Was America founded as a Christian nation? Those on
the Left, including the entire Democrat Party, would respond to this question with
an emphatic “No.” But this is because in their embrace of Marxist ideology they
think only in terms of “power.”
When they hear the term “Christian nation” they think
of a Christian counterpart to a Marxist or Islamic regime where the power of the
state is used to impose its ideology on the masses. This, however, was not the Christianity
of the Founders.
The Founders had rejected a Constantinian form of Christianity
in which the government uses the power of the state to sanction, uphold and
defend a particular church. This ungodly merger of church and state had begun with
Constantine in the fourth century and was a clear departure from the teachings
of Jesus and the New Testament.
The Founders were influenced by those elements of the
Reformation that rejected Constantinian Christianity and insisted on a return
to Jesus and a Bible-based Christianity. In their thinking, there was no place
for governmental force in matters of conscience and faith.
But although the Founders refused to sanction a particular sect or denomination, they all believed that only Christianity offered the values and principles necessary for a free and happy society. This is obvious from their speeches, letters and other writings. Consider the following random quotes.
“Look down in mercy we beseech thee on
these our American
states who have fled to Thee
from
the rod of the oppressor,
desiring to be henceforth
dependent only on Thee. All this we ask in the name and
through the merits of Jesus Christ Thy Son and our Savior. Amen. – From the
opening prayer at the First Continental Congress
“You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of
life and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.” – George Washington to
a group Delaware Chiefs
“That with true contrition of heart we may confess our
sins, resolve to forsake them, and implore the Divine forgiveness through the
merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior.” – John Hancock in a Prayer
Proclamation issued while serving as governor of Massachusetts
“Of all the systems of morality that have come
under my observations, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus.” – Thomas
Jefferson
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and
religious [Christian] people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any
other.” – John Adams
“Providence
has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well
as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their
rulers.” – John Jay, America’s first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
“The right to freedom
being the gift of God Almighty, the rights of the Colonists as Christians may
be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutions of the Great Lawgiver and the Head of the Christian Church, which are to
be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.” – Samuel Adams
“It was wonderful to
see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From
being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world
were growing religious so that one could not walk through the town in an
evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.” –
Benjamin Franklin describing the impact of the 1739 Awakening on his hometown
of Philadelphia
“If you ask an American who is his master, he will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ.” – A letter from a British-appointed governor in America to his superiors back in England and recorded in the British Parliamentary Records on April 22, 1774
“The highest glory of the American Revolution is this; it connected, in one indissoluble
bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
– John Quincy Adams
“These, and many other matters which might be noticed,
add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that
this is a Christian nation.”
– U.S. Supreme Court, 1892
America was founded as a Christian nation not by government
legislation or judicial decree, but through the influence of the Great Awakening wherein entire communities were transformed as the masses were awakened to faith in Jesus Christ. All
segments of society were impacted.
This meant that the Christianity of the founding generation was not an outward, formal, or legal Christianity, but a Christianity of the heart. Such a Christianity cannot be legally imposed; it must be experienced by faith. This is biblical Christianity and it is the basis of America's unique rights and freedoms guaranteed in her founding documents.
The late Catholic scholar, Dr. Michael Novak, understood this and stated that when moral and spiritual decay have gripped American society, “only periodic awakenings have been known to offer a cure.” He went on to say,
Far from having a hostility toward
religion, the Founders counted on religion [Christianity] for the underlying
philosophy of the republic, its supporting ethic, and its reliable source of
rejuvenation (Hyatt, America’s Reawakening, 215).
This means that if America is to maintain its unique rights and freedoms from one generation to the next, she must see periodic Awakenings that
reignite the fires of a living faith in hearts everywhere. When this happens, Christians
become salt and light impacting every segment of society and preserving our
Christian heritage and freedoms for the next generation.
Pray for another National Awakening across America!!
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