AMERICA IS A CHRISTIAN NATION
The president was wrong.
In Indonesia, in front of a Muslim audience, he stood up and said that the United States is not a Christian nation.
He is wrong.
No, Christianity is not the religion of the government, but it is the religion of the people. It is an innate and formative trait that permeates every ounce of American history, heritage, culture and character.
It is the defining nature of the United States and without Christianity there would be no America and certainly no American freedom. Politicians and professors may claim otherwise, but they are wrong.
Ironically, American society is so twisted by the dishonesty of political correctness that few will acknowledge the nation’s congenital Christianity. Most will deny it, many will mock it.
Mindless parroting of the phrase “separation of church and state” leaves people of small mind and limited understanding confident of the nation’s pantheism. The prohibition of establishing a state religion is so misunderstood and mistaught that what was intended initially as a limitation of state authority has become a limitation of personal faith.
And so it is that a nation created by worshippers of the Christian God hears its present and past denied by a president on foreign soil.
So let’s set the record straight.
More than three-quarters of Americans self-identify as believers in Jesus Christ.
Specifically, 76 percent.
What’s the second-most-common religion? Judaism at 1.7 percent.
Third place? Islam at 0.6 percent.
To see equivalence of impact or social relevance in those numbers is preposterous.
Does that means Jews or Muslims are second-class citizens? Absolutely not. Should one religion or another be limited in its practice? Absolutely not. In America we live and let live, and those numbers don’t trump that.
But they do make one point crystal clear.
America is a Christian nation.
Answer this question: What is the world’s largest Muslim nation?
The answer is: Indonesia.
And yet in 1990 the percentage of Muslims in Indonesia was statistically the same as the percentage of Christians in America. So if we are allowed to conclude that Indonesia is a Muslim nation, why are we not allowed to conclude that America is a Christian nation?
Because of the double standard of political correctness.
America is a Christian nation.
And every significant aspect of its national culture is colored by Christianity.
And every accomplishment of its history is tied to Christian faith, heritage or ethic. From the legal system to the workweek to the priorities of its people.
American culture has been Christian culture. At least it has been traditionally. And where it has strayed in recent years, it has been a social de-evolution, a decay of morality, principle and virtue that has led to weaker people and a less-successful society.
Sociologically, the virtues of Christian culture have blessed the people and nations who have followed them. Spiritually, the virtues of Christian culture have led to God’s blessings upon those who have lived them.
And we need those blessings today. In fact, our nation’s problems – from lawlessness to financial weakness – are the consequence of not living our Christian heritage or our Christian faith. Conversely, the solution to our problems – all of them – is to return to our values and our faith.
We are a Christian nation.
And while the president is free to pick his own religion, he doesn’t get to pick the nation’s.
We do that ourselves.
And the vast majority of us – all across the sweep of American history – are Christian. And while the nation we have built embraces all people and all faiths, it is fundamentally a reflection of Christianity.
- by Bob Lonsberry © 2009
