Is the United States a Christian Nation?
Many conservative christians argue that the USA was founded upon christian principles and therefore is inherently christian. However atheists, liberal christians , and other faiths declare that the USA is not a christian nation, based on the seperation of church and state found in the constitution. Which side is correct?
Yes
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No
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The population is growing day by day in the US. Nowadays the number of other religions are increasing a lot as many people are migrating there permanently. A survey has also shown that the Muslims are increasing the fastest in US. The other religions are also increasing in number. The amount of non believers are also increasing in number. So there is no reason to say that the US is a Christian country even if the majority are Christians. Side: Yes
It depends on what you mean by "Christian nation" --- are we primarily comprised of Christians? Yes. Does basically every city in the entire nation have at least one Church? Yes. Are holidays like Christmas and Easter nationally celebrated at home, on T.V., in all the local grocery stores, etc.? Yes. Is our government supposed to legislate on the basis of religion? No. Side: Yes
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Conveniently just found a link discussing this subject. http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/ Side: No
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The Treaty of Tripoli was written under the presidency of George Washington and signed under the presidency of John Adams. It says "...the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..." Here is what our founding fathers thought about this being "a Christian Nation" Thomas Jefferson: Although Jefferson was a follower of Jesus at one point in his life, he despised what Christianity had become as he explains below. "To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other." - Letter to Benjamin Rush (12 April 1803) Even though he was a follower of Jesus he didn't want religion in our government, and he makes that very clear in the quotes below. "I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvres to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another." - Letter to Elbridge Gerry 1799 "Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the Common Law." -letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, 1814 "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose." - to Baron von Humboldt, 1813 "Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned: yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." -- Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII George Washington: "Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." - letter to Edward Newenham, 1792 "Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself." -Thomas Jefferson, in his private journal, Feb. 1800 James Madison: "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise." -letter to Wm. Bradford, April 1, 1774 "The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries." -1803 letter objecting use of gov. land for churches "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution." Just because Christianity is the predominant religion in the United States that doesn't make it a Christian nation. If you believe it does, then you must also believe that the US is a white nation because that is the predominant race. Side: No
What exactly is a "Christian Nation"? Freedom of religion has always been pretty prevalent in the United States. It is however, a fact that this country was founded by Christians... who to some extent, ruled based off of their religious ideology. Nothing too extreme, America obviously isn't and never was a theocracy. Christian conservatives like to think that the founding fathers based most of their decisions off of religion, while liberals like to argue that the founding fathers weren't religious. They're both wrong. The founding fathers were somewhere in the middle. Side: No
The principles it was founded on may be Christian but it could be argued that they are moral principles and would be the same under most religions, the USA also has freedom of religion and separation of church and state so no its not a Christian nation no matter what the propagandists say. Side: No
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