Let’s begin.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
—John 1:1
In yesterday’s report, TR 657 - Shining Light on Spiritual Division to Defeat Political Tyranny, I stated that America is not a Christian nation, pointing to the pluralistic beliefs held by many Americans who, though they may not share in the Christian faith, absolutely love our country, cherish our constitution, and are on the front lines fighting for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the midst of political chaos.
My point was this: look around.
Religion is in decline, unfortunately, and the number one reason many Americans are hesitant to hop on the conservative bandwagon is precisely because they do not share the same religious Christian convictions that the majority of conservatives do.
In the most practical sense, the implication of this undeniable fact is that in order to form a winning coalition, we absolutely must make a distinction between our religious and political missions. I believe that Donald Trump successfully did just that, pulling people together of different faiths, or no faith at all, which is why he’s set to be inaugurated for his historic second term in just a few short days.
However, riding the high of a massive political victory, claiming glory be to God for Trump’s against-all-odds success in making it back into the White House, there is a growing chorus of self-righteous preening coming out of the Religious Right.
This, I believe, is a recipe for disaster. I believe it is a trap.
Furthermore, I believe it is an intentional undermining of American unity, along the lines of the intentional subversion and fracturing of political movements discussed in TR 655 - Crushing Divisive Narratives. In that report, Josh Stylman offered us a keen insight on how this “systematic fragmentation” of resistance happens:
“…subtle redirection begins. Just as they slice society into ever-smaller fragments along political, racial, and cultural lines, they splinter truth movements into competing camps. Unity becomes division. Action becomes debate. Resistance becomes content.”
The subtle redirection begins.
Knowing that I’ve stirred the hornet’s nest by taking an unpopular stance, stating that America is not a Christian nation, I’d like to take a moment to articulate why, exactly, it felt important for me to push this point of distinction. Why go against the grain and potentially offend many of my subscribers, family, and friends?
Well, my willingness to engage the debate and step into this uncomfortable space was prompted, in part, by headlines like these:
Don’t get me wrong, I like Charlie Kirk, Wayne Allen Root, and Mark Taylor. I believe these are wise men with good things to say. I am not disagreeing with them in principle, nor do I entirely disagree with their perspectives—BUT, I do disagree with making Christianity the clarion call for conservative politics.
This disagreement is not coming from a place of malice, but of concern, because I believe that pushing religion into the center of the political arena is a losing strategy. It really doesn’t matter what I personally believe about God’s role in the 2024 election or the rise of Donald Trump—what matters is that this narrative is entirely off-putting, even repulsive, to the many people who, sans religion, are our staunch political allies.
I want to pull in a few more headlines before doubling down on this assertion:
It should go without saying that the godless Marxist heathens, who worship the state and generally live in utter denial of reality, are licking their lips about this.
What easier way to sway non-religious Americans—of whom there are millions—away from Trump, MAGA, and conservatism in general?
Here we must understand the power of words. If you drop the phrase “anointed by God” in front of someone who doesn’t believe in God, or even someone who does believe in God, loosely, but who doesn’t buy into religion, what’s the reaction?
It’s cringe. Ouch.
The thought is: “I don’t want anything to do with these people.”
How do I know this?
Because I talk to people. Lots of people. I talk to Methodists, Mormons, and Wiccan Magis. I talk to Atheists, Agnostics, and Apostles of Christ. I talk to Buddhists, Yogis, and spiritual seekers young and old. I talk to New Agers, Old Schoolers, and everyone in between. I talk to them all, because I love the conversations.
One time I even spent nearly six hours talking to a Muslim man that looked just like Osama Bin Laden, on a flight from Singapore to San Fransisco. Though the two of us obviously had many conflicting religious convictions, by the end of the flight we had found kindred spirit in one simple fact: God is good.
We didn’t agree on the definition or name of God, on who had or had not been annointed by God, or on what God’s plans were for the future of humanity—but nevertheless, we both agreed that God was good. It was fascinating.
Regarding the many other schools of thought that I’ve interacted with, my introduction to people who believe differently than I do came through military service. There I was, 18-years old, sharing blood, sweat, and tears with people who had wildly different beliefs. These were my brothers in arms. They would lay down their lives for me, and I would do the same, even if we disagreed about God.
This experience had a profound impact on me.
There had been a period in my earlier life where I was combative in conversations about faith. I wanted to nitpick and disprove the beliefs of those who disagreed with me. It took some maturing before I realized this was just my ego, and furthermore, that it was actually harmful. I was literally hurting people by dismantling their beliefs, just because it was something different than what I believed in. No bueno.
At that point in life, I vowed to myself to be kind and curious, not combative, to listen to people’s stories, to value their perspectives, and to respect their beliefs, even and especially if I wholeheartedly disagreed. I sought to learn, with humility, from the various spiritual paths that I happened to come across.
The lessons were, to me, profound.
Perhaps most prominent was the lesson that people—that we as human beings—all need to believe in something. Every person I have ever met has their own personal beliefs about life, about death, about God. In this I see something beautiful, I see the human spirit seeking to connect with its Source.
This spiritual seeking transcends time and location. It is not geocentric, and therefore, the various flavors of spiritual expression differ from place to place. Given that America has long been the “melting pot of the world,” it only makes sense to me that I’d bump into these different spiritual practices from time to time.
And, having made my peace with God, I’ve never felt threatened by the experience. Perhaps there are lessons from this experience that might enrich your own spiritual journey? Either way, let’s get back to the political implications.
Let’s split some hairs.
As you might expect, I recieved some feedback on my stance that America is not a Christian nation. I always love feedback, so if you ever feel inclined, let me have it.
On the one hand, there were people expressing appreciation for my willingness to “go there” and defend my fellow, non-religious, liberty loving Americans. One man, an atheist friend of mine, shared the writings of Nietze, and how Nietze’s philosophy was deeply intertwined with music and the mathematical composition of the universe, similar to how I was using music as a bridge into yesterday’s discussion of beliefs.
This is how he, and others, can philosophically derive the constitutional principles of limited government and free society, without the aid of religious texts or heavenly mandates.
On the other hand, understandably and as expected, the greater portion of feedback was from those who disagreed, from those who sought to inform me that I was wrong, that America was in fact a Christian nation, or that at the very least is was founded upon Christian principles as expressed in the Bible.
To this point, a dear friend of mine made the effort to articulate the nuance embedded within the discussion—that though we are undeniably a diverse and pluralistic society, our nation was in fact founded on Christian principles, because these were the dominant cultural values at the time of our nation’s founding.
This is all good stuff, and I do not disagree, but it does bring to mind a few points worth making. I recently lent a book titled The Godless Constitution to a fellow veteran, who, like myself and many others, was wrestling with the rise of Christian dominance in conservative politics. He, too, felt that this pushing of religion as the central spectacle was sowing division, with potentially catastrophic consequences.
So let’s address the question directly:
Was America founded as a Christian nation?
The answer, in my mind, much to the chagrin of many, is unequivocally no.
I love God with all my heart, I do not lean on my own understanding, and I seek to acknowledge and honor God in all my ways—and yet, I state that as a fact.
The reason I do not believe we were founded as a Christian nation is fairly simple. Read through the U.S. Constitution, and you will not find the word God a single time.
Why?
Scholars have debated this fact since the founding, but I believe its because the Founding Fathers understood the divisive nature of religious beliefs. They understood that for a free society to function, it necessarily required a divorce from dogmatic dictates—because who would support a government that forced them to accept beliefs that were contrary to their personal convictions?
The Declaration of Independence speaks of “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God,” and makes clear that every citizen’s inalienable rights are “endowed by their Creator.” In declaring their independence, the Founders also appeal to the “Supreme Judge of the World” and allude to a “firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.”
Do these words indicate that America was founded as a Christian nation?
Again, for me, the answer is no. Let me explain.
First, given that the Constitution does not mention God, it should be clear that our government was not founded as a Christian government. The reasons for this are numerous, I’m sure, but the act of leaving God out of it was clearly intentional—especially when you consider the strong Christian faith of many of the Founders.
As for the phrases contained in the Declaration, let’s take them one at a time:
“The Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” — the Bible says that all Creation cries out for the glory of God. It’s one of my favorite passages. But if you think about it, all of Creation does not cry out the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed, if left alone in the woods, immersed in the wonder of Nature, while one might come to a deep and profound appreciation for the divine nature of Creation, and subsequently come to an intimate spiritual connection with their Creator, there would be a distinct absence of anything pointing to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Thus, the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God are distinctly not Christian.
Similar logic applies to the rights that have been endowed by our Creator. Why did they not say these rights were “Given by God” or explicitly state that they were our God-given rights? Acknowledging a divine Creator and appealing to the “Supreme Judge of the World” are not the same thing as acknowledging Yahweh, Jesus Christ, and God’s final judgement of humanity. Again, I can only believe that this was intentional, and again, explicitly not Christian.
As for the “firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,” we have yet another example of the absence of invoking Christianity or calling God by name. There is no mention of the Lion of Judah, or how “if God is for us, who can be against us.” There is no mention of Psalm 23, of Christ the Redeemer, the Captain of Salvation, the Good Shepherd, the Holy Spirit, or the Light of the World. There is no statement suggesting that God was delivering our nascient nation from Evil—only the genuine, if slightly generic, reliance on divine providence.
Scouring the founding documents and noting the explicit lack of reference to Christianity, I can only conclude that our nation was intentionally not founded as a Christian nation. This, I believe, was both wise and necessary.
Surely the faith of the Founding Fathers compelled them to pray about this. In doing so, with sincere conviction about their political mission, it seems abundantly clear that their inspired words, guided by the hand of Providence, made every effort to actually avoid injecting their Christian faith into our founding documents.
That is, these wise statesmen and devout Christians fully understood the need to make the critical distinction between their religious and political missions.
I believe those of us who sincerely want to Make America Great Again should look to their example in our efforts to restore the Republic. We were founded as a country of free individuals. Free to speak our minds, free to assemble, free to defend ourselves, and free to worship — or not — however we choose. Therefore, let’s unite the country in the original spirit of freedom, and resist the urge for religious pomp.
RESIST WE MUST!!
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