I’ve always want to say to anyone who says that America is a Christian nation: “Which one? Mormon? Roman Catholic? Anglican? Eastern Orthodox? Presbyterian? Episcopalian? Methodist? Lutheran? Seventh Day Adventist? Baptist? Southern Baptist? Evangelical? Jesuit? Protestant? Any of 100 other denominations? Now before you answer, understand if you just select one or one or more of the possibilities, you have just discriminated against those other denominations that you did not select. And if you say all of them, you’ve minimized the very real differences that created all of those denominations; differences that would have a real effect on what types of policies the so-called “Christian Nation” should enact (for example, Episcopalians don’t have a problem with homosexuality but the Christianists mostly think it is an abomination).”
In what turned into an unexpectedly popular post I wrote on Sunday, I made the (hardly new) point that American is NOT a Christian nation. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of our history and Constitution understand that America is a secular nation with a Christian majority. This country was founded by men (and women) fleeing what they experienced as religious persecution in England. Now it seems that the minority religion is being used to proscribe the very desire for religious freedom that helped to create America.
Those who don’t know history really are condemned to repeat it.
The quote above was one of my favorite comments…because it’s spot on. Arguing that America is a Christian nation is patently absurd, and not only because it’s just plain wrong. It also doesn’t take into account which flavor of Christianity gets to take precedence. If you choose one, then you’ve just relegated every other denomination to second-class status. If you look at places like Northern Ireland, that’s a recipe for disaster…because if there’s one thing radical Christians are willing to do, it’s killing to ensure that their belief system is primary.
My flavor of Imaginary Friend is superior to yours….
If you’re wedded to your Christian faith, if that gives your life meaning and structure…well, then good on you. That’s your thing; you have no right to hold your beliefs to be superior to those of others. When that sort of thinking becomes prevalent, we have situations such as the one in Tennessee I wrote about. When you see nothing wrong with putting the words “In God We Trust” over the entrance to a courthouse, you’ve shown that you know nothing for and care even less about the multiplicity of religions and denominations in America. In that moment, you’ve demonstrated that you’re less about the teachings of Jesus Christ and leading a Christ-like life than you are about political power and social control.
Not exactly what Jesus would do, eh?
