We Are A Christian Nation

One of the cornerstones of our country has been its Judeo-Christian foundation. While we do not, and should not, have a theocracy in this country, we must not forget where our values and heritage originated. The other day President Barack Obama was talking about the United States. The following excerpt was taken from the Huffington Post:

"At a press conference in Turkey, President Obama casually rebuked the old chestnut that the United States is a Judeo-Christian nation."One of the great strengths of the United States," the President said, "is ... we have a very large Christian population -- we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.""

Where does the President get his information? It certainly isn’t from the history of our nation. I wonder if he was from Israel if he would say that country was not a Jewish nation? Perhaps, if he was from Saudi Arabia, or any one of many Middle Eastern countries, would he say that the country was not a Muslim nation? While our nation is not a Christian nation in the sense that to be a citizen doesn’t require one be a Christian, the "ideals and set of values" that bond this country originated from a Judeo-Christian beginning. "When the foundations are being destroyed what can the righteous do (Psalm 11:3)?" Are not we always told that if you don’t know where you have come from you don’t know where you are going? President Obama is guilty of not knowing the past of this country. And I am afraid of what direction he appears to be taking it. A brief look at the sayings of the Founding Fathers will quickly diminish any idea that this country is anything other than a Christian nation.

"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God." John Adams - Second President of the United States and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

"In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity." John Quincy Adams - Sixth President of the United States.

"I conceive we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the world . . . that the confusions that are and have been among the nations may be overruled by the promoting and speedily bringing in the holy and happy period when the kingdoms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and the people willingly bow to the scepter of Him who is the Prince of Peace." Samuel Adams - Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and His religion as He left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see." Benjamin Franklin - Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

"The practice of morality being necessary for the well being of society, He [God] has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligation of the moral principles of Jesus and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in His discourses." Thomas Jefferson - Third President of the United States, Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

"The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger. The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country." George Washington - First President of the United States, President of the Constitutional Convention

This is just a partial list of the feelings and thoughts of some of the Founding Fathers. I don’t have the exact numbers, but I understand the at the founding of this country 98% of its citizens identified themselves as Christian. The other 2% were Jewish. Granted, there were no doubt different religions, practices and beliefs within those Christians, but they all had the Bible as a common denominator. The miracle of the United States is that we have all been able to live together in relative harmony despite all our various backgrounds and beliefs. People of all faiths are welcomed here and encouraged to worship as they please. But, we must never forget that the foundations that have made this country what it is come directly from God’s Word and the men and women who used it as a moral and spiritual guide to building this country.

If we forget or deny our foundations how will we know that which made us a great nation and has preserved us for over 230 years? This country was founded because men and women fled religious tyranny in order to worship the Lord as they pleased. Our Christian foundations saw us through the Revolutionary War. Our Christian foundations helped us overcome the evil of slavery and its bitter fruit of segregation and separation. It helped us through the Great Depression. It saw us through World War II. It helped us come together and heal after 9/11. Our Christian heritage is the United States. While other countries and people groups may not share our faith in the Lord, they definitely recognize what reliance on Him produces; the United States. It does not behoove us to start acting as though we aren’t a Christian nation, in order to appeal to the to the rest of the world, when it could lead to our demise. Who we are as a country is traced directly back to our Christian heritage. Who we become in the future is directly related to us acknowledging and preserving that same Christian heritage. It would behoove President Obama to remember this truth.