Do you think early Americans thought themselves to be in a Christian country?

Question

Let's say we were able to conduct a Gallop poll in the abitrary year 1776. Would you say that the majority of Americans would claim these United States to be fundementally christian? Or do you honestly think all Americans at the time blindly followed the religious philosophy of Jefferson? Do you think the Founding fathers could have had any credibility with the masses if they weren't at least making an effort to found the country "Under God"? Do you think this motive has in any way influenced the American system of government?

In short I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of Americans from the get-go thought these United States to be a Christian society. Do you think that it's only been in the past 50 years that certain liberal interests have curbed this basic truth for there own purpose? Might there be a hidden agenda behind their selective view of history?

I'd like to add that I'm not some crazy fudementalist christian that would like to see theocracy replace democracy. I just think its sad how much people distort history for thier own purpose.

Puritans were a denomination of Christianity....

Treaty of Tripoli is just one document in a sea of evidence of Christian influence. Ever consider why the work week is from Monday till Friday? I'll bet you'll find it's because this country's Christian roots.

Answer 1

YES YES YES YES YES

Forget the stupid Treaty of Turin.

I'm amazed at how little you know of your own country. The Pilgrims were actually nonconformists, being persectued by the Church of England, which actually considers itself to be a Catholic church, but not ruled by Rome. It is not, in the true sense of the word, a "protestant" church, like the Lutherians in Germany.

They were a tiny minority anyway. The Spaniards and French were there in much greater numbers, and. of course, America was not a country, but a series of colonies at the time.

Answer 2

I understand what you're saying here, and you do have a good point. However, I disagree with what you're trying to suggest (ie. that we have always been a strongly Christian nation and should stay that way). I personally don't think you can compare Americans then to Americans now.

First of all, I do agree that most "Americans" as of 1776 would have called this a Christian nation. To begin with, almost all of the people living in America at that time were Christian. Christians may still be the majority today, but you'll find oodles of Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists, Agnostics, etc. as well. At that time, you wouldn't have. Therefore, I find it quite incredible that our founding fathers could even imagine a country which wasn't based solely on Christian principles but on moral principles that would govern a stable society. Perhaps they did found our country "under God" in words. In their hearts, they believed in God which, in my opinion, makes it more incredible that they could have written and passed a constitution which supports only two of his ten commandments. Furthermore, it wasn't like any of them even had a sound alternative to the creationism that their religion taught them. The idea of evolution was in its beginning stages but was mostly unknown before Darwin. They were *incredibly* progressive for their time, which people seem to lose sight of in the fact that, yes, they did reference god. How could they not have, at the time? Think about how little they knew about science and the world in general. I'm not saying that any of them would turn their backs on Christianity, but I think it's hard to imagine that, in today's society, they would even consider Christianity itself important in any part of the functioning of the government. They wanted laws that were secular; as I mentioned earlier, they only made two of ten commandments official (murder and stealing). They wanted equal rights for everyone to do as they believed, within reason. At the time, they pretty much meant 'Christians.' Now that there are so many others cultures within America, we have to extend our boundaries to include their rights and freedoms, and I think this is exactly what the founders would have wanted.

(I hope that end made sense ... I had a bit of trouble putting it into words.)

Answer 3

Well, to first answer your question, I think you have to keep in mind that there were very few newspapers outside of the major cities and no mass communication.

I think that many of the original Americans were christian, mainly because most of Europe was christian and that's where we came from. Just as South America has a lot of christians because a lot of their ancestors were Spanish.

The leaders of the early United States did not mandate a national religion, and I believe if you read the early works of Thomas Jefferson he believed in a creator, but did not ascribe to a christian belief personally. He believed in the "clockmaker" God. The universe is here, therefore, someone had to cause it.

I think America has always considered itself to be mostly christian. I don't think early Americans thought of calling them as such because most of them were probably not educated on buddhism, taoism, judaiism and islam.

Only in today's world can we explore the teachings of other religions on the internet.

The most enduring principle that our forefathers took from christianity was the idea of free will. That our destiny is in our own hands, and that human freedom is our most important tenet.

Answer 4

Yes they would have. They were Puritans and left England not because of persecution by the Catholic Church, but from the Church of England. England, especially at this time, was almost completely Church of England and there were very few Roman Catholics.
Coming to America was there way of setting up their own societies that allowed themselves freedom to practice their Puritan religious beliefs.

Religion (Christianity) is one of, if not the main reason for Englishmen coming to America to stay here.

....and yes Puritans are Christians.

Answer 5

First, I feel that many considered this country christian because of the majority, just as today. As for the founding fathers, I feel that through intense prayer (as Washington was known to do), this country's founding would've never happened without asking for the proper reasons through prayer. Prayer is what gave men hope who had none at the time, technically they felt they were fighting a losing battle. And they thanked God because they had achieved true freedom. Again, showing God can make anything possible.

Answer 6

Not from what I've read. In fact they really went out of their way to separate things. Jefferson in particular, says exactly that in several letters. You know the whole "wall of separation between church and state" thing.

And it's the Treaty of Tripoli. Take a second an look it up the next time.

Answer 7

All the States did

Answer 8

People back then, generally were poorly educated so that should give you a hint as to what they'd say... but how they lived probably depended on what they felt was expected of them... just like today. Millions of Christians are only Christians because that is what they feel is expected of them. Same as muslims. To try to look into a largely ignorant past to come up with some kind of consensus as to what we should do or how we should act is just aching to be ignorant itself ... don't you think?
It would be like saying ... our ignorant forefathers thought that the world was flat... we should now therefore think that it is flat.

Answer 9

My studies in history have led me to believe that the early American settlers were Puritans. Three shiploads of religious fundamentalists who were leaving England in search of God's own country. I think that the early settlers were indeed fundamentalists in their beliefs. I mean, the degree of faith that these people must have had to undertake such a huge, life-threatening journey must have been huge. And has it had an effect on the American system of government? Undoubtedly. Look at the money. In whom do we trust?

Answer 10

Yes, we are being turned away from being a God fearing country by the lies of some people.

If you get the chance look for a video from Wall builders called "America's Godly Heritage".