AMERICAN DREAMS

THE UNITED STATES IS NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION

Being an American, I was brought up to think of the United States as a “Christian” nation. But the country was founded, in fact, by a mixture of people from many countries, some Christian, some agnostic, some atheists, many with very different views and interpretations of the Word Of God (if any). They gathered here, and agreed specifically on one thing only: that the government should emphatically NOT have any say in religious matters, nor should religion have any say in government matters. Yes, an atheist has the right to run for office. And no, one has never needed to be a Christian to be a citizen, or even to be president. Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States and one of its Founding Fathers, said in 1810:

“... [A] short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandising their oppressors in Church and State; that the purest system of morals ever before preached to man, has been adulterated and sophisticated by artificial constructions, into a mere contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves; that rational men not being able to swallow their impious heresies, in order to force them down their throats, they raise the hue and cry of infidelity, while themselves are the greatest obstacles to the advancement of the real doctrines of Jesus, and do in fact constitute the real Anti-Christ.”

Thomas Paine, another of the Founding Fathers, said, in “The Age of Reason”:

“Christian theory is little else than the idolatry of the ancient Mythologists, accommodated to the purposes of power and revenue; and it yet remains to reason and philosophy to abolish the amphibious fraud.

“Each of those churches show certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God. The Jews say, that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say, that their word of God came by divine inspiration: and the Turks say, that their word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from Heaven. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all.

“No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a communication, if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it.

“It is a contradiction in terms and ideas, to call anything a revelation that comes to us at second-hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication — after this, it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him.”

George Washington, first U.S. President, said:

“The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institutions may be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some instances, be made subservient to the vilest of purposes.”

And for Benjamin Franklin fans:

“Here is my creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His providence. That He ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render Him is doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental principles of all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.

“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity…”

AMERICANS TODAY (Population 305 Million) According to Pew Poll :

76% CHRISTIAN
Evalngelical Protestant 26.3%
Mormon 1.7%
Orthodox .6%
Protestant 18.1%
Catholic 23.9%
Jehovah’s Witness .7%
Other .3%
4% NON-CHRISTIAN
Jewish 1.7%
Muslim .6%
Buddhist .7%
Hindu .4%
Other 1.5%
(According to “Covenant of the Goddess,” 1 million Americans are pagan .3%)
15% NO BELIEF

Christians might want to look a little more closely, as not all Christians are alike. Evangelicals top out the scale at only 26.3%.

So I hope that’s cleared it up, then.