Why do SO many of you insist the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation?

Question

It was not. Most of the founding fathers were deists.

Treaty of Tripoli: "The United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

Repeating lies won't make them true, nor does it make you look smart.

supertop,

I've done a LOT of research in my time on the Founding Fathers - most were indeed deists. It is you, I'm afraid, who is misinformed.

Answer 1

I agree with you. It wasn't founded on Christian principles. Many of the founding fathers were not Christian by some form of pagans or deists. They weren't the Christian that we view today. The nation was founded beause the pilgrims were angry about not being represented fairly. It wasn't so Christians could worship freely. There were Christians in England. Thomas Jefferson said that the greatest thing he did was add the freedom of religion to the bill of rights.

Many Christians fall into the thinking that the United States is this perfect Christian nation that is blessed by God. Some of them even view some verses in the book of Revelation to denote this country as being blessed above all others. It doesn't mean it's right. It is indeed a fallacy that has baffled my mind for years.

Answer 2

"Repeating lies won't make them true, nor does it make you look smart."
That is an understatement!!

The founding fathers, the way we killed the natives and took the land, the English church we ran from . . . . . . lets not argue about what we were not there to see. Lets look at 2007:

We pray to . . . . . . .GOD before every congressional meeting!
IN GOD WE TRUST, is on every monetary unit you use to pay for anything.
The president puts his hand on a BIBLE and is sworn in office.
One nation under GOD, oh sorry you are trying to take that one shortly . . . . ..

Here is my problem with your argument. Christian religion is different than being founded on GOD.

Its not Buddha, Mohamed, the book of Mormon, a nation under Islam. (please I am not slandering these religions) Just making a point. Founding Fathers or not, Treaty of Tripoli or not. These traditions and fundamental beliefs did not occur in the year 2000!! Guess what they are slowly being taken away. I am offended on a daily basis, my rights are being stifled on a daily basis, I am forced to deal with lies that I don't find to be true, but I don't then say no one should follow the religion they want, I don't say that they that don't believe as I should leave the country that was founded on GOD.

God, Buddha, Mohamed, or whatever Bless the USA!!!!

God Bless

Answer 3

You have it right and the letters of the founders of the USA back it up quite well

Father K's compact is not relevant. It was not even a majority of the colonists(most of whom were likely in the half that died that first winter anyway)
It was regarding the establishment of an English Colony, and If that is taken as a justification then most of the USA should be Quakers. Get ready to turn in your guns and I hope you all enjoy oatmeal.

as for Mel's statement about under God. In just what years were those statements put on the money or into the pledge. They were very late additions.

Answer 4

Why do you insist that is wasn't ? Repeating un-known knowledgle is not smart either. So who is right you or us who believe that the Great United States of America was built on a Christian Foundation ? There were more Christians in the early days, then Deists. Christianity, stands strong in America and will continue. May God and Peace be with you, Always !

Answer 5

"And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? The longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? I also believe, that without his [God's] concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel."

-- Benjamin Franklin

Answer 6

"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology."
--Thomas Jefferson - 3rd President

"God is an essence that we know nothing of. Until this awful blasphemy is got rid of, there never will be any liberal science in the world."
--John Adams - 2nd President

They don't sound like Christians to me.

Answer 7

The U.S was supposed to be religiously neutral. However, supporters of the "Christian Nation" theory dispute this, arguing that the article in the treaty carries little or no significance.

Answer 8

The first schools and universities were Christian.The main leaders and settlers were Christians and came here for the express purpose of having freedom of religion, so they could practice Christianity.

Answer 9

Gazoo, etc., have you really researched?
http://candst.tripod.com/studygd7b.htm

Because....

“I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.” Alexander Hamilton

“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” Patrick Henry

“ Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” John Jay


"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus." Thomas Jefferson

“It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other.”
James Madison

In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions.
James McHenry


"Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write and above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education”
Benjamin Rush

“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed...No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.” Noah Webster

" It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.” (and also)

“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.”
George Washington

“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity"
John Adams

“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [the Fourth of July]?" “Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity"? John Quincy Adams

Answer 10

well the pilgrims that first came here were Puritians, a form of Christianity and the most important of the founding Fathers: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, etc were Christians.
so yeah, i think that that pretty much covers the issue.