Written April, 2009.
President Obama has again been making the rather provocative statement that America is not a Christian nation. To be sure, he also says that America isn’t a Jewish or Muslim nation either. Rather, he says that we’re “citizens” gathered around a “set of principles.”
Most recently, while touring EUrope, which now includes Turkey, a Muslim nation, this description of our nation might be seen as soothing or appeasing, especially in light of his statement that America is not at war with Islam. This latter claim is delivered as if it was a wonderfully “hopeful change” from the “failed policies of the last eight years” despite the fact that our last president made exactly the same statement, even within days of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Of course, America is not a Christian nation in the way that, say, Iran is a Muslim nation. This isn’t a theocracy; it’s a democracy. However, let us consider the “set of principles” which, like a moral magnet, has gathered its millions of citizens from every other country of the world. The “self-evident” core belief of Americans is that we are all created equal. Equal… how? Equal in the eyes of our heavenly Creator and, here in America, equal before the law that was instituted to preserve our God-given liberty. Only the Christian religion insists on liberty. Without liberty we are not free to love. Only the Christian religion insists on loving God and our neighbors and even our enemies! In fact it’s a command from God.
This nation is founded on Christian principles. In this nation, equality is expressed as Christian tolerance. That’s the reason that every religion of the world feels at home in America, because it’s a Christian nation.
Peter and Helen Evans are authors of “Get Serious, The Church’s Stand on Contemporary Culture“ and culture warriors in a grassroots movement. “Whatever Happened to the Land of the Free?”
