Why cant some Christians realize the US isnt all Christian and its wrong to make laws on what the bible says?

Question

Not everyone believes in the bible so why should everyone have to follow the moral codes of it. Although this country is mostly Christian no religion should dominate what this country and it's people do. Some issues that Christians tend to use the bible for is abortion, gay marrige,stem cell reasearch, creationism taught in the classroom. Shouldn't all religious beleifs be taken out of the government's decisions?

Answer 1

OK lets take all morality out of our laws. Why shouldn't it be legal to kill people? Why shouldn't it be legal to steal?

Some people see absolutely nothing wrong with these types of things. If you religion says it is OK to kill people why should say there is anything wrong with that.

We have laws against murder and robbery because without them there would be anarchy in society. Our moral code in American is based on Judeo/Christan beliefs, but it is not necessarily religious at its base.

Answer 2

To answer your specific question, the answer is yes. The trouble is, it is widely believed in this country, by most of the people in this country, that the United States of America was founded as a ‘Christian Nation based on Christian Principals’. This is not the truth. In my experience there is only one way to combat a dearly held untruth and that is with uncontestable fact.
So, let us begin with the American Revolution itself. Let us open our Bibles to Romans 13.1 (RSV), “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Subsequent verses go on to provide a logical, moral and ethical foundation for this edict. In the foot notes you will find further scriptural foundation that is, of course, uncontestable fact.
This point was of such importance that none other than Thomas Paine felt compelled to deal with it in a letter published in January 1776 titled “Epistle to Quakers”. The Quakers, of whom Paine himself was of decent, had always taken a non-violent, passive and eminently Christian position on worldly matters and had said as much with regard to the Revolution. Paine, in his Epistle, took them to task on this arguing that, “if the setting up and putting down of kings and governments is God’s peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will not be robbed thereof by us;” Well, that’s a big “if” if I ever heard one because Romans 13.1(RSV) clearly says that it is God’s ‘peculiar’ prerogative!
As any 4th or 5th grader will tell you, the American Revolution was fought over “Taxation with out Representation”. Let us deal with “Taxation” first by turning back to Romans 13, versus 6-7(RSV), “For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.” And again in the foot notes you will find further scriptural foundation that is, of course, uncontestable.
Next, let us deal with “Representation” by going all the way back in the Old Testament to Numbers 16 where we find a quite literally crushing example of just what God thinks of rebels or for that matter, anyone who assumes to suggest that they should have a say in what goes on. That little escapade cost the lives of “fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the affair of Korah” Numbers 16.49(RSV). And mind you, these were God’s ‘Chosen’ people!
In short, neither taxation nor our lack of representation should, would, or even could be grounds for revolt against the King who according to The Holy Bible, a perfect treasure of divine instruction, without any mixture of error, ruled over us by divine right granted him by almighty God. Period.
Now lets look at “The Declaration of Independence”. To begin with, ‘God’ is only mentioned once and not as the God of the Old Testament, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob nor of the New Testament Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. No, God is mentioned as the ‘God’ of Nature. The “Declaration” goes on to speak of our ‘unalienable rights’ and that we have a ‘right’ to life, liberty and to pursue happiness. Having read the first five Books of the Bible, The Law of Moses, the Torah of God’s ‘Chosen People’, I can say with a reasonable amount of confidence that we have no ‘rights’. We have nothing that could even vaguely be considered rights granted to us by anything or anybody. Our sole reason for existence is to serve God!
I can see the battle lines forming that ‘Oh, that’s the Old Testament and Jesus changed all that!’ Oh, really? Where? Just one verse. Just one. The only ‘right’ we have if you want to call it that is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22, verses 37-39(RSV).
Next, let us consider the Supreme Law of the land, that expression of Positive Law that forms the basis of all subordinate law in our country, “The Constitution of the United States”. In it, God is not mentioned once. No, not once. ‘Religion’ is only mentioned (to date) twice. First in Article VI, paragraph 3 where it states that, ‘no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.’ The second is Article I of the Bill of Rights which states, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’.
An interesting point to ponder here is just how many times the government has willfully and deliberately violated the First Amendment rights of the people with the acquiescence if not active encouragement of so called ‘tolerant’ Christianity. I can think of three instances right off the top of my head: the persecution of the Mormons, the persecution of Native American religion(s) culminating in the slaughter at Wounded Knee, and the slaughter at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco Texas.
In conclusion, in my opinion, the most that can be said about the creation of our country is that the Founding Fathers, being products of the teachings of European Enlightenment, gave us a secular Republic in which freedom of religion and freedom from religion was guaranteed in writing. That while men and women of faith could and should seek positions of authority and responsibility and that as people of faith, they could and should seek the face of God in finding the answers to the problems, they should do so in private! To do so publicly is to appear as Pharisees before the people, taking on an exalted position that they have absolutely no right to assume.
Respectfully submitted in freedom, John W.