Is the United States a Christian Nation?
On July 4, 1776, John Hancock and fifty-five other patriots signed their names to the Declaration of Independence.
This was not just a political action. These fifty-six men were identifying themselves as rebels against the Crown of England; they were putting their lives on the line, and many of them had much to lose. They were not a batch of malcontents or impetuous ruffians seeking to defy authority. They were men of prestige and in most cases wealth. They knew that if their quest for independence was thwarted by the British, they had just made themselves reservations for the gallows.
Why would these men of substance take such a great risk? They knew that the British military was the most powerful in the world and that the odds of success were against them, but still they signed the document. They signed not just because their hearts desired liberty, but also because they thought it was the will of Almighty God. The last sentence in the Declaration of Independence reads, “And for the support of this Declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” This spiritual factor played a significant role in their desire to sign their names for independence. The words “with firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence” clearly reveal that these men believed that God was on their side and would be a source for their well-being and ultimate success. The words “sacred Honor” tell us that the bond they were making to the cause and to each other was solemn. This means they saw it as an action promised before God. It fits with the earlier proclamation in the document that rights are given by God that no man and no government can take away.
These audacious men did what in retrospect seems suicidal. They took their muskets off their mantels, weapons better suited for hunting varmints than going into battle, and they left their jobs as teachers, merchants, and even ministers to form a ragtag, volunteer army with the ambitious goal to unshackle themselves from tyranny by taking on the largest, the best-trained, the best-equipped, and for that matter, the best-DRESSED army in the world at that time!
The Hand of Providence
The fifty-six men did not see the spiritual aspect of their great endeavor as something to be slighted but were satisfied to give it prominence. They would trust in the hand of Providence to bless their efforts to wage war against the Redcoats; history gives account that this trust was well placed and did not disappoint. George Washington’s words reveal this:
I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.
Washington fully believed that the help of God was a main factor in winning the Revolutionary War. He held a concern that the people might one day forget this divine assistance. In his “First Inaugural Address” Washington voiced his belief that God’s intervention and aid were essential in the creation of the new independent nation:
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.
Events throughout the course of the Revolutionary War reveal the invisible hand of God intervening on behalf of the American cause. In early March of 1776, General Howe, who commanded the British troops, planned to attack in Boston at night and had his troops at the ready, but he never led his men into battle, because an unstoppable force prevented him. That force was the weather. The previous day had been a pleasant spring day with warm temperatures. But at nightfall a raging storm suddenly struck with a mixture of hail, snow, and sleet and winds close to hurricane strength. Damage was sustained as fences were blown down and windows were shattered. One American lieutenant said it was the worst storm he’d ever experienced. The next morning, the strong wind continued as snow and sleet turned to a driving rain, making it impossible to fight. The British soldiers couldn’t gain traction to ascend Dorchester Heights. They finally evacuated Boston without engaging the Continental army. If good weather had continued, Washington’s army would have likely sustained heavy losses, which might have doomed the success of the revolution.
Some skeptics chalk up the rebel army’s good fortune to simple luck. However, the Philistines in 1 Samuel 7:10–11 might have a different take.
The weather came to the aid of Washington and his men once again on August 29, 1776. They were trapped in Brooklyn and needed to escape the area or be routed by the British. They were outnumbered, poorly equipped, and low on supplies. To make matters worse, a cold rain was falling, making an escape from the enemy a difficult task. Then something happened that actually made the bad weather a blessing. The rain created conditions that produced a heavy fog so thick one could hardly see a man six feet away. Strangely, not all of New York had the fog cover. It was only in the area where the Brits needed to see what Washington was doing. The fog gave Washington the opportunity to get his nine thousand men over to Manhattan to fight another day.
One of the military battles that raised the morale of the American patriots and gave them confidence for future success was Washington’s attack on the Hessians at Trenton. Weather played a role in that victory as well. In the middle of the night on Christmas Eve in 1776 Washington crossed the Delaware River when the Hessians were well into their Christmas celebration and had no fear of attack. They chose to hold mugs of ale instead of muskets, believing the snow and sleet would prevent an army from venturing an offense. Washington used the bad weather as cover to conceal a highly successful attack.
God’s hand was evident in other ways than just the weather; He also touched the hearts of different people groups to ally with the Americans and their cause. One of these groups was the Oneida Nation. This Native American New York tribe played a very significant role in our nation’s fight for independence. They served as warriors and scouts to help the Continentals fight against the British. It was a major sacrifice for them to do so, because it required them to break from their alliance with the six nations that were composed of the Oneidas, the Senecas, the Mohawks, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Tuscaroras. They were also referred to as the Iroquois Confederacy.
The Oneidas were the first sovereign nation to recognize the United States as a new nation. They endured staggering losses in their commitment to fight with the Americans, but they made a very significant contribution. They were involved in the Battle of Saratoga, deemed the turning point of the war by many historians because this American victory persuaded the French to ally with the rebelling colonists, believing the revolution had a good chance to succeed.
An Indian tribe aligned with the Americans: where is the hand of God in this? you may ask. The Oneidas had something in common with the Americans seeking their freedom: faith in God. They had received the Christian faith from a missionary by the name of Rev. Samuel Kirkland, who is credited with being the key factor in the Oneidas siding with America. He came to work with the Oneidas in 1766 and spent the remainder of his life with them. He became their Christian spiritual leader as well as their advisor and mediator of disputes. He arranged for their schooling and for them to learn carpentering and the use of agricultural tools. Kirkland’s missionary work was connected to a commission located in Boston where the patriot fires of freedom burned brightly. The British tried to persuade the Six Nations to ally with them by portraying the rebelling Americans as evil. The Oneidas could not accept this since they had received so much good from Kirkland and those associated with him. The Oneidas revealed that they valued their loyalty to the Christian faith as more important than their loyalty to the Iroquois Confederacy. They chose to fight with the Americans. It could be argued that there might not be a United States of America nation if it were not for the Oneida Nation.
The French also came to the aid of the Americans. They played a key role in the final battle of the war at Yorktown, Virginia. British General Cornwallis decided to stay and face Washington there, hoping that reinforcements from General Clinton would arrive. If he set sail for New York, the French navy would likely intercept him. He left his fort and sought to cross the York River. This decision doomed his chances for victory as the Americans took the fort and he was prevented from crossing the river by a fierce storm. The French ships blocked any chance for reinforcements, so surrender became the only option for the British. Again the weather played to the advantage of the Americans and the French. And once again Providence aided Washington’s soldiers in this final battle.
Christianity in the Schools
After the war was won, the next step was to establish a government. Delegates from the states met in Philadelphia for a convention to address this task. The convention ran from May 25 to September 17 in 1787. The Constitution became law when New Hampshire ratified it on June 21, 1788, making it the principal document to guide the formation and operation of the government of the United States of America. One could argue that this was the real birthday of the nation, but fireworks still fill the sky on the fourth of July.
The founders did not feel that Providence ceased to be of help when the war ended. There were challenges and struggles in forming a new government, and they saw God’s hand during this time. Talk show host Michael Medved documents this fact:
The leaders who directed the military victories of the War for Independence viewed heavenly intervention as the key element in their success. But the political turmoil that inevitably followed their battlefield struggles produced benevolent results that contemporaries hailed as equally dependent on providential assistance.
The third part of this book will focus on the Constitution, which was drafted at this convention in Philadelphia in 1787, and so the workings of Providence during this time will be studied in more detail in those chapters.
A few months after the Constitution was ratified, George Washington was sworn in as the first president, and the history of this new nation began in earnest. The evidence that this early history gives of the Christian faith being revered and influential on life and culture is profound. There is no better place to start than with the Bible.
During the war, Congress printed the Bible in America, since it was difficult or almost impossible to import copies. In 1782 the Continental Congress approved what is known as the Aitken Bible, so named for Robert Aitken, publisher of the Pennsylvania Magazine, who requested the Bible be printed and used in schools. So the first English Bible printed in America became a reality. The front of the Bible contains the following statement: “Whereupon, Resolved, That the United States in Congress assembled . . . recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States.”
This action by Congress was done prior to the adoption of the Constitution, but it is important to point out that it was not rescinded when the Constitution was the law of the land. It still was welcomed and used in the schools. The public schools in the early history of the nation provide strong evidence that Christianity was gladly embraced and regarded as useful in instructing moral values. In July of 1787, before the new Constitution was signed, Congress passed the Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, northwest of the Ohio River, which became known as the Northwest Ordinance. The purpose was to resolve controversies related to western expansion and make preparation for new states. Ohio became the first state from the Northwest Territory to be admitted, followed by Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The ordinance contains a notable statement regarding education: “Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
Schools were to be a high priority in the territory and for the states that emerged from it. Congress clearly desired religion and morality to be part of the education that these schools would provide. The Northwest Ordinance remained in place after the Constitution was adopted. The Supreme Court ruled it to be constitutional in a case called Strader v. Graham in 1851. No challenge to religion and morality being taught in the public school systems was ever raised in the initial years after the Constitution was ratified and on through the 1800s. The words of the Founding Fathers leave no doubt that Christianity was a welcome influence in the education of the nation’s children:
The Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life. . . . [It] should be read in our schools in preference to all other books from its containing the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public temporal happiness. Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration
Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots unite their endeavors to renovate the age, by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their boys and girls, of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity . . . in short of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system. Samuel Adams, Signer of the Declaration
In my view, the Christian Religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed . . . no truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian Religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.
Noah Webster, called the “Father of American Scholarship and Education,” author of A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language
Reverence for the Bible and its use in schools was embraced by the founders, and Christianity was highly esteemed as an essential element in children’s education. The New England Primer, which was widely used in colonial times, continued to be used as a textbook in schools when the colonies became an independent nation. By 1839 there were 450 adaptations completed by a number of publishers. The alphabet still used lessons tied to Bible stories and topics. Its Christian message was clearly evident in its pages, making it a textbook that was supportive of the Christian faith.
This is significant because it stands in stark contrast to today’s prevailing thinking that public education should be devoid of religion and that such policy was the original intent of the founders. If this were true and the founders wanted no religion taught, it would mean some forty years after the adoption of the Constitution, schools were in violation of the founders’ desire to have the classroom totally secular. It would also mean that the founders allowed schools to be in violation by teaching religion, which was unlawful now that the Constitution was in play. The only logical explanation is that the founders did not want Christianity and its moral teachings to be expelled from the classroom. The continued practice of teaching Christianity in schools after the colonies became a nation happened because such was in line with the original intent of the founders, and those who would suggest otherwise are promoting a myth.
Christian Conscience Fills the Nation
The strength of Christianity in early America can be seen in the observation of a man named Alexis de Tocqueville, who came from France in 1831 to observe how this new nation was faring under its republican form of democracy. He published his findings in his two volume work entitled Democracy in America. This French historian and social philosopher was immediately impacted by the influence religion had on American citizens:
Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.
Tocqueville was surprised to see how religion and liberty were seen as inseparable companions. He continued to expound on this topic in his book:
Religion in America . . . must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it. Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief. I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion—for who can search the human heart?—But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.
The power and reach of Christianity in America is documented by Tocqueville:
There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.
For this French historian, Christianity was the defining factor of the nation’s character and identity. He believed it to be the most important element in the nation’s success and that it would determine its future status:
I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors . . . ; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.
This foreign, independent observer looked at America in search of the determinants that were making it a great nation. He reported that he did not find its greatness in its fertile soil, its natural resources, its educational system, or its political format, including its Constitution. It was in its Christian faith that was proclaimed in its churches. In the words of Tocqueville, America was a good nation because of its faith, and if this goodness based on faith was ever ignored or neglected it would cease to be a great nation. This Frenchman gives a valuable insight into what America was like in its first fifty years of existence. It is a shame that most Americans are ignorant of this account of the early years of our country.
Tocqueville’s tour of America took place during the waning years of the Second Great Awakening in America. Like the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening had a profound effect on the nation. It featured two preachers and two denominations. The ministers were Lyman Beecher and Charles Finney, and the two denominations were the Methodists and the Baptists.
Two Preachers Changing the Nation
Lyman Beecher, the son of a blacksmith, became one of the most powerful voices for the Christian message during the time of the Second Great Awakening. This Yale alumnus pastored churches and held revivals where the combination of his physical vigor, sense of humor, and passionate conviction effectively moved the hearts of his listeners. After serving as a pastor in Connecticut and on Long Island, he pastored a church in Boston for six years then moved west to continue his ministry in Cincinnati. Beecher was concerned not only about the souls of people but also about the social ills of the day. He founded reform movements and the organizations required to oversee them. He was zealous in his opposition to alcohol and very active in the temperance cause. He pressed the Christian message during the time of the Second Great Awakening, which was important in curbing the advancement of Unitarianism, which was regarded as a heresy since it denied the existence of the Trinity and believed in the natural goodness of man.
Beecher’s ministry would include serving as president of Lane Seminary in Ohio. He had thirteen children, two of whom became well known. His son Henry Ward Beecher became the successful pastor of a prominent church in Brooklyn, and his daughter Harriet Beecher Stowe was the famed novelist who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which helped to fuel the Abolitionist movement against slavery. (Christianity would play a vital role in the Abolitionist movement leading up to and during the Civil War.)
The second ministerial personality to make a major mark on the Second Great Awakening was Charles Finney. As a young man he had his sights set on a career in law, but at the age of twenty-nine he was born again in the small town of Adams, New York. When he returned to the law firm, he told a potential client, “Deacon Barney, I have a retainer from the Lord Jesus to plead his cause, and cannot plead yours.”
Even though Finney held pastorates, his fame was tied to his role as a traveling evangelist. When he went to a town to preach, he did not always receive the warmest welcome from the local clergy. His preaching called for people to make a personal decision for Christ and not just passively wait for the grace of God to secure their salvation. This was a bit of a challenge to the popular Reform theology advocated by those who were strong Calvinists. Finney also allowed women to have an active role in planning his meetings and sometimes allowed them to speak and pray in public. This was innovative and not approved by all clergy, but it did give some momentum to the suffrage movement. The Broadway Tabernacle in New York City was built to house Finney’s preaching, and it seated over three thousand people. Finney later became a professor of theology at Oberlin College in Ohio and went on to become its president. He also was the main preacher at the First Church in Oberlin, the largest building west of the Appalachians, for a number of years.
Beecher and Finney were to the Second Great Awakening what Edwards and Whitefield were to the First Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening was characterized by revival services that would last for weeks. The camp meeting became a popular method for evangelistic services. People would come and camp at a location for a week or more, as preachers voiced the need for salvation and the horrors of eternal damnation. These camp meetings attracted a large number of people. It has been reported that one topped twenty thousand people. This method is still in use by some evangelical denominations today. The major result of this time of spiritual focus was the growth of churches as thousands of new Christians became active church members. In the early 1800s, the western part of New York was called the “burned-over district” because of the many revivals held in the region. The “burned over” reference was gleaned from the hellfire and brimstone preaching that was common in the revival sermons. There was a western expansion taking place in the country and the revival fires tracked to the frontier. Kentucky, Tennessee, and other parts west of the Appalachian Mountains felt the impact of this national spiritual awakening. Two denominations in particular benefited from this spiritual surge: the Methodists and the Baptists. The Methodists had a very organized means of outreach to the frontier. They sent out itinerant preachers called circuit riders who planted and ministered in new churches.
The Second Great Awaking not only changed the hearts and lives of thousands of people, but it also had an impact on the character and culture of the nation. It solidified the national moral conscience of the country. Christians became leaders in reform movements, which were known as antebellum reforms that focused on the use of alcohol, women’s rights, and the abolition of slavery. As people gained confidence in being involved in changing their lives through spiritual renewal, they applied that same boldness to participation in politics. They made moral issues items of concern to the workings of government. Enthusiastic Christians in local churches felt they could be the catalysts for change in law and the creation of institutions that would oversee change. They dared to be active change agents as temperance activists, antislavery advocates, and proponents of other variations of reform that would take their beliefs and effect political policy.
The Evangelicals became a political factor in the wake of the Second Great Awakening, and they still are regarded as such today even if their impact has diminished. The Second Great Awakening brought about three significant changes:
• It pushed the idea of individual salvation and free will over predestination.
• It greatly increased the number of Christians both in New England and on the frontier.
• Revivals and public conversions became social events that continue to this day.
The First Great Awaking was a positive factor in the successful fight for freedom as a new nation, and the Second Great Awakening was a key element in gaining the freedom of those trapped in slavery. The one atrocity that marred the founding and rise of the United States of America was slavery. It was a practice that was totally averse to the principle of freedom that was laid out in our founding documents. Many of the founders, including Benjamin Franklin, were abolitionists who knew that no victory would be won over Britain if the northern and southern colonies were not united. The newfound fervor of Christianity rekindled by the Second Great Awakening gave boldness to abolitionists and their movements.
Hudson, Ohio, a town not far from Cleveland, became one of the major centers for the abolition cause. Today the town still proudly displays brochures that provide information on the town’s involvement in ending slavery. It was a town that enthusiastically served as a stop on the Underground Railroad as it helped runaway slaves escape to Canada. One of its leading residents who voiced opposition to slavery was Owen Brown, a wealthy cattle breeder and land speculator. He was closely connected to the Free Congregational Church where he regularly spoke against slavery. Owen Brown’s burning desire to end slavery reached one member of the Hudson community who would make a noted mark in the history of ending slavery in America. That one person was his own son, John Brown. He was the famous John Brown who would lead the ill-fated raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, that would heighten the tension that finally broke out into the Civil War. John Brown had heard many sermons on the evils of slavery. He finally decided to take action. He gathered twenty-one followers to compose his raiding party, and on October 16, 1859, they attacked the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown expected nearby slaves would join the fight on his side, assuring victory. That never happened and many of his men, including his sons, died in the fight. The man who led the forces that put down the skirmish was a colonel by the name of Robert E. Lee, who would later lead the Confederate Army. Brown was captured and hanged on December 2, 1859.38 His actions were radical and violent, but some believed he hastened the start of the Civil War that eventually brought an end to slavery.
Not only did the churches support the abolitionist movement, but the famed evangelists of the Second Great Awakening fanned antislavery flames in their meetings. Finney proclaimed in his sermons that slavery was a moral sin, and wanted to see it terminated. He once said, “I had made up my mind on the question of slavery, and was exceedingly anxious to arouse public attention to the subject. In my prayers and preaching, I so often alluded to slavery, and denounced it.”
Lyman Beecher also took a strong stance against slavery and preached about its evils. As previously mentioned, his daughter Harriett Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. When Harriet lived in Cincinnati, she met slaves trying to escape through the Underground Railroad. She wrote a series of short stories that revealed the horrors experienced by plantation slaves. At her sister-in-law’s encouragement, she put the stories into a novel, which was published as a book in 1852. The book later became a play. The story of Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a profound effect on people. It sold over 300,000 copies and persuaded many previously indifferent people in the North to support abolition efforts. The book sold even more copies in Great Britain and moved the populace to stand against slavery, such that Parliament, who would have welcomed a divided America, saw it as bad politics to support the Confederacy. When President Lincoln met Mrs. Stowe, he said, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.”
Other Impacts of the Second Great Awakening
The Quakers were active in the Abolitionist movement. Roman Catholic priests encouraged their people to denounce slavery. Christian abolitionists in the North saw slavery not only as a social ill and scourge upon the nation, but also as a moral sin. Just as the British despised the “Black Robed Regiment” that proclaimed the virtues of liberty from their pulpits in the Revolutionary War, so the slaves of the South had this same regiment serving in their favor leading up to the Civil War.
The Second Awakening is also tied to the rise of the crusade for women’s rights in America. Marjorie J. Spruill, professor of history at the University of South Carolina, writes, “Many women were inspired to become reformers, but were ridiculed for speaking out in public, and then started working for women’s rights along with promoting temperance or opposing slavery.” The struggle for women’s suffrage would be a long road, but the confidence to win that fight was forged in the revival meetings of the Second Great Awakening. It can be said that the Second Great Awakening was a booster shot for the American national moral conscience that helped to shape the country’s culture, at least until a challenge was launched against it in the 1960s.
Christianity played a key role in the Civil War. Both sides claimed that Providence was on their side, but something remarkable took place among the soldiers who wore the blue uniforms of the North. They experienced a spiritual impact from a song. Julia Ward Howe wrote a poem that was put to the music of an existing song that became known as “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She wrote the lyrics after visiting an army camp of Union soldiers near Washington, DC. The Atlantic Monthly paid her five dollars for it in 1862 and published it. “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was the name given to the poem by James T. Field of the periodical. The song was taught to the Union troops in many places by the chaplain of the 122nd Ohio Regiment. It has been reported that President Lincoln wept when he heard it.
The fifth verse carries a profound message:
In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the Sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on.
The words “as He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free” are very sobering and carry the real purpose of the song. Every soldier that sang this song around a campfire had seen death on the battlefield and lived with the reality that he could meet the same fate. When they sang those words, they were saying that since Jesus died to make men holy through His atonement for sin on the cross, they would follow His example and be willing to die so those held in slavery could be free. They were willing to die for the freedom of people they never met and who were of a different race. This sacrifice needs to be commemorated by both whites and blacks in America. These soldiers saw their fight and possible death as a spiritual duty. The song has endured through the years as a Christian and patriotic song. It even appears in many church hymnals today.
A Christian Nation
The question is often raised, “Is the United States a Christian nation?” There are those who would line up to debate it, but for the founders and many of their descendants it was not a matter for debate. They accepted and even proclaimed that it is indeed a Christian nation. John Jay, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court and one of the authors of the Federalists Papers, wrote, “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” John Jay saw no conflict in stating that America is a Christian nation. Would any Supreme Court justice today dare make such a claim? He wrote these words in 1816 to John Murry, some twenty-eight years after the Constitution was ratified. The Honorable Mr. Jay must not have been schooled on the separation of church and state concept that the liberal Left believes is embedded in the Constitution. A Supreme Court justice stating such things today would be subject to an impeachment!
Another Supreme Court justice saw America as a Christian nation. Joseph Story was appointed to the bench by President Madison in 1811 and served on the high court for thirty-four years. He wrote the prevailing opinion on a case in 1844 known as Vidal v. Girard’s Executors that concerned a dispute over the $2 million that a man named Stephen Girard wished to be used to build a college bearing his name in Philadelphia. He willed the money to the city for that purpose but included a stipulation that no clergy were to visit or hold any post in the college. Girard’s relatives tried to have the bequest ruled illegal because the restriction was averse to Christianity. Joseph voiced the beliefs of all the justices in the unanimous decision that allowed the bequest to go forward because it was believed that laymen could convey Christian teachings in the school. Joseph’s opinion included the following words:
Christianity . . . is not to be maliciously and openly reviled and blasphemed against, to the annoyance of believers or the injury of the public. . . . It is unnecessary for us, however, to consider the establishment of a school or college, for the propagation of . . . Deism, or any other form of infidelity. Such a case is not to be presumed to exist in a Christian country. . . . Why may not laymen instruct in the general principles of Christianity as well as ecclesiastics . . . And we cannot overlook the blessings, which such [lay]men by their conduct, as well as their instructions, may, nay must, impart to their youthful pupils. Why may not the Bible, and especially the New Testament, without note or comment, be read and taught as a Divine Revelation in the [school]—its general precepts expounded, its evidences explained and its glorious principles of morality inculcated?
In a Supreme Court case Justice Story actually designates America as a “Christian country.” He went on to emphasize the importance of teaching Christianity to young people. It is not insignificant that the decision made by the court was unanimous. There was not one justice who disagreed with the claim that America was a Christian nation.
Forty-eight years later another Supreme Court decision echoed the sentiments of Joseph Story. The case was Holy Trinity v. United States, ruled on in 1892. A New York City church wanted to hire a minister from England but it was opposed by the government, which claimed that to do so would violate the then existing law that prohibited the hiring of foreigners. The court ruled in favor of the church unanimously and had Justice David Brewer write the opinion, which included the following words:
Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind. It’s impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian. . . . This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation. . . . We find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth. . . . These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.
Again, a Supreme Court justice declared America a Christian nation. A few years later Brewer provided more insight on his thinking on this concept, which reaffirmed his position. In 1905 he authored The United States: A Christian Nation in which he explained further:
But in what sense can it be called a Christian nation? Not in the sense that Christianity is the established religion or that people are in any matter compelled to support it. On the contrary, the Constitution specifically provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Neither is it Christian in the sense that all of its citizens are either in fact or name Christian. On the contrary, all religions have free scope within our borders. Numbers of our people profess other religions, and many reject all. Nor is it Christian in the sense that a profession of Christianity is a condition of holding office or otherwise engaging in public service, or essential to recognition either politically or socially. In fact, the government as a legal organization is independent of all religions. Nevertheless, we constantly speak of this republic as a Christian Nation—in fact, as the leading Christian Nation of the world. This popular use of the term certainly has significance. It is not a mere creation of the imagination. It is not a term of derision but has substantial basis—one which justifies its use.
Brewer proclaimed America as “the leading Christian nation of the world.” When he stated, in the opinion, that the country was a Christian nation, the other eight justices stood in unity with him. Years later a president referred to this case and Brewer’s words to support the concept that America is a Christian nation. President Harry Truman wrote in a letter to the Pope in 1947: “This is a Christian Nation. More than a half century ago that declaration was written into the decrees of the highest court in this land [in an 1892 decision].” A Democratic president told the Pope that America is indeed a Christian nation and referred to the Holy Trinity v. United States case. Why was there no outcry from those advocating separation of church and state against President Truman’s words to the Pope?
In the Words of the Founders
The foundation for the concept that America was and is a Christian nation can be found in the words of some of the leading Founding Fathers. The following roll call of founders confirms this:
The general Principles, on which the Fathers Achieved Independence, were the only Principles in which, that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their Address, or by me in my Answer. And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all those Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty, in which all those young Men United, and which had United all Parties in America, in Majorities Sufficient to assert and maintain her Independence. John Adams
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.
George Washington
[Governments] could not give the rights essential to happiness. . . . We claim them from a higher source: from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth. John Dickinson, signer of the Constitution
I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am as satisfied that it is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament.
Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence
He is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down on profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy to his country.
John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence
Many others could join this list, but enough is conveyed in the words of these five patriots to provide evidence that America was founded as a Christian nation and that such was essential to its future success.
