Christian World View
Was America Founded as A Christian Nation?
Posted by ThirstyJon • 10/27/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS]
Tags: america's christian heritage, america's godly heritage
We often hear that America was founded as a Christian Nation.
Is this factually true? Is it really clear or is there room for legitimate debate?
Let's post some thoughts, links, and resources that prove one way or the other.
User Comments
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I think it was based on these quotes:
The New England Charter, signed by King James I, confirmed the goal of the first settlers to be: "to advance the enlargement of Christian religion, to the glory of God Almighty."
Benjamin Franklin stood and addressed the Continental Congress with these words: "In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor.... Have we now forgotten this powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?"
eorge Washington, in his inaugural address to Congress as the first president of the nation stated: "No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency...."
One of George Washington’s first official acts was the first Thanksgiving proclamation, which reads, "Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor..." It goes on to call the nation to thankfulness to Almighty God.
Thomas Jefferson said: "Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever."
President John Quincy Adams: "The first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible."
Andrew Jackson: "Go to the Scriptures... the joyful promises it contains will be a balsam to all your troubles."
From President Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer, April 30,1863: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
Plus all of our laws in America were founded upon Biblical principles...
Unfortunately America is changing, has been changing for quite some time. We are not longer the Christian nation we once were. -
There is almost overwhelming evidence that our government was founded on Christian principles and that our founders had a general respect for Christianity. Even Jefferson, who had curios religious views, sent missionaries to the Native Americans.
They seemed to believe that government was there to secure liberty (closely associated with property) and that the only way this would work is if our nation were a nation of virtue...the job of the church.
There is one document that is a little odd and does not seem to fit and I was curious what your thoughts were:
From Treaty of Peace and Friendship, signed at Tripoli November 4, 1796
www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diplomacy/barbary/bar1796t.htm
"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."-
That is a disturbing quote isn't it. :-)
David Barton has written some excellent thoughts on that treaty and they are quoted from a book he wrote on his web site:
www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=125
What I understand the authors of the Treaty to be attempting here is to avoid a religious conflict with Muslim nations. They are trying to differentiate themselves from European Christianity which involved itself in things such as the Crusades.
And it is true, in a sense, that the Federal Government was not by force of law "Christian." The Constitution deliberately left the issues of "official" religion to the States.
That does not mean that the Constitution was not inspired by and conformed to the principles of Christianity.
That does not mean that the United States was not a nation of Christians aspiring to Christian Ideals.
In short, it does not in any way prove that the U.S. was not a "Christian Nation." The author's of the treaty were merely asserting that their conflict with the involved Muslim nations was not religious in nature.
I'd love to hear the thoughts of others on this one as well.
I am pondering, stirring, and brewing an eventual post on my blog about What Does it Mean to be a Christian Nation?
:-)
ThirstyJon
www.freedomthirst.com
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I've read that but it really seems to only work if you accept that they didn't really mean what they said.
I have my own thoughts, but I have to finish thinking them, first. : )-
I understand what you mean. I would imagine the only way to know for certain would be to study the history of the treaty more thoroughly. Studying the Bible is the same way. It is amazing what we bring with us when we read it that makes us think the meaning is obvious. Sometimes some pretty simple historical background makes the "obvious" meaning change!
In our current context and time in history those words point to one meaning; they may have meant something different without contemporary assumptions.
I am earnestly looking forward to your thoughts. I am currently in a slow and painful process of reading, thinking, and researching America's Godly Heritage. I want to accurately portray what we mean by "Christian Nation" and I want to report with accuracy.
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From my research, many of our Founding Fathers were Freemasons. They were not Christians though they claimed a belief in the "Almighty". Thus, our nation was NOT built upon the Christian faith - although many have been indoctrinated to believe it.
Books:
Founding Fathers Secret Societies
www.amazon.com/Founding-Fathers-Secret-Societies-Rosicrucians/dp/1594770875
The Secret Architecture of our Nation's Capital
www.amazon.com/Secret-Architecture-Our-Nations-Capital/dp/0060953683/ref=pd... -
Hello again GlobalGirl!
:-)
I have often heard it said that many of our founding fathers were Freemasons. More often I have heard that they were Deists.
I have heard David Barton and others present a LOT of content, quotations, stories and information showing the Christian Heritage of our nation and of the Founding Fathers. I have read Rosalie Slater and Verna Hall and their assertions. There is a lot of content there.
I have heard very little content to prove that the founding fathers were Deists, and even less that they were Freemasons. I am not saying they were not, only that I haven't been presented with many reasons to believe so.
Do you have any specific individuals that you believe were Freemasons?
Here are some of my resources
David Barton:
freedomthirst.com/davidbarton
Verna Hall:
freedomthirst.com/vernahall
Rosalie Slater:
freedomthirst.com/rosalieslater -
Hi there:
If you do research on the layout of DC (visit this link: www.geocities.com/jussaymoe/dc_symbolism/) it is absolutely intriguing to see the layout of our nation's capitol.
According to the Tabernacle Masonic Lodge, many of our founding fathers were freemasons:
www.mason.itgo.com/who.html (Signers of the Declaration of Independence copied from this link)
SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Known Masons (8): Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Joseph Hewes, William Hooper, Robert Treat Payne, Richard Stockton, George Walton, William Whipple
Evidence of Membership And/or Affiliations (7): Elbridge Gerry, Lyman Hall, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Nelson Jr., John Penn, George Read, Roger Sherman
Summary: 15 of 56 Signers were Freemasons or probable Freemasons.
It's true that this represents only 27% of the total signers. But this 27% included the principle movers of the Revolution, most notably Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, the primary authors of the Declaration. The former was a Freemason, the latter a deist and possible Freemason. If one were to analyze the Declaration, he would see their humanistic influences.
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Thoughts? I find it fascinating. -
Global girl, sadly I have to agree with you on this. There is overwhelming evidence that though there were several sincere Christians involved in the founding of this nation, the biggest influence came from men who were Freemasons as well as some who were diest and even at least one in particular, the most influencial, Benjamin Franklin who was part of a satanic group called, The Hell Fire Club.
Also, it is intersetung to note that Charles Thompson, one of the only two men who signed the declaration on July 4th was president of the Philadelphia Bible Society. But, he is also the one who was commissioned to design the Great Seal which appears on the one dollar bill. The seal which he designed in 1788 is obviously very Masonic in nature and even more importantly, it addresses an even greater issue of importance, the New World Order.
On the left side of the one dollar bill, the phrase, Annuit Coeptis, means May he favor our undertaking. Directly below that statement you will see the unfinished pyramid with the All seeing eye of Osiris above it. The He in the previous statement refers to Osiris, who is part of the Satanic trinity made up of Jupiter, Baal and he, Osiris. Below the pyramid, the word Novus Ordo Seclorum translate to read New World Order of the ages. The Left side of the great seal reads like a sentence, it says:
May he, Osiris favor our undertaking of New World Order. -
From Christian Soldier's Cross website;
"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." - James Madison - fourth president of the United States & founding Father
link: www.christiansoldierscross.com/religious_presidential_quotes.htm -
Did Madison ever say that our future is staked on the 10 commandments?
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Research and Writing by Jim Allision.
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On page 120 of David Barton's book The Myth of Separation, David Barton quotes James Madison as saying:
We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments.
Barton gives the following footnote for the quotation:
Harold K. Lane, Liberty! Cry Liberty! (Boston: Lamb and Lamb Tractarian Society, 1939), pp. 32-33. See also Fedrick Nyneyer, First Principles in Morality and Economics: Neighborly Love and Ricardo's Law of Association (South Holland" Libertarian Press, 1958), pp. 31.
The only problem with the above is, no such quote has ever been found among any of James Madison's writings. None of the biographers of Madison, past or present have ever run across such a quote, and most if not all would love to know where this false quote originated. Apparantly, David Barton did not check the work of the secondary sources he quotes.
Robert Alley, an distinguished historian at the University of Richmond, has recently made an attempt to track down the origin of this quote. You can read about his effort in "Public Education and the Public Good," William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal,, Summer 1995, pp. 316-318. -
See also the section on "unconfirmed quotations" @ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Barton
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I personally have no doubt that Christianity was a distinctive influence in the forming of America. It may have been the distinctive influence.
I am in a process (which will probably take years) of researching this. I might even go on a road trip that will help me out some.
I want to be able to articulate very accurately about the founding of our nation. It seems to me that there are mostly two camps out there. 1) "The Founding Father's were all Godly Christians (or Mostly)" 2) They were all (or mostly) Deists.
I intend to find out in an authoritative way. I would love to interview David Barton. I wish I could interview Verna Hall and Rosalie Slater!
Thanks everyone for your participation in this discussion!
:-)
ThirstyJon
P.S. Keep it coming! No need to stop now. :-) -
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
— John Adams, October 11, 1798
source: PresidentialPrayerTeam.org-
I was just about the add that same quote!!!!!!! No truer words were spoken for our government and personally.
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Yes, John Adams was a Unitarian.
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Hello Waranalyst,
How do you know John Adams was a Unitarian? I have to ask because so many are going around saying "the founding father's were all Deists" and I know that isn't true. I sincerely want to know your source of info on that one. It will help me in my research.
God Bless!
ThirstyJon
freedomthirst.com -
Well, Just for starters, you can visit these links:
www.americanpresidents.org/presidents/president.asp?PresidentNumber=2
www.adherents.com/people/pa/John_Adams.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams
www.conservapedia.com/John_Adams
Here is a link about Unitarianism:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian-
Well that is a good start friend!
I checked out all of those links. It was a help in my research process. I personally need to go deeper because there has been such a re-interpretation of history for the past decades that you never know how prevalent a myth can be!
I noticed that the adherents.com link said "President John Adams was a devout Unitarian, which was a non-trinitarian Protestant Christian denomination during the Colonial era." That shows me that I need to research both - was John Adams a Unitarian? -and- What was a Unitarian then? I found another article (I don't know where it was unfortunately) that was talking about John Quincy Adams' concern about the Unitarian movement. So was the Unitarian Movement the same in the days of John Adams?
Lots of work to do on this stuff!
ThirstyJon
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Answered prayer in today's news: San Clemente City Council Votes Yes on "In God We Trust".
Can you please digg at digg.com/politics/San_Clemente_Votes_Yes_On_In_God_We_Trust
Thanks!!!
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