Is America A Christian Nation?
By Sandra Moats Associate Pastor of New Hope Assembly of God
As we celebrate the birth of the United States of America on July 4th,
it is good to reflect on our beginnings as a country. Our great nation
was blessed to have wise men, foundation stones that knew and served
God. Our laws were founded on Christian principles with Jesus Christ
as the Chief Cornerstone. (Eph 2:20). When documents are deposited at
the foundation of a building it is within the cornerstone. In the
beginning and at the birth of this country, Christianity was the
cornerstone of our foundation. Jesus Christ and the Bible occupied a
place of great importance in our government and in the lives of the
people in America.
God led Christopher Columbus in the discovery of America in 1492. He
was a Christian who professed Christ as his Savior. He wrote, “...I am
a most unworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and
mercy, and they have covered me completely.” In 1504 he wrote a book
and said, “I prayed to the most merciful Lord about my heart’s great
desire… It was the Lord who put into my mind… the fact that it would
be impossible to sail from here to the Indies. There is no question
that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit.”
The Puritans secured The Mayflower Compact in 1620. It was written and
signed by 41 of the Pilgrims who were the early settlers of the
Plymouth Colony. The Puritans were politically active Christians that
wanted to establish Christian colonies in America. In the Mayflower
Compact, they pledged to abide by the laws passed by the majority. “IN
THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN… Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and
advancement of the Christian Faith… Do by these Presents, solemnly and
mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine
ourselves together into a civil Body…”
Within the first thirteen colonies, nine had official state churches.
The Delaware Constitution held this oath for public officers, “I do
profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son,
and in the Holy Ghost, on God blessed forevermore; and I do
acknowledge the Holy Scriptures in the Old and New Testament to be
given by divine inspiration.”
By the 1700’s strong Christian family life had taken root and become
the backbone of America. Fathers led the families, and the mothers
raised the children. They worked hard together, had big families,
played lightly, were schooled in the Bible, learned a trade, built
churches and worshipped together with other families. Their faith in
God sustained them through the hardships and strains of America
growing into a free, democratic, Christian nation. At the end of the
1700’s America printed her first English Bible.
Samuel Adams, one of our founding fathers, and a graduate of the then
Christian Harvard College, delivered a speech before the Declaration
of Independence was signed. He said, “We have this day restored the
sovereign to Whom alone all men ought to be obedient; He reigns in
Heaven, and with a propitious Eye beholds His subjects assuming that
freedom of thought, and dignity of self direction, which He bestowed
upon them. From the rising to the setting Sun, may His Kingdom come.”
The Continental Congress, composed of delegates from the thirteen
Colonies, began its sessions with prayer, and called for a day of
prayer and fasting within the colonies. They asked God to give
guidance and direction on the possibility of seceding from England
before The Declaration of Independence was signed. The First
Continental Congress called the Bible “the great political textbook of
the patriots”. They imported and distributed 22,000 Bibles in America,
the reason being, “so that the people would be well-supplied with the
political textbook of this nation.”
The Declaration of Independence, adopted July 4, 1776, stated that all
men were created equal and that in this nation we have the right to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It was the document that
officially declared that the American colonists were no longer under
the governing power of Great Britain and that they were, from that
point forward, free and independent states. There were 56 men who
signed the Declaration of Independence and 24 held seminary or Bible
School degrees. One of the signers, John Adams said, “Suppose a nation
… should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member
should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every
member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and
industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men;
and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What a
Utopia, what a Paradise would this region be.”
Our first President, George Washington said, “Let me live according to
those holy rules which Thou hast this day prescribed in Thy holy word
... Direct me to the true object, Jesus Christ the way, the truth and
the life. Bless, O Lord, all the people of this land.” And
prophetically he said, “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect
that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
Our second President, John Adams, said, “We have staked the whole
future of American civilization, not on the power of government... but
upon the capacity of each and every one of us to govern ourselves
according to the Ten Commandments of God.” These are the same Ten
Commandments that some now seek to have removed from government
places! He stated, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and
religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any
other.” “We have no government armed with power capable of contending
with passions unbridled by morality and religion.” “Statesmen may plan
and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone,
which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.”
Thomas Jefferson authored the first formal public education for the
city of Washington D.C. The main books used to teach reading in public
schools of Washington D.C. were the Bible and Isaac Watts’ Hymnal.
Today we find that the Bible has been outlawed in public schools only
to be replaced with the religion of secular humanism.
President James Madison said, “No power over the freedom of religion
is delegated to the United States by the Constitution.”
President Thomas Jefferson said, “Can the liberties of a nation be
thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a
conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the
gift of God?”
On January 1st in 1802, President Jefferson wrote a letter that
referred the Danbury Baptists to the First Amendment of the United
States Constitution concerning separation of church and state. They
believed that separation of church and state would guarantee that
their religion would have no limits in this country. Their purpose was
to make sure the government did not rule over churches. Jefferson
wrote, “...I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the
whole American people which declared that their legislature should
''make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof,'' thus building a wall of separation between
Church & State.”
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the
Bill of Rights. It was meant to block the United States Congress from
making laws to establish religion as a national requirement, but it
also was meant to stop the government from squeezing out the free
exercise of religion, speech, freedom of the press, and to be able to
assemble together in peace. That right is now being challenged all
over America. A law forbidding the gathering together in homes was
quietly put in place over ten years ago in California. It has lay on
the books, but not been acted upon until now with the changes taking
place in America. Recently, a Pastor in San Diego was told he could no
longer hold a Bible Study in his home. In the beginning of our nation
there was no separation of church and state with the term being
defined as we know it today.
Our founding fathers who formed the constitution did not acknowledge
separation of church and state. Through the years, just as many have
taken Scripture out of context and lost the overall meaning.
Separation of church and state has left the meaning of the original
purpose our forefathers intended.
In 1892, the Supreme Court of the United States declared, “This is a
Christian nation.” The New England Confederation stated that the
purpose of the colonies was “to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel in purity with peace.”
Harvard College required that each student believe that “the main end
of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is
eternal life.”
Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States said, “America was
born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion
to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the
revelations of the Holy Scripture.”
Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States said, “They, the
Founding Fathers, were intent upon establishing a Christian
commonwealth in accordance with the principle of self-government. They
were an inspired body of men. It has been said that God sifted the
nations that He might send choice grain into the wilderness ... Who
can fail to see it in the hand of Destiny? Who can doubt that it has
been guided by a Divine Providence?”
The eroding at the foundation of this nation has not produced a united
people, but rather a divided nation. (Mr 3:24). Unregenerate men
cannot sustain this country on the foundation that was laid. When Roe
verses Wade entered America, a crack appeared in our foundation. Since
that time we have become divided on many issues including foundation
principles within our nation. Our stability has faltered and other
nations are reeling because of our shaking. God is the only One who
can restore the greatness of our nation. And the outcome lay in the
hearts of the American people. If we seek God’s face in prayer, repent
and turn from our wicked ways, He has promised that He will hear from
Heaven and heal our land. (2 Chr 7:14).
The fact stands that we were a Christian nation in the beginning.
Whether or not we are still a Christian nation is strongly in
question. America rose to be a powerful nation in a short time, but
without God our nation will fall. This time above any in the history
of America Christians must stand up as bright lights, taking our place
as being solid and firm in our faith. (Heb 11:16). The time is urgent
for us to turn in our pursuits and pray for our families, neighbors,
and our land. There is hope in God for our cities and our nation!
Remember the city of Nineveh! (Jonah 3:3-10).
|