Has America Ever Been a Christian Nation

America was originally settled by the Puritans. Puritans were separatists who wanted to separate from the British government and other Christian groups. They wanted a state ruled by their elders who ruled by their interpretation of the Bible. Eventually Roger Williams would transport disenfranchised colonists to Rhode Island. Eventually more secular colonies, Catholic colonies, would emerge. All the colonies eventually came under British rule.

The founding fathers respected the Bible and did attend church. Many of them probably were born again. But the leaders probably were not. Thomas Jefferson was a deist who took out all the parts of the Bible he did not like. He downplayed Jesus' deity and once said that Jesus would not even agree with all the stuff said about him. George Washington attended Church but refused to take communion. The founders were heavily influenced by by humanistic authors of the day, such as Voltaire. They respected religion but wanted a secular state. Many have misunderstood the Declaration of Independence. Because it says that freedom is a right from the creator, many assume it is a Christian document.

That motto has become a key part of the Christian American myth. A key belief is that God wants America to be the best nation on earth. This was the dominant belief during the Manifest Destiny, the Spanish American War and the modern Conservative movement. The US has always been made up of church-going people, infused with American mysticism. Since World War II the US has been seen s God's representative in the world. In the 1960s, the hippies rebelled against everything American, including this Christian American myth. Christians tried to reclaim that in the 1980s. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell continue to fuse Christianity and the American myth. They turned it into a movement. Unfortunately the churches have embraced it. Since the 1980s, we've had a massive clash between the Christian American myth and liberal. This is unbiblical Christianity. We have never been a Christian nation. We must separate ourselves fro this movement which is not godly. God will never bless the American church until we do.