America, the Christian Nation?

I have been reading a fascinating book: Founding Faith by Stephen Waldman. The book analyzes, very neutrally, the role of faith in Colonial America and its influence on the founding of our nation (I think later, it ties that faith and original intent into the "separation of Chruch and State" stuff).

It's interesting that while the colonies were escaping religion persecution from Europe, they were practicing their faiths very dogmatically. Government and Religion were inseparable, in fact, if you were a practicing Quaker in a Puritan Colony, you could be imprisoned, evicted from the Colony, or sentenced to death (think Salem Witch Trials... of course this was the extreme situation which, as we're taught in school, "always happens when you mix Church and State"). Religious Tolerance was non-existant until the mid 18th century; however, while the protestant Christian sects were becoming more tolerant of each other, there was still a great fear of the Catholic faith (or as they called it, Papism). Part of the reason for these settlers' departure from England was the growing influence of Catholicism in the Anglican Church.

When England, the Crown included, heard what was happening over here religiously, they decided it was time to Anglicanize the colonies because at least that way, the colonies wouldn't be killing each other over religion. This book suggests that perhaps more of the Revolution was about Religious freedom (anti-Anglicanism) than even about Taxes and government representation.

It wasn't until the revolution and George Washington that the effort was seriously made to unify all sects of Christianity under one common God (for obvious reasons). He seriously believed the successes of the Continental Army were purely based on their obedience to God and that their defeats were not due to "bad soldiering" (he knew there was plenty of that) but because of disobedience to God. In his most bitter moments, Washington despaired that he must surely rely on God because he wasn't going to be able to count on his poorly trained and occasionally mutinous army. "Providence has heretofore saved us in remarkable manner and on this we must principally rely." (pp. 70). Another quote from the book, Chapter 7: Holy War:

Given the tremendous debate in recent years over whether the Founders believed America was a "Christian Nation," it's worth noting that, at this particular moment, the Continental Congress seemed to view it that way. Most public declarations sipmly assumed a Christian audience and vocabulary. On November 1, 1777, representatives approved a resolution to celebrate December 18 as a time of thanksgiving and call for acts to "please God through merits of Jesus Christ" and to nourish "the means of religion, for the promotion of enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth 'in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy ghost.' " (pp. 71)

There is no doubt our heritage is a Judeo-Christian one. So how did we get from there to where we are today?... I have my suspicions. I think that it has much to do with the growing influence of Darwin in the mid 19th century which blossomed into the Modern Progressive Movement of the early 20th century. Growing from his theories of evolution and survival of the fittest, a number of conclusions have been made. His theory does not only effect science, it effects world view and that effects every aspect of a person's life. I'm not quite ready to post about it yet, but stay tuned, sometime this summer (hopefully) I want to dive into Darwinism: The Political, Philosophical, Religious, and Moral Implications of an Evolutionist Worldview (hehe, that will be the title of the post). Anyway, I have a few more books to read before I'm ready to tackle that issue. For now, understand that while you may not consider the United States a Christian nation today, I assure you, our original intent was to be so.