OurCivicDuty.com: Religion in America

The East Pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court Building features a statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments.

Religion in America

It is difficult to argue that the United States of America is not divinely inspired when considering its early history. So many things had to go just right, so many people had to do just the right thing, and so many ideas had to come together in just the right way; early Americans were justified in seeing this as divine providence. The founders repeatedly expressed their strong religious beliefs in their writings as well as in their actions. Biblical principles are evident in this country's most famous historical documents, and religious figures even appear in the architecture of some government buildings (see picture right). Despite these strong religious roots, the role of religion in America in more recent times is often misunderstood, misinterpreted, and even purposefully misrepresented. Being religious is certainly not any type of requirement for citizenship or even patriotism, but if you truly want to understand this country, you must understand its history. And this understanding of our nation's past requires, at the very least, an acknowledgement of the role that religion, namely Christianity, played in our early beginnings.

"How necessary was the care of the Creator in making the moral principle so much a part of our constitution as that no errors of reasoning or of speculation might lead us astray from its observance in practice."

-Thomas Jefferson, 1814.

A Christian Nation?

As of 2001, approximately 80% of adults in the United States identified themselves as Christian (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic, etc.). But are we a Christian nation? Does religion affect the policies of the United States? Should religion affect policy? The answers to these questions are only apparent after the true principles upon which this country was founded are acknowledged. As these principles are realized, the purpose of government becomes clear, and the proper role of religion within this government is evident.

"Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

- George Washington.

Statistically and historically it can be said that the United States of America is a Christian nation, but it would make no difference what religion this country was if the nation was able to maintain the principles upon which it was founded. Christianity helps the nation to not stray far from these principles, but is absurd to say that these principles could not be maintained without Christianity. It is true that if more citizens were Christian the maintenance of truly American principles would be more easily accomplished, but these principles, because they are just and successful in both theory and in practice, can be acknowledged as such without acknowledging Christianity as one's religion.

Because this country was founded on principle and not religion (the country is not a theocracy), religion should never be required to enter into politics. It does in modern times, however, because government has overstepped its bounds and expanded into areas of our lives where it does not belong. Because of this, it is inevitable that religion must enter into politics because without doing so, there could simply be no freedom of religion. The real solution is not to continue to ensure that religion is preserved by legislating it into the lives of citizens; the solution is to adhere to principles such as that of limited government and the full exercise of each citizen's individual sovereignty.