America is a Christian nation?

• I find this statement a bit odd, as we have no official religion in America, since the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits congress from establishing a religion, or respecting one above the others. The next common argument I have heard is that the founding fathers were Christian, and wanted America to follow Christian beliefs. I know this to be false, as would anyone who has done any research into the lives of the founding fathers. Several were not Christian. Jefferson, but one example, was a Deist. Benjamin Franklin, also not Christian. It is not perfectly clear what he was, and both Atheists and Deists often claim him as one of their own. These men were fighting a revolution against a country who had what they considered a corrupt Church, set up by a corrupt king. After seeing what this caused, they were in no hurry to unite religion and government, as evidenced by the First Amendment, and the personal writings of Jefferson. It was from one of Jefferson's letters to a friend, for example, that the phrase "Wall of Separation" entered our vocabulary (although, it is highly likely he borrowed the idea from an earlier philosopher). Another common statement people use to support America being a Christian nation is that "Our country operates on Christian Values." I agree, our country does share some principles with Christianity. But in that light we are also a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation that operates off of a whole list of Pagan religions and tribal religions from around the world that sadly I am too uneducated to be able to list all of them. You see, ideals such as the sanctity of life and property which lead to our do not murder and do not steal laws are in fact Christian. They are also present in nearly every other religion, and in secular beliefs as well. Christians did not invent these principles, they are present and have been present all over the world in belief structures that predate Christianity. Also, the idea that the majority of the settlers came here for religious freedom is poor support. Look up the statistics again. Most who came here came for monetary reasons. (Besides, isn't it a bit ironic that adherents to a religion that descends from people fleeing persecution are so quick to persecute others?) Of course Christians will say America is a Christian nation, but their arguments are weak. I want somebody to present actual evidence that the founding fathers intended for this nation to be a Christian Nation. And no, the fact that the said "God" in various documents doesn't cut it, as lots of beliefs use the word "God." Deists do, Jews do, all manner of Theists do.

• Answer:

  The words "In God We Trust" were not consistently on all U.S. currency until 1956, during the McCarthy Hysteria. The Treaty of Tripoli, passed by the U.S. Senate in 1797, read in part: "The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." The treaty was written during the Washington administration, and sent to the Senate during the Adams administration. It was read aloud to the Senate, and each Senator received a printed copy. This was the 339th time that a recorded vote was required by the Senate, but only the third time a vote was unanimous (the next time was to honor George Washington). There is no record of any debate or dissension on the treaty. It was reprinted in full in three newspapers - two in Philadelphia, one in New York City. There is no record of public outcry or complaint in subsequent editions of the papers. No place in the American government has a place for any religion, of course I would not go the other way just to prove a point and remove God from our money, or the pledge of allegiance because one thing about the founding fathers, they seem to have all been young men who hated the mechanics of the church but realized that God was alive upon on the land.