America was NOT founded as a Christian nation, okay? So, to all those who claim that it was, as part of their efforts to win the hearts and minds of voters, I say, “Give it up.”
How do I know America wasn’t founded as a Christian nation? Because I’ve read the Declaration of Independence. It quite clearly lists the reasons the united colonies wished to become independent of Great Britain. It lists in great detail the grievances against King George III, and nowhere in that list is religion mentioned. In other words, whatever the reasons our forefathers declared independence, religion had nothing to do with it.
And what were some of those reasons? Well, some had to do with basic liberties — the ability of the colonies to govern themselves, for instance, to have representative government, to assure due process of the law. In colonial America, citizens were forced to endure the presence of British troops in their midst, to quarter them.
But many of the reasons were economic. Our forefathers resented unfair taxes, resented being prohibited from freely trading abroad. It’s worth recalling that among the events which so inflamed our colonial leaders were such laws as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townsend Act of 1767, which imposed taxes on colonial commerce. John Hancock, the first signatory of the Declaration of Independence, was indicted for smuggling tea into the colonies from Holland, in order to avoid paying what were considered to be unfair import taxes. In 1773 was the famous Boston Tea Party, when the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Indians, boarded the British merchant vessel Dartmouth and tossed casks of tea into Boston Harbor.
It is probable that however much the founding fathers cherished individual liberty they cherished free commerce and profit even more. I don’t mean to criticize their motives, however, for ultimately they devised a pretty decent system of democratic government.
What has evolved, I believe, is the hypocrisy of using the false notion of our Christian origins to ensure the continuation of what has become a ravaging free enterprise system, one that actually destroys many of the sought-after liberties detailed in the Declaration of Independence.
When religion did come up, it was in the Bill of Rights, and then not only to assure freedom of religion but to prohibit the establishment of a state religion. As far as I know, none of the founders ever thought of the US as a Christian nation. I wonder why some do today.
Today’s conservatives benefit from the collective ignorance of the electorate. It is in their interest to keep people undereducated and poorly informed. That so many people buy into their messages is proof of that.
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