I love it when people try to say that America is a Christian nation. Most of the time they go even further and quote the line from the Declaration of Independence about “our rights being endowed by our Creator.”
They never seem to get the point that the founding fathers used the word “creator” rather than “God” or “Yahweh” for the specific reason of including everyone, not just Christians. Jefferson, Adams, and Washington were not even Christians, but deists. The word “God” was deliberately left out of the Constitution because those men realized a secular state was require to grant everyone true freedom.
It was a grand vision that led to liberty, civil rights, tolerance, the greatest country on earth, and a complete breakaway from the patriarchal dominance imposed by Christianity in the past. Of course, the founding fathers left quite a bit to be desired: Their original plan gave inalienable rights only to white males.
But anyway, let’s take the “Creator” part and apply that. Were our rights really endowed by a creator? Perhaps, but it’s clear that creator couldn’t be the Christian God. Take a look at the first four of the much-praised ten commandments. Right from the gate, the very first one (no other gods) destroys freedom of religion. Numbers two and three (no idols and no blasphemy) toss freedom of expression and speech out the door. Number four (no work on the Sabbath) further drives the nail of a forced religion on others.
Why would a benevolent and loving God care whether we work on the Sabbath? Why would He require such a ridiculous ritual of deference? Human dictators enjoys those types of things, but God? And how many Christians actually follow the fourth commandment, anyway? According to the Old Testament, people were put to death for gathering firewood on the Sabbath.
Christianity is very clearly an exclusionary religion. Jesus didn’t say, “Do good deeds and live a good life and be tolerant of others and you’ll go to heaven.” No, he said that only through him will you receive everlasting life. God does not give us freedom of religion, speech, and expression. He gives us only one freedom, one choice: fealty or damnation.
There’s no doubt that Christianity is an intrinsic part of America, and has been for hundreds of years. Those who are lobbying to remove all signs of religion from the public square are overzealous dingbats. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. People should keep in mind both the former and the latter parts of that statement. But most secularists don’t care about religious symbols in public; they just don’t want to live in a country where the law of land tells them they have to worship Christ and speak a certain way and refrain from work on a certain day of the week. They don’t want to see ant-American rules sitting in a courtroom.
If Christians want to live by the ten commandments, that’s their business. But it’s a joke to think those fascist regulations can grant us our rights. Our freedom of religion, expression, and speech are American freedoms. They demonstrably did not come from the Bible.
