Why do Christians keep saying that the United States was built on christian principles?

Question

According to History a group of Deists and Freemasons built the foundations for the United States. They formed our Bill of Rights and later the Constitution and many Masonic references are on our money and in government buildings not just in Washington DC but all over the country. So why do I keep hearing some politicians and religious leaders say that we are a Christian nation when in fact we originally left England because of religious oppression and decided to never force a specific religion on our people. I am confused as to when we all of the sudden became labeled a Christian nation. Why have we become so intolerant of other religions in the U.S.?

Maybe i was not clear enough for some of those who answered. I am all for a legalistic government and i agree that the bible laid the foundation for our present legal system. I have studied world and American history and still I do not feel we have a right to call our country christian just because there are a few more catholics and protestants than there are buddists and muslims. I thought the american indian which had roots in south and north america was the native culture here in America. Didn't they believe in a polytheists and multi deists spiritual thinking? Or is it just because we came, we conquered, now we own that we can call it what ever we decide. I am a christian but i feel really uncomfortable knowing our history as a nation. We enslaved the native americans, we enslaved the african americans and now we enslave our country in a national religion. Maybe i am too idealistic. Theological and historical debates are best kept to those that teach it i suppose.

Answer 1

With 17% (that's fully 1/6th) of Americans NOT being professing Christians, the USA is no more a "Christian nation" than it is a "white nation."

We should celebrate our diversity, and lose these notions that Christianity RULES in America.

And I'm a Christian.

MOST of America's professing Christians recognize that. The ones who are running around claiming that the USA is a "Christian nation" are, for the most part, the PSEUDO-Christian lemmings of the RRR Cult.

Answer 2

Because of people like you. If you do not allow for free-enquiry, and push your conceptions of American history, the Christians will be more defensive. This is true with anything. Prior to the Civil War there were 300 abolitionist socities in the South and the Virginia legislature (which would later be the capital of the South) was debating slave emancipation. But the Northern abolitionists were stubborn and wanted complete ***** equality immediately without discussion. This put the South on the defensive, and because of that no one was willing to compromise or learn about each other's perspectives.

What do you think Deism is? Because according to what most people conceive of Deism, the Founding Fathers were NOT Deists. And those "masonic" symbols were put there well after the Founding Fathers. The Washington monument for instance was built DECADES after the death of Washington, about half a century later. My grandpa is a freemason by the way and so were my ancestors.

We are a Christian nation though. That is irrefutable. It doesn't mean the government is Christian, it just means the culture is most familiar with Protestant Christianity. The Catholics discovered America, the Anglicans (Church of England/Episcopalians) established Jamestown. The Pilgrims (Congregationalists) founded Plymouth. The Puritans (who later became Congregationalists) the Boston area. The Quakers Pennsylvania. Roger Williams, an early Baptist, Rhode Island. Dutch Reformed settled New York and Swedish Trinitarians Delaware. Oh and Catholics were largely influential in Maryland.

And we aren't intolerant of other religions in the United States. If you really want to debate this be prepared because I spent two years reading 300 books, talking to professors from Yale and other universities, and I finished a 413 page book on this topic at the end of last year (now I'm moving onto a history of the Civil War and basically how I think the South was right in many aspects)

Answer 3

Not all the men were Freemasons. And Freemasons is a secret community so how do you know who was one? The United States started with the 13 colonies, built by Christian blacks, Quaker pilgrims, etc. European settlers and Spaniards were Christians, some catholics, some Protestants, some Methodists. Our history is full of 5 Christian denominations. the Freemasons tried to set somethings up but their beliefs didn't tie in with true Christianity so the Freemasonaries had no say. But yet Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin still put God's name on everything because they believed that God exists and so did everyone else that started this country. Even the black slaves that built the homes, mansions, roads, and planted the fields. They were forced to live through hell on earth and they still prayed to the good Lord. That speaks volumes!


How have we become intolerant of other religions in the USA? What religions are you talking about? The only religion I can see that we should be wary of is Islam because it speaks of creating an Islamic world by any means. (hence terrorism)

Answer 4

The United States was not founded entirely by Freemasons, More than half were masons but the idea was to escape the oppression of the churches in England. The founding fathers were simply good moral men who had a dream to make a better place than where they were from. We are also not at all intolerant of other religions in this country, We are over tolerant in that the "Christian" is soon to be the minority.

Answer 5

1. Then as now, some Christians were also Freemasons. Freemasonry is not a religion and so, those are not necessarily contradictory positions.

2. A rare few were Deists. Deism is a philosophy that was never very widely held. There is a modern tendency to re-frame the faith of some of the founding Fathers as Deists. Jefferson may have been one. Some also suggest that Washington was a Deist, but if you read his actual speeches and addresses you find prominent, orthodox statements of the Christian faith.

3. Among the signers of the Declaration of Independence were three Protestant clergy, including John Witherspoon, then the President of Princeton Seminary who attended meetings of the assembly in his minister's robes.

4. You will understand history better if you read portions of the actual historic record. Those who left England (and France) for America due to persecution - were Christians. Christian references are abundant in the writings of the day.

Christopher Columbus wrote "thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has granted us so great a victory and such prosperity." "Let Christ rejoice on earth as he rejoices in heaven in the prospect of the salvation of the souls of so many nations hitherto lost."

In the first charter of Massachusetts King Charles urged the people to, "win and incite the natives of country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Savior of mankind, and the Christian faith, which in our Royal intention, and the adventurers' free profession, is the principle end of this plantation."

It seems that we were a Christian nation from the beginning. That does not mean that any individual is forced to believe, or that all citizens are people of faith, or that other religions are not accepted. But the founding principles of the nation were informed by, and based upon the Christian faith.

Answer 6

You are on the right track, Sydney, and Fundamentalists want to make this a Christian nation, but there are additional details.

First of all, the Puritans fled religious persecution in England and settled in Holland. They were oppressed there, so sailed on the Mayflower. Other religious groups also came to the U.S. seeking religious freedom. However, each religion pressed to make their religion the one authorized by the State--and that worked.

However, when a united government was formed, each state tried to make their religion supreme.

Thomas Jefferson, a deist, was afraid of religious bigotry. He said he was not against religion, but what it has done.

Jefferson first proposed a generic religion that everyone must accept. That almost got him impeached. Then he and his comtemporaries pressed for a government that recognizes the rights of individual conscience and no state religion.

That would be a first, and it has worked well for several centuries; however, that will change.

Protestants, who have little to be ashamed of in their history like the Catholics and Muslims, will be next on the scene, as they attempt to legislate morality for Jesus. Yes, that will constitute an "image (reproduction) of the beast." And we will be driven back into the Middle Ages again.

They will lend their power to the Abomination of Desolation, and that critter's identity is revealed in a latter-day Bible code. Select http://abiblecode.tripod.com

Blessings, Balaam

Answer 7

I disagree with the premise altogether. The Bible did not lay the foundation for our country. There are no representative democracies in the Bible. Colonists fled England for fear of religious persecution - that, however, is not what created the documentation that we hold so dear - the Constitution - which is free from all religious references whatsoever (for the very reason you see today - people trying to make everyone, force everyone - to share their religious views and live by their Biblical requirements/laws/tenants).

The Ten Commandments aren't new material - the basis of our society is Law and FREEDOM of and from religion.

The first written codes of law were not biblical, they were Babylonian. There's not a one of the commandments that wasn't "standard operating procedure" in civilizations that came before the Bible's conception.
http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm
The Bible is not the well-spring for all things right and good, it is not the mother of civilization - it certainly wasn't the mother of ours.

Answer 8

The origin of the Masons were the Templars - extremely religious (Christian) men who defended the temples of old. They started to be killed off and so had to become more of a secretive society - much like the Masons of today. The Masons involved in founding the United States, as well as most of the men who were not Masons, were religious men who worshipped God and Jesus Christ and thus, this country was truly was built on Christian principles.

Answer 9

I'll have to look it up, but for now I'll say that the concept of 'seperation of power', that we see in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of of US government is based on a proverb from the Old Testament. Much like our laws are based on English Law, which was built on Roman Law. It doesn't mean you have to be a Christian, just obey the laws, and vote according to how you believe...

Answer 10

If it wasn't founded on Christian principles then why did our money have IN GOD WE TRUST and what about our pledges. Personally I think that America is going down the tube when our children can't even say the pledge of allegience in school. Whatever happened to freedom of speech? They say that it is to "not hurt the feelings of those who don't believe in God." But it hurts our feeling when we are not able to practice what we believe. Talk about discrimination. Sorry I was ranting