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GUEST
ARTICLE
Is America a "Christian"
Nation?
History disputes the idea that this is a nation under covenant
with God. Were it so, the founding fathers would have all
been Christians in the true sense. And they would have established
belief in and obedience to Jesus Christ as the primary criterion
for holding elective or appointed office. (Many of the state
constitutions did include references to God and to Jesus
Christ; somehow, these references were "overlooked" in
the federal documents -- see below.)
But some ask, "What about the Mayflower Compact?" We
cannot dispute that some of the early settlers in
this country were Christians, at least nominally. [We would
doubt this assertion. RH] And the Mayflower
Compact did form a body politic, one of the purposes
of which was to honor the king of England. But just because
they had as one purpose to advance the Christian faith does
not mean they meant to do so by establishing an independent
Christian government. On the contrary, the Mayflower Compact specifically
reaffirmed their loyalty to the king of England.
Nor were these all religious refugees on the Mayflower.
True, some of those aboard the Mayflower were Protestant
Separatists who had fled England to Holland to escape persecution
from the Reformed Anglican Church prelates, but the principals
were men commissioned to further the business of the Virginia
Company. The Mayflower Compact was an afterthought
designed to keep the colony intact after they were blown
off course from their intended landing at the mouth of the
Hudson River, having landed instead at what later became
Massachusetts. When they set sail, it was not part
of their original intent to draft the Mayflower Compact and
form a Christian colony under its terms.
Although the document that the Mayflower passengers drew
up did have some influence on the charters of a few
colonies prior to the Revolutionary War, it had no official bearing
on the federal government or on any of the colonies or states
created either prior to or after the American Revolution.
If we are going to call America a Christian nation we must
see if its founding body, the Continental Congress, purposed
to establish it as such. Did that body, in fact, covenant
with God to form this nation?
When the Continental Congress drafted the Declaration of
Independence and later, the Congress formed under the Articles
of Confederation drafted the Constitution of the United States
of America, no mention was made of Jesus Christ. Rather,
the only references to deity in the Declaration of Independence
were to "God"; none are in the Constitution.
In fact, many
of the framers of these documents were anti-Christian, being
comprised of Masons and deists of many persuasions.
God does not enter into covenants that do not invoke the
name of His Son, so there exists no covenant between the
Father and the federal government of the United States, or
with any state government. Had the constitutions of all these
governments, including the federal government, named faith
in Jesus Christ as the principle criterion for holding any
elective or appointed office, this would have had to be done
in the name of Jesus Christ with full understanding of the
true Biblical character of His role as Savior and Lord. This
the founders of this nation of sovereign states failed to
do.
It is apparent that the Western European influences that
shaped America were part of what had become known as "Christendom." But
a culture based on the idea of "Christendom" does
not of itself constitute a culture based on Scripture or
an inviolable covenant with God. The history of Christendom
is an ugly history fraught with tyranny and the enslavement
of those who are less "enlightened." If God gave
the knowledge and means to subdue the earth and take dominion
in the name of Jesus Christ, then that privilege has been
terribly abused. If, on the other hand, Satan gave that knowledge
and means, his purposes have certainly been accomplished.
The fruit of Western Civilization, in spite of its enlightened
accomplishments, demonstrates that no attempt to institute
the Kingdom of God on earth before Jesus returns can succeed.
So the idea of a covenant between America and God is pure
fantasy.
Nevertheless, the "Christian America" myth lives
on. We again return to the previous question: If America
was truly founded as an explicitly Christian nation (as is
continually proclaimed by "Christian" activists
such as James
Dobson, Pat Robertson, D. James Kennedy, Chuck Colson, Tim
and Beverly LaHaye, Jerry Falwell, Bill Gothard, etc.),
then why do we find no mention whatsoever of Jesus Christ
in America's founding documents? -- not in the Declaration
of Independence nor in the Constitution of the United States!
In fact, the Constitution does not even make a single reference
to God! (When Alexander Hamilton was asked why the Constitution
fails to mention God, he allegedly replied, "We forgot.")
And the reference to God in the Declaration of Independence
is merely "Nature's God," a God that is vague and
subordinated to natural laws that everyone should know through
common sense, i.e., "self-evident" truths. Moreover,
the Bible is never mentioned nor alluded to in either document!
Nor is God or Jesus Christ mentioned in the hundreds of pages
of the Federalist Papers (the "working documents" of
the founding fathers). In fact, the United States was the
first Western Nation to omit explicitly Christian symbolism,
such as the cross, from its flag and other national symbols.
Further incidental evidence of the founders' own views is
the statement from a treaty with the Islamic nation of Tripoli
in 1797. This treaty was negotiated under Washington, ratified
by the Senate, and signed by President John Adams. The telling
part is a description of religion in America:
"As the
government of the United States of America is not in any
sense founded on the Christian Religion -- as it has in itself
no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility
of Musselmen [i.e., Muslims] ..., it is declared by the parties
that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever
produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the
two countries" (The Search for Christian America,
p. 131).
Strange stuff for a nation that some like to say was founded
as a "Christian" nation! Strange stuff, indeed!
But myths die hard, if ever.
[Unless otherwise noted, the material above was adapted
and/or excerpted from Vengeance Is Ours: The Church in
Dominion, by Albert James Dager, pp. 220-221.]
Note: In all fairness, the states' "fathers" seemed
to be more up front with their "Christianity," even
though these same men appeared to be ashamed of the Name
of Christ when it came to the federal establishment. The
colonial charters of Virginia, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland,
Connecticut, Carolina, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Georgia
did acknowledge the Christian religion. The settlers at Rhode
Island subscribed to this compact:
"We,
whose names are underwritten, do hereby solemnly, in the
presence of Jehovah, incorporate ourselves into a body politic;
and as he shall help, will submit our persons, lives, and
estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and
the Lord of lords, and to all those perfect and absolute
laws of his, given us in his holy Word of truth, to be judged
and guided thereby."
Twelve of the thirteen original state constitutions contained
explicit acknowledgments of God and Christianity. (The 1776
Constitution of South Carolina even provided that no person
should be eligible to the Senate or House of Representatives
unless "he be of the Protestant religion.") The
exception, Virginia, revised its constitution's preamble
in 1870, adding "invoking the favor and guidance of
Almighty God." At least 42 of the state constitutions
contain some acknowledgment of God in their preambles. Article
22 of the Constitution of Delaware (1776) required all officers
to profess:
"faith in
God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son and in the
Holy Ghost, one God, blessed forevermore; and I do acknowledge
the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testament to be given
by divine inspiration."
The fundamental orders of Connecticut (1638-39) contained
these words:
"to mayntayne
and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospell of our
Lord Jesus, which we now profess, as also the disciplyne
of the churches, which according to the truth of the said
gospell is now practiced amongst us."
Yet somehow, none of this rhetoric made
it into the federal documents.
--Dave Hunt
Biblical Discernment Ministries - 6/98
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/amr/amerc.htm
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