If America was meant to be a christian nation...?

Question

Why do we have the first amendment?
I belive America is supposed to be a melting pot of all religions whether it is christian, muslim, buddhist, satanic, or atheist.Just the way it is right now.

Just because most of them were christian dosent mean it's supposed to be christian. If it was supposed to be entirely christian, they would haved made it into a law.

Answer 1

Well said .... and here's some more on the subject that you might like:

The men responsible for building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Deists who did not believe the bible was true.
When the Founders wrote the nation's Constitution, they specified that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3) This provision was radical in its day-- giving equal citizenship to believers and non-believers alike. They wanted to ensure that no single religion could make the claim of being the official, national religion, such as England had. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention religion, except in exclusionary terms. The words "Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, and God" are never mentioned in the Constitution-- not once.

The 1796 treaty with Tripoli states that the United States was "in no sense founded on the Christian religion". This was not an idle statement, meant to satisfy muslims-- they believed it and meant it. This treaty was written under the presidency of George Washington and signed under the presidency of John Adams.

If the Christian Right Extremists wish to return this country to its beginnings, so be it... because it was a climate of Freethought. The Founders were students of the European Enlightenment. Half a century after the establishment of the United States, clergymen complained that no president up to that date had been a Christian. In a sermon that was reported in newspapers, Episcopal minister Bird Wilson of Albany, New York, protested in October 1831: "Among all our presidents from Washington downward, not one was a professor of religion, at least not of more than Unitarianism." The attitude of the age was one of enlightened reason, tolerance, and free thought. The Founding Fathers would turn in their graves if the Christian Extremists had their way with this country.

Answer 2

America was never "meant" to be a Christian nation. That just happened. Of course, the founding fathers were mostly Christian. But they added freedom of religion because, even though they were probably hoping otherwise, they knew that there will eventually be other religions in this great country that they founded. They wanted this country to be flexible, to be able to handle all problems that arose in the future. They had no idea of what the future had in store for them. For all they knew, aliens could take over and convince us all to follow the alien religion. That's why they had freedom of religion. It is NOT a Christian nation, especially not now. I can't stress that enough. Stop saying that it is, or people will get too used to the idea! It is a nation where at least half is Christian, if not more, but that does not make it a Christian nation. If it was, then all other religions would be banned, wouldn't they? This is not a dictatorship. This is a democratic republic, or whatever. We need to get people to stop saying that this is a Christian nation. I don't care if this country is based on majority vote. The minority needs just as many rights as the majority, too, you know!

Answer 3

Cause a lot of people don't understand the difference between personal beliefs and public policy.

Even if all the Founding Fathers were Christian (they weren't), that would STILL be ZERO evidence for a Christian nation. The same line of thinking leads to idiotic statements like this:

The Founding Fathers were all white males, so we should outlaw blacks and women from public office.

There is a difference between personal beliefs and public policy. If there weren't, it would be called a dictatorship. Instead, we have the FREEDOM to DISAGREE and OFFEND each other.

Democracy is a wonderful thing.

Answer 4

The premise of the question is difficult to work with. It's not that the US was "meant" to be a Christian nation; The US was founded based on Christian beliefs and principles. We have the First Amendment to protect those whose beliefs were not Christian. Does this always work perfectly? No, but that's why we have three branches of government with checks and balances along with a method to amend the Constitution.

Answer 5

No. distinctive the Founding Fathers have been Deists, no longer Christians. Deists have self assurance that a greater power created the universe, then stepped away. In different words, there are no longer any regulations exceeded out by employing the perfect being, and there is no Bible. Deism is a some distance cry from Christianity. the recent worldwide replaced into all approximately non secular freedom, which means there's no official faith. era.

Answer 6

Yes, America was founded upon Christian principles.

But the First Amendment exists because our forefathers could see that, if we allowed only one definite religion, our government would end up being a tyranny. All it would take is one group of Congressmen to decide on an official religion. Then they would decide on official practices. Then, before you knew it, you'd have a chain reaction ultimately resulting in a corrupted king, formerly known as the "President", ordering people to worship him and his henchmen, formerly known as the "members of Congress."

I know it sounds extreme just looking at it, but things that start are hard to stop.

Answer 7

it wasnt meant to be a christian nation, it was meant to be a nation of religious freedom. the founding fathers based the country on some christian values such as no murder. but where do these people get the idea that this country was founded as a christian nation? the pilgrims didnt sail over a huge ship and sh** in buckets just to tie everyone to a same religion that the king of england did to his citizens.


did johnny cee quote that from the bible? because if i recall the bible was supposedly written hundreds of years before the founding fathers. and i thought they were mostly freethinkers?

Answer 8

America was founded on Christian principles, but with religious freedoms. We are suppose to be free to choose which religion we want to practice. The founding famiiles were here to escape, among other things, religious persucition.

Answer 9

The first amendment was designed to protect "political speeches" - especially against the King. A lot of our "foreparents" were fleeing religious persecutions. I dont think anyone in this country wants the government to tell us which religion to follow every four years.

Answer 10

They came from a country where the only religion allowed was the Church of England. They wanted a country where everybody was not REQUIRED to be in one religion.