President Obama weighed in on this question a few years ago when he said, “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation . . .” There are ways that I agree with the President’s statement, and there is one very important way that I disagree. It all depends on how we define what it means to be a “Christian nation.”
Some believe that America is a Christian nation because the polls consistently show that almost 90% of Americans still call themselves Christian. In my opinion, that statistic, does NOT prove that we are a Christian nation. Checking off a particular box on a form doesn’t really define who we are.
Some nations are controlled by a church or an organized religious system. That is not true of this country. The first amendment to our Constitution clearly states that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This means that everyone is free to practice their own religious beliefs. That freedom certainly does NOT prove that we are a Christian nation.
If being a “Christian nation” means that most Americans are following the teachings of Jesus Christ then, again, I would say that we are NOT a Christian nation. We have become an immoral and un-Christian people. If you are new to this country, please don’t think that the attitudes and actions you see on TV and the movies–or in the lives of the people around you here in America–are Christian attitudes and actions. For the most part they are not. For example, movies and television shows often portray adultery, violence, revenge, selfishness and even homosexuality as accepted and normal behaviors. Those are sins according to the Bible. That doesn’t ever change, even if those sins become accepted and are considered normal in our present culture.
If someone is saying that America is a “Christian nation” because it has a Christian heritage (or foundation), then on that basis, we can indeed clam to be a Christian nation.
Our form of government was based on Christian principles taken from the Bible, and many of the founders of our country were openly Christian. Of that there can be no doubt. Here are a couple of examples.
John Jay, a governor of New York and the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, said in 1816, “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty…of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” George Washington, our first President, wrote in 1752, “Let me live according to those holy rules which Thou this day prescribed in Thy holy word….Direct me to the true object, Jesus Christ the way, the truth, and the life. Bless, O Lord, all the people of this land.” He also said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” Andrew Jackson (our 7th President) said, “That Book (the Bible), sir, is the rock on which our republic rests.”
There are two fundamental beliefs that set America apart as an exceptional country: (1) even though the main guiding principles of our country came from the Bible, everyone is free to worship and practice their own religion as they please, and (2) our form of government understands that men tend to be evil—especially those who have power over others. In other words, men—even good men—can’t be trusted with unlimited power. That is why our country is divided into 50 sovereign states and three different branches of federal government—in order to keep any one authority from getting too powerful.
Our founding fathers agreed with what William Pitt said in 1770: “Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.” President Ronald Reagan warned us, “Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.”
What has historically been the result of those guiding principles? We have enjoyed being the most free and prosperous people in the history of the world. We have the most powerful military ever known to mankind, and yet we have never used it to conquer and keep other lands in subjection. America sends billions of dollars of aid to other countries every year, and is the first to help when natural disasters strike. It can’t be ignored that more people want to come to America than to any other country. Yes, America has always had problems, but America has also done more good in the world than any other country.
Government is not the only thing that works better when God’s truth is acknowledged. Our individual lives work better, too, when we admit our own tendency to evil. Even the great Apostle Paul felt that way about himself: “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Timothy 1:15).
Realizing our own sinfulness reveals to us our need of a Savior. When we trust Christ’s death on the cross as the total payment for our sins, then we can be called Christians—not because we belong to the right religious system, not even because we do everything right, but just because we are trusting in what Jesus did for us on Calvary. Doing that makes us Christians, or followers of Jesus Christ.
I hope you have been set free from sin’s punishment and its hold on your life. “So if the Son
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