What do people mean when they say "this is a Christian Nation"?

Question

do they mean to say that, statistically, the people in this county are mostly Christians

or

do they mean to say that Christianity is this nation's religion?




SIDE NOTE: NOTHING TO DO WITH THE QUESTION

I looked up "nation" in the dictionary and one of the less common uses of the word was "nation- a member tribe of an American Indian confederation". Just thought that was interesting. Ironic maybe, to say Christian "nation" in that sense of the word. Seems to add insult to injury since the American Indians were forced to be Christians.
Far fetched I know. Just playing the word game.

to neil s:
what matter is it, what nation? Im talking about any nation that has people in it who say "this is a Christian Nation".

Answer 1

This is a nation that by population is Christian. It can not be a Christian nation as our constitution prohibits it.

Answer 2

sorry Mr. donkey, but if you think that our founding fathers were not Christians, you have been sadly misled.

but to answer the question, they mean generally, a little over half of the people in this country profess to be Christians, and for whatever reason, it seems to be the American standard.

this nation does NOT have a single religion deemed as the "national religion" like how states have "state birds" and such, it would go against our own ideals of "life liberty and the per suit" but then again, so do many of our policies.


*side note: look at how many people immedieatly identified "this nation" to be the United States, even though that was never stated in the question. ...at least i hope thats what we are talking about or else i just look like a total idiot! : ]

Answer 3

The Donkey is starting to believe stuff on this site.
It means it is NOT Pagan, NOT Muslim, and NOT Buddhist.
A word like any other.....
More correctly, Catholics consider both the US and Canada to be Protestant nations, while Mexico is not. (As a "for instance")

Atheists will believe whatever the hell they want.

Another point: While Catholics are the majority of the Christians, most countries are NOT Catholic countries, although, in the Middle Ages (the Monastic Ages), this was not true.

The American Constitution "All men are created equal.." et al is a Mohawk philosophy, that the chief forbade anyone to ever write down, because it was considered so sacred.

Answer 4

Some people, erroneously, think that the founders of the United States had Judeo-Christian roots and that the country (or nation) is therefore founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs.

In fact, what makes this country secular is the separation of Church and State that the founding fathers went to great length to incorporate in the Declaration of Independence. Regardless of their personal deistic or atheistic persuasions, all agreed to keep their views on faith out of the principles that guarantee the protection of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for each individual citizen of this new country. Such concepts are a total departure from Judeo-Christian principles. Individual rights are the product of the Enlightenment without which they are inconceivable.

For the first time in the history of mankind a country was born based on moral principles reasoned out by men, made to serve men, and conceived to respect human nature and not to place the individual at the service of some other authority (secular or divine). This is the first rationally moral country in human history precisely because faith does not play any part in determining the moral laws of the land.

The attempts to reinstate religious elements in the affairs of the country (tolerance of religious symbols in law courts, religious inscriptions on coins, on money, references to God in the Pledge of Allegiance) are all an affront to the secular and rational spirit of the Founding Fathers who made this country the freest, noblest, and most prosperous in the world.

Answer 5

I evaluate those to be illiberal or ignorant to be bigots. What did you ask on your question? some issues may be by accident offensive and you have gotten suggested something to disenchanted this guy or woman by ability of accident. no longer all Christians are bigots. i've got met Christians who do no longer care that i'm atheist, Christians who do no longer care approximately my pansexuality, and that i've got met Christians who shun me. some are, some are not, relies upon on the guy. a good style of the web Christians in this communicate board tend to grant all Christians a bad call, so as that they could have theory-approximately you as being a bigot simply by fact they're used to the non secular Christians so rampant in this section.

Answer 6

They mean that most people are Christians AND that this nation was founded on Christian principles.

A bunch of BS, in other words.

Answer 7

Which nation? There are people from all over the world on this site.

EDIT: This seems a very relevant question. If someone who lives in Vatican city says it, they are quite correct. If someone who lives in the US says it, they are ignorant of their actual history.

Answer 8

The majority of the US is Christian and many of them seem to think that the country was founded on Christianity.

The first is true, the second is not.

Answer 9

Well, look who is currently the president.
Only a Christian nation would elect such an idiot.

Answer 10

this country was founded on Christian values. then you mix in some nice atheist spice, and poof, you have the constitution and the bill of rights.