Many people believe that the United States of America is a "Christian nation" founded on Biblical principles. Partly, this is simply the result of constant repetition of this lie by those who wish it were true.
"You know it's an amazing thing -- this is a Christian country, it's founded by Christians, Christmas is one of our great celebrations. It's been a time of joy for our people for many years, and not only us, but now they're picking up Christmas in Japan, picking it up in China. It's something that has blessed the world. And if people don't like America and the traditions that made America great, let them go to Saudi Arabia, let them go to Pakistan. Yeah, they can go to the Sudan and find a wonderful Muslim holiday."--The 700 Club, Dec 23, 04.
"[T]he only purpose of the First Amendment was to allow the acknowledgment of God.... [T]he very purpose of the First Amendment was to allow the acknowledgment of God." "We need to learn that God is the standard, and God was the standard for law in our country, and we need to acknowledge that and then all of these other things would follow." "All of our forefathers knew that the event was in the hand of God, and the Constitution was about the acknowledgement of God." --Roy Moore, suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice.
"This whole nation was founded as one nation under God."--Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), speaking at the "Road To Victory" convention.
There are scores of further examples (these came from the good folks at The Humanist Society of Gainesville,
http://www.gainesvillehumanists.org/index.html), but that gives you an idea of how dearly some people hold onto this utter fallacy. Yet, when we look at the facts, the argument holds no water whatsoever. The United States was founded on humanist principles put forth by philosophers and other thinkers over the two centuries before the Declaration of Independence, including people like Nietzsche, Kant, and especially David Hume and John Locke. The Constitution contains no reference to God (other than the date, ie, "year of our Lord") and its references to religion are the First Amendment and Article VI which states that religion shall not be a test for public office. The supreme authority in American government is the electorate, not God or any representative of God.
Several of the 'founding fathers' were Deists, not Christians. Deists believe(d) in a Creative Force that set the laws of the universe into motion and took no further interest in the affair; a far cry from the common interventions (including sacrificing a son) that characterize Christianity. This belief also coincides with the intention to make people as responsible for their own affairs as possible, not subject to a God-like monarch or theocrat dictating to the nation.
Under George Washington's presidency, the U.S. signed a treaty with Tripoli (an Islamic state) that verified in writing that "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." Either George Washington was lying (which would not make him a very good Christian) or Pat Robertson is wrong.
In the Federalist Papers that many conservatives love to quote there is no mention of God at all and only one mention of religion. The Federalist #69, by Alexander Hamilton states, "The one has no particle of spiritual jurisdiction (speaking of the president); the other is the supreme head and Governor of the national church (speaking of the English king)!" Here he is pointing out one of the most favorable differences between the (at the time) proposed government and the one they had thrown off.
One argument that some people throw out in support of the "Christian nation" theory is that many of our laws and values come from Christianity or the Bible. There are only three of the vaunted Ten Commandments that are currently on our lawbooks:
1. Thou shalt not kill. That can hardly be given as evidence since many cultures with no exposure to Judaism or Christianity have figured out that murder is a bad thing.
2.
Thou shalt not bear false witness (referring to giving false testimony in court). Again, hardly evidence of anything. Our court system does not work correctly when people are willing to lie about evidence. Of course, often it doesn't work anyway, but perjury undermines any chance whatsoever.
3. Thou shalt not steal. This one is pretty self-explanatory as well. Most cultures that recognize personal property have some injuction against stealing it. Correlation is not proof of causation. Any scientist can tell you that. Just because A and C occur together, does not mean one causes the other. Many of the moral values espoused by Christians may also be adopted by moral non-Christians.
Please see The Humanist Society of Gainesville for more myths and counter-proofs.
horrible than I can possibly express in words. And just in case any of us get too smug and happy that "we" are not like that in this country, I am including yet another photo. Yep...an even younger child, dressed in the military uniform of the U.S. Navy and proudly waving his own flag, that of the United States of America. How barbaric are we, as a race, that we militarize our children before they even have any idea what is going on? This second child was photographed for Military Child Week, a 'celebration' of the families and children of military members. Oh, you can say, "This child is just dressed that way to honor his father, who is obviously a sailor." Yes, probably true. And yet, the Palestinian child is probably dressed that way to honor his own father who is probably a member of Hamas, or maybe has even been killed either by way of suicide bombing or by the targeted assassinations Israel has become so fond of in the last few years. Both children are growing up in a strongly military culture, being taught to love and honor those who fight, and being fawned over as looking "soooo cute!" in their military uniforms. This is not even to address the horrific reality of actual child soldiers in conflicts in other countries. I nearly despair of any hope for the human race when we cannot even wait until our children grow up before exposing them to the political, racial, and religious divisions that wreak so much pain, death, and suffering in our world.
