To all the Christians of the United States....?

Question

Do you seriously believe that the United States was founded upon Christianity? When the reason we broke off from England was because of not having relgious freedom AND because of the high taxes, not just the taxes?

Answer 1

Yes, absolutely. For "freedom" to worship as one pleased. Nearly all of Europe was Christian. And, mostly be force. The two dominant European religions were the Catholic church, which controlled the state, and the Church of England, which was controlled by the state-exact opposites-both bad.
However, as the colonies began to grow, certain denominations seem to migrate to certain places. We were headed for state religions. Catholics in Maryland and Florida, Methodist in Georgia, Baptist I think in Rhode Island, and so on. The Baptist were the one who held out and forced the states to allow all denominations in every state. No laws against them. Thank you Baptist.

Answer 2

Well let's look at this through everyone perceptions to the answers......
heidavey - Many of our "founding fathers" were Christian or believers of a higher power. The only one that was a professed athiest was Ben Franklin. Their statements that you quoted were part of speeches to let people know that their political interest in the New Country were not based on religious convictions but of human rights and interests not ruled by a church or one specific religious ideals.

Lion of J - this country was already founded on another religion that was not Christian and it was NOT evil. The wonderful "Christians" and "founding fathers" did exactly what they country they left and fought against was doing. They moved in, took over, and oppressed those that did not believe the way they did. They persecuted, killed, and made to convert or die. This country was not founded on the teachings of Christ but the their thoughts of their religious right.

Pope me 1st - "that they were endowed by their CREATOR" means to state that "their Creator" is who they believe to BE their own personal Creator not just the Christian God but how they perceive their Creator. They have "inalienable rights" which means that no one should or will be persecuted by their beliefs and culture or be alienated from this "Great Country" to begin a new life on how THEY see fit. But yet many that did come, were alienated and ostricized by those that dominated the community they moved into. And those that alienated them were never brought to court or found guilty.
We live by the laws in the Constitution that in the time of it's conception was not based on religious convictions. The Founding Fathers knew that they could not base this new society on a certain religion because that would give the "Church" too much power - the main reason they left Europe was to avoid religious persecution and mandated to believe as the monarchy believed since the "Church" pretty much had a powerful influence on all matters with in that political state. They also left because of the social caste system. A man would be measured by his talents and his abilities not by his patriarchal birth.
Christianity was not the basis for founding this country. At too many atrocities were committed in the name of it. The Founding people knew this and tried to make sure they helped keep things in check. That is why it was written in simple English instead of legal gargin so that the common man could understand it's meaning. It took over 200yrs to really understand it's true meaning and to allow everyone to be part of the most wonderful country in the world. We still have problems to solve but together, without any religious convictions, we can over come them.

Answer 3

The founding of the US was for religios persecution. There were people who felt that the catholic church and sequentially the church of England were too pompous and strayed from the intentions of the late JC. They were Calvanists (Congregationalists) They, in their turn, were intolerant of any other religion in the colonies. For instance, Rhode Island was founded as a refuge for catholics.

The tax issue was equal for all in Englad at that time. The Revolution that resulted in the establishment of the United States in 1775 was a result of severe taxes imposed on the colonies without parlimentary representation. That had nothing to do with the migrations of people to the "New World" to escape religious persecution in England.

Answer 4

Most held some belief in a diety; hence the verbage that speaks of a creator and uses words like marriage; which is a religious concept. They were a big fan of not allowing state sponsered religion (The church of England at that time rules everything) I believe there is a huge difference between a state sponsered religion and schools being allowed to call Christmas break: Christmas break, etc.

Answer 5

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"

The founding fathers knew where our rights come, not from the mob, or from government, but from God.

Madison himself stated several times that the Book of Issiah is where he got the idea for seperated enumerated power, and the continental congress was led in prayer and closed in prayer.Several of the colonies constitutions even required a christian faith to be a member of government.

The fact is that the religious and secular war was being fought at our founding, and is still fought now. What has changed is that the secularists are winning now, whereas in the past the theists did.

We may not be "officially" Christian, but our culture has ALWAYS been Christian, and we don't want to see our culture destroyed.

Answer 6

We did break off from England because of taxes. The Pilgrims were just one group of settlers, and they settled here so they could worship and believe what they wished without influence and pressure from the British government. Other religious groups followed. Our country was designed and founded upon the IDEALS of the Christian faith.

Note to heidavey (did he delete?-- you are taking some quotes out of context, and also lying by omission. George Washington DID believe in God. Thomas Jefferson, referring to orthodox Christianity was speaking about Catholicism. If you read Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation, you would discover that he was deeply religious -- you are taking that particular quote out of context.

Answer 7

The belief in a god is not exclusive to christianity. For those arguing that references to god ~ which is NOT in the constitution ~ equates to jesus or the christian god you fail to back up your argument. I think the constitution was intentionally left vague so people would not feel excluded in their various beliefs.

Our "creator" ~ which I don't see mentioned in the constitution ~ may be Zeus or the flying spaghetti monster as far as we know. I think our founding fathers were wise men who wrote this document with vague references so that citizens of the united states would receive freedom from religious constraint which is one of the reasons they fled europe.

You can read the actual transcript of the US constitution here:

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_transcript.html

Answer 8

if u look at each amendment in the constitution and other documents like that you'll find much of it's roots are from the Bible. The religious freedom the pilgrims an such sought was to be free from having to conform to the king/queens preference of religion. becuase everytime a new queen/king came into power and he/she liked a protestantism or catholicism the whole country had to follow that belief

Answer 9

Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father, said: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the gospel of Jesus Christ."

The intent of the Founding Fathers in the First Amendment was to prevent any laws mandating religion or the establishment of a state church like the Church of England, resulting in the persecution of citizens. They never intended, however, to eliminate even the mere mention of religion on government property.

This is readily evident in the fact that they commonly referred to God, including in our most revered document, the Declaration of Independence.

One also sees the mention of God on our currency and on government buildings such as the Supreme Court.

This is not an endorsement of religion, rather it is a statement that many of our citizens are believers in God. When citizens are denied the opportunity to pray at federal cemeteries or to hold prayer meetings in schools, doesn’t that violate their freedom of religion?

Answer 10

The U.S. was built with personal freedoms in mind - freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom against unjust taxes. Although built upon the basic Judeo/Christian principles, thou shalt not murder, etc., it was not created as a Christian nation. I love my country and I think that, although we have many obstacles to overcome, I still believe in the basic principles. I am not blind to our short-comings, nor is the rest of the world; however, other countries are not so open about their internal and external problems. We are transparent, at least mostly transparent, so become an easy target for the Jugo Chavez's of the world. Other countries tend to hide their dirty laundry.