far to become as strong and great as we are.