A Christian Nation?
(Again,
don't read this if you can't handle different opinions than your own)
|
Do We Want a Christian Nation? Written by B. L. Jilek, Sep. 23 2003.
Many people believe that the United States was founded on Christianity, and remains a Christian nation today. When we look at “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency “One Nation Under God…” in the pledge of allegiance, and consider the fact that Christianity is the largest organized religion in the United States, it may seem to be a Christian nation. Some think that our forefathers intended to found the nation on Christianity, however, that is not true. Our forefathers tried to keep religion and government separated in order to create a truly free society. They recognized the possible dangers of having a religious government and definitely intended that the United States should not be a Christian nation. According to the American Religious Identity Survey (ARIS) 76.5 percent of Americans said they were Christians in 2001 (Kosmin, Mayer, and Keysar). The fact that the Christian religion holds the majority of Americans in its folds makes many people assume that the nation is a Christian one. Popular thinking on the religious nature of the United States is reflected in this statement from Christiananswers.net: Historically, throughout the world, America has always been considered a Christian nation. Why? Because Christianity was the dominant religion of the land. Christianity shaped the thinking of America's forefathers and informed the making of public policy and law. Christianity was a part of the common law; it was woven throughout the fabric of American life. (Draw the Line) By this reasoning, is it also true that America is a White nation, because Whites also enjoy a majority? Certainly not. Christianity did not shape the thinking of America’s forefathers. In fact, they tried to make sure that it did not shape their thinking, and took deliberate steps to keep religion out of the United States government. What many people do not know is that America had state sponsored churches during the time of the founding of the first thirteen colonies. In 1624, when Virginia became the first English colony, the Anglican Church was established by law. Attendance and monetary contributions were required by law along with the regulation of religious and moral behavior (Church vs. State). This is what Thomas Jefferson worked so hard to stop in the United States and later in Virginia. Jefferson believed that forcing people to practice a religion was wrong. In a draft for a bill to establish religious freedom in Virginia, Jefferson wrote, “…our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry…” (Jefferson, Draft). In the same document he says that to force anyone to support a religious leader is depriving them of liberty, even if they believe in the religion, and called forcing people to financially support opinions that they do not believe in, “…sinful and tyrannical…” (Jefferson, Draft). No one, including Christians, should be forced, by law, to attend church and to pay tithes. No one should to be forced to follow a religion that they do not believe in. Jefferson and the majority of Virginia’s leaders believed that people should have the right to practice any religion they desired, even to the extent of not practicing a religion at all. In the draft for the freedom of religion in Virginia, and also in the Declaration of Independence there are references to “the creator” and “nature’s god” (Jefferson, Declaration, Draft). Not once is there reference to Christianity or any other religion. Moreover there is no reference to a god, the creator, or any religious belief in the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the Articles of Confederation. The majority of our founding fathers were Deists, meaning that they believed in one god, the creator, and were not a member of an organized religion. Further, our founding fathers recognized the potential problems associated with involving the government in religion. Everyone should remember what James Madison said in “A Memorial and Remonstrance”, “Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects?” (Madison). If the government had the power to endorse a religion, which religion or sect would it be? Does anyone want to take that chance? A document that does address the religious nature of the United States is the Treaty of Tripoli. Article 11 states, “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion…” (Treaty). This treaty was signed and presented to congress by President John Adams. This is more than just an omission of religious reference concerning our government, but a specific statement with no room for interpretation, that the United States government is not founded on Christianity. The problems today with issues such as putting the Ten Commandments on Government controlled property, or “In God We Trust” on American currency is that it is a breach of the separation of church and state. Many people do not believe that this is such a breach, and why even be concerned by the Commandments on government property when they are such good rules to live by. The fact that the Commandments are good to live by is irrelevant, because they are based on the Christian religion and posting them on government property suggests that the government is endorsing Christianity. Furthermore, the Ten Commandments are not entirely what people believe them to be. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance has some interesting points on the Ten Commandments:
It makes no sense at all to put the Commandments on display when the exact composition of the rules themselves is subject to question. Furthermore, what would be the effect of implementing the Commandments into our laws? Following these rules to the letter could,very easily, result in a draconian religious state seen in many parts of the world, such as Saudi Arabia. Does it mean that the government is endorsing a religion because there are religious references on government property? Anything that is posted or printed on government property should reflect the stance of the government. Religious references, whatever they may be, will give the impression that the government is endorsing a religion. Christians may not think there is anything wrong with seeing the Ten Commandments, or even that the government may be endorsing Christianity. But why would they when the Commandments are part of their belief system, and something that they agree with. A Hindu or the Buddhist may see things differently. The United States government should not give these people, these Americans, the impression that their government is favoring any religion above all others. This may give them a sense of being an outcast. America’s forefathers were trying to avoid this type of situation, because they wanted freedom for everyone and equality for all, not just for Christians. Including the phrase “under God” in the pledge of allegiance and requiring children to recite the phrase in school may not seem like a bad idea so some, nor does instituting prayer in schools. But when it is considered in terms of those who do not believe in a god, we must ask, what right does a government-controlled public school have to teach our children any kind of religious belief? Because Christianity is the dominant religion of the United States, people tend to forget that it is not the only religion, and further, some do not practice religion at all. Religion is a private matter and should be left to the parents to teach it to their children. If someone wants to raise their children in a religious free environment, they should have that right and not have it dictated by a government-controlled school. Because of the efforts of America’s forefathers, people do have that right. Imagine if one day schools started gathering our children in a sacred Wiccan circle every morning. Because the majority of the public disagrees with Wiccan teachings, the public opinion of religion in schools would drastically change. The argument would shift between those that believe Wicca is evil, and those that believe that Wicca is equally as righteous as Christianity. However, the issue remains the same. Because most Christians do not believe in Wicca, they are afforded the right to not have Wiccan teachings forced upon them or their children. The same holds true for Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Atheists, Deists and everyone else. Perhaps the greatest affronts to individual freedom in the United States are morality laws. These laws force people to abide by morals that they do not necessarily agree with. Laws against homosexual marriage and sexual acts are examples of religious based morality laws, as are laws against buying alcohol on Sundays. There is no reason for these laws except for pushing personal belief and preference on someone else. We only have to look at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to see how far religious based morality laws can go. In Saudi Arabia the legal system is based on Islamic law (United States). All other religions are forbidden to be practiced in public and there are harsh punishments for those who do so (United States). Under the law conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death (United States). Saudi Arabia even goes so far as to discriminate between the Sunni, the government sanctioned branch of Islam, and the Shiite branch (United States). Shiites are not allowed to hold important political positions within the government (United States). Shiite Muslim testimony in the legal courts is often ignored or discounted as having less weight than the testimony of a Sunni Muslim (United States). Women are subject to discrimination under Saudi Arabia Islamic law (United States). Women are forbidden to marry a non-Muslim man but men may marry Christians and Jews as well as Muslims (United States). “If divorced or widowed, a Muslim woman normally may keep her children until they attain a specified age: 7 years for boys, 9 years for girls. Children over these ages are awarded to the former husband or the deceased husband's family.” (United States). These laws are legislating Islamic morality, but there is little room left for freedom. What would make anyone think that a Christian nation would be similar to Saudi Arabia? The same kind of religious intolerance can be found throughout America. One example was a five year old girl that was expelled from school because her mother was a stripper (Daughter). Another was an Eagle Scout who was kicked out of the Boy Scouts of America because he is atheist (King). This young man had devoted more than 1,000 hours of community service in his senior year of high school, and does not believe in drugs or drinking (King). Is this the kind of intolerant thinking that we want our government officials to have? The Christian school and the Scouts had the legal right to take the action that they did because they are private organizations. The United States should, and has, protected these rights. The point that needs to be made is the type of thinking involved. The intolerance involved with these decisions and a want to push moral beliefs onto others should not have a place in our government. The results of a religious based government would be the loss of freedoms. We tread on dangerous ground when we let the government control our lives to this extent. The views of government official’s change, as will society’s views, and when we allow the government control over our lives and moral beliefs, we risk having our lives controlled in ways we never intended to begin with. No matter the general benevolence of a religion, whatever that religion may be, they tend to breed intolerance among their conservative members. In every religion, even among atheists, there tends to be a fanatical few that will stop at nothing to force their belief system on others. What would be the consequences of a religious based nation, if the worst case scenario were examined? We have a few examples to go on throughout the world. Bosnia, a country torn by conflict between Serbian Orthodox Christians and Muslims, is being monitored by a United Nations peace keeping force to maintain the peace (Robinson, Warfare). Peace between Ethnic Christian Orthodox Greeks and Islamic Turks has taken a United Nations force to keep (Robinson, Warfare). East Timor, a Roman Catholic country, was forcibly annexed by the Muslim Indonesian nation, and the Indonesian army exterminated many Christians in a carefully planned religious cleansing (Robinson, Warfare). There is evidence of mass murders in Kosovo by the mainly Christian Yugoslavian government against mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians (Robinson, Warfare). Pakistan suffers from low-level mutual attacks between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims (Robinson, Warfare). There is a centuries old conflict in the Philippines, between the mainly Christian government and Muslims in the southern provinces (Robinson, Warfare). In South Africa, hundreds of people are murdered each year for the possible practicing of witchcraft (Robinson, Warfare). In Uganda, “Christian rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army are conducting a civil war in the north of Uganda. Their goal is a Christian theocracy whose laws are based on the Ten Commandments. They abduct about 2,000 children a year who are enslaved and/or raped.” (Robinson, Warfare). This is not to say that America would necessarily end up embroiled in a situation like this. But would anyone want to take the chance by giving the government control over that aspect of our lives? Keeping the government out of religious affairs is the best defense against this type of thing happening. The United States government was founded on freedom. Freedom to be who we are, believe what we believe, to prosper and be happy. The United States was not founded on forcing beliefs on people. It was not founded on intolerance. It was not founded on Christianity and should never be a Christian Nation. There should be nothing that suggests Americans are free, as long as they are Christian. American was founded on freedom. America is a free nation! Works cited. “Church vs. State: Historical Background” Public Broadcasting Station on Line 07 Sept. 2003 <http://www.pbs.org/williamsburg/church/background.html> “Daughter of stripper kicked out of Christian school.” USA Today on the web. 16 May 2002. 14 Sep. 2003 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/05/16/stripper-daughter-expelled.htm> “Jefferson, Thomas, Draft For A Bill Establishing Religious Freedom.” From Revolution to Reconstruction. 06 Mar. 2003. 07 Sept 2003 <http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/tj3/writings/draft1779.htm> “The Barbary Treaties: Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Signed at Tripoli November 4, 1796.” The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. 14 Sep 2003. 14 Sept 2003 <http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diplomacy/barbary/bar1796t.htm> “Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence” From Revolution to Reconstruction. 07 Sept 2003. 09 Sept 2003 <http://www.constitution.org/usdeclar.htm> “Where should Christians draw the line in trying to make the U.S. a Christian nation?” Christiananswers.net 09 Sept 2003 <http://christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-g006.html> King, Marsha. “Atheist Scout fights decision to boot him.” Seattle Times online. 29 Oct. 2002. 14 Sep 2003. <http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=boyscout29m&date=20021029> Kosmin, Barry A., Egon Mayer, and Dr. Ariela Keysar “American Religious Identification Survey” The Graduate Center: The Doctorate-Granting Institution of the City University of New York 2001. 07 Sept 2003 <http://www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/key_findings.htm> Madison, James “A Memorial and Remonstrance (1785).” University of Kansas 12 Sep 2003 <http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/docs/texts/memorial.html> Mooney, Chris “W.’s Christian Nation” The American Prospect Online 01 Jun 2003. 07 Sept 2003 <http://www.prospect.org/print/V14/6/mooney-c.html> Robinson, B. A “The Ten Commandments, Many Topics and Viewpoints.” Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 9 Dec. 2001. 14 Sep 2003 <http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_10co.htm> Robinson, B. A. “Religiously-Based Civil Unrest and Warfare.” Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 23 Sep. 2002. 14 Sep. 2003 < http://www.religioustolerance.org/curr_war.htm> United States. Dept. of State. Bur. Of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. InternationalReligious Freedom Report. 7 Oct. 2002. 18 Sep 2003 <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2002/14012.htm> |