Is the United States a Christian nation?
I say with absolute certainty we, the United States began as a Christian nation.
Let’s examine this a bit further. We know that 98% of the people inhabiting the thirteen colonies and westward expansionist lands were Christian of one flavor or another. Most were protestant with a small percentage being catholic. Jewish people were also here at around 1.9% of the population. So, we have that, nearly 100% of the people living here were Christian by proclamation. Now it is worth saying that only 10%-20% were regular church attendees. People who oppose the argument that we are Christian people point out the 80% who did not attend a church. I don’t know about you, but I am a Christian and many times in my life I did not regularly attend nor participate in church activities. But the acceptance of Jesus as my savior forever cemented the deal. So we could say that I and all of those eighty percenters were simply “bad Christians.”
I will make a personal note here: Even though I may have been busy with life and off track if I were ever backed into a corner, my Christianity would come out. I would stand with my beliefs before surrendering to some other position, and therefore, I would conclude that at my core, I am a Christian and have been ever since the moment of that prayer of acceptance. I would venture that the wayward 80% of Americans in the 1770s were the same as me.
So what of the framers of the Declaration of Independence and our eventual Constitution? Were they Christians? Yes, most certainly they were. Some would argue that they may have identified as Christians but were actually deists. Practicing Christian beliefs in their private lives, they may have taken a different view, adhering to the Christian foundational practices because it was popular at the time. They did build a pretty high wall separating church and state to be sure, but to say the influence of Christian ideas was not present is simply not historically supported, at least from my amateur perspective.
Were our founding fathers educated in Christian universities? Yes, they were, but arguably Berkley and other modern liberal arts schools simply did not exist. But the fact remains that all of our founding fathers came through an education system strongly rooted in Christianity.
Patrick Henry said: “This great nation was founded by Christians on the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Our first President, George Washington did not want to serve after leading the US Army and our country to victory over the British, but he was called to New York to become our first president by a unanimous vote. He accepted and swore an oath with his hand on a bible opened to Psalm 49
He then offered an eloquent prayer which I will include after my essay and then he concentrated our nation to God. What is a consecration and how does it differ from a prayer you ask? The Encyclopedia Britannica defines it as: … “consecration effects an intimate transformation in the essence of the object and that it is permanent and can be neither revoked nor repeated.”
This is a permanent prayer. It is a thing that when set in motion cannot be stopped. Our first leader and you must understand that our leaders have authority and the authority to make agreements on our behalf, made that agreement with God Almighty!
George Washington prayed: “Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”
You see that as our leader, our representative, he made it clear that no nation can expect to be blessed by God if they turn away from him. He promised that our new nation would honor God and that God would bless us as we grew. But the ominous second part of that prayer is calling God to remove his blessing and protection from us if we ever turn from God.
Think about that for a moment.
Now ask yourself, “Is America still honoring God, and keeping his commands? Are we obeying his commandments, or have we strayed? Have we unwittingly allowed the devil to make us a stronghold? What do you think?
Are we under protection still or befit for destruction?
Nothing echoes louder in my mind than 2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
