What Means Christian Nation?

It seems that every day in the social media jungle, there is some comment claiming that “America is [supposed to be] a Christian Nation,” as was supposedly intended by our Founding Fathers (which they most certainly did not).  Or that we need “a Christian in the White House” (we already have one).  Or that we need to have prayer in the public schools (the last place to which religious ritual should be entrusted).  Such thoughts are also echoed by some (thankfully not all) among the growing plethora of Republican candidates for president, reinforced daily by a series of Fox News opinionators.  They are all storytellers in the fairy tale of a supposed “war on religion” in America.

When I read or hear such comments, I am always struck by two questions.  1) What would such a “Christian Nation” look like; what would change and how would our nation be different from what it already is?  And 2) Which version of “Christian” would we put into such a special standing?

As a Christian Nation, does that mean we will reject the 30+% of Americans who do not call themselves Christians, and forcibly expel them out of the country?  Would we take away their right to vote, to own property, to practice their alternative religion or build their houses of worship?  Would we forbid them from political office or government service, even though that is expressly prohibited by our Constitution?  Would we require tax dollars to be used to support Christian churches as some countries do with their “state religion”?   Would we throw out 225 years of secular legal legislation and replace it with religious law interpreted from the Bible (Old and/or New Testaments?) – as they do in Iran from the Qur’an?   Is our most American secular holiday – Thanksgiving – to be reserved only for Christian prayers and meals?  Would we need to sign a loyalty oath to the “Christian Church” to be an American?

I personally find the idea of America as a Christian Nation to be dangerous on its face, and that opinion has nothing to do with Christianity itself.  Such a concept is a total assault against the values and promise of America as a safe haven for all comers of any faith.  Given that it is never explained what a Christian Nation would mean in specific, tangible terms suggests that this movement is coming from baseless, intangible fear.  The current absence of any government endorsement or adoption of any particular religion, and that wonderful precedence of keeping religions and government separate, is exactly what keeps our individual religions safe and sound.  We tamper with that neutrality at our own extreme risk.

Even so, the harder question remains: whose version of Christianity would we use (besides people’s assumed answer: “mine!”)?  For all the good spiritual lessons to be found in the original teachings of Jesus, the history of the Christian Church that followed is replete with internal fights over domination for power, violent persecution of contrary opinions as “heretics,” and the ultimate fracturing of the One Church into the many parts.  Roman Catholics and Orthodox Catholics split the original Christian Church a thousand years ago, while Protestants then broke away 500 years ago as a protest to Roman Catholic practices.  And now Protestants themselves have split into innumerable mainstream, evangelical, and “other” denominations.  The would-be Christian needs a detailed tour guide to navigate this religious maze.

Christians differ among themselves from church to church within the same denomination.  They differ within a single congregation.  All Southern churches within a denomination do not practice the same; their brethren churches in the North or West can be radically different in form and practice.  Further, most Christian denominations are fighting significant internal battles over issues of religious dogma, ritual, policy, inclusion, the role of women (or lack thereof), moral code, and the diminishing numbers in the pews.  Who then is the “true believer,” and where is s/he to be found?  I once heard a Baptist preacher of a large southern church say in an interview that, “Whenever you put ten Baptists into a room, you immediately have 14 different opinions.”  A Baptist minister friend filling in at two small Methodist churches in our rural county once remarked to her congregations on some of the similarities she found between Baptists and Methodists.  She was quickly rebuked that “please don’t tell us we are all the same!”  Then there is the question of whether some denominations are even Christian at all: e.g. Mormons, Quakers.

A primary tenet of Catholicism is the idea of the Pope as being infallible and having absolute authority.  Yet in survey after survey, the vast majority of American Catholics admit to not believing or following one or more dictums of the Pope.  In Ireland, one of the most Catholic of nations (and an ancestral home of many Americans), voters recently approved same-sex marriage by a resounding margin.  Some hailed that historical vote as a great victory for marriage equality, which it certainly was.  But the bigger significance of this vote was its overwhelming renunciation of Catholic authority, leadership and religious law – the same as is increasingly happening in America.

We often hope for religion to be the great unifier of humankind.  But that is not the way it has worked out.  While religions may seek to serve all of humankind, each typically wants to do so on its own terms.  And therefore all religions are ultimately destined to break down structurally into smaller components.  Religion is intended to nurture and be the expression of our spiritual being, and that being operates in our individual Self, a Self unique from all other Selves.  So our religion can be informed by Greater Lessons, but it must reside in the smallness of Self.

In truth, few Americans have been prevented from worshiping their God and expressing their spirituality by constraint of law.  Houses of worship have not been forcibly shuttered or prevented from being built by government force.  Ministers have not been gagged in the content of their sermon from the pulpit (though perhaps censored by their own leadership!).  No one has been denied a place on a ballot, or required to wear a religious identity patch on their arm, by governmental edict.  Religious freedom is alive and well in the homes and worship houses in America, which is where it is intended to be guaranteed – even if it is not so alive in the hearts of many of our citizens.

And that is the true beauty of America’s posture toward religion.  Take no side.  Leave each individual to find his/her own road, without interference, without being forced into an inappropriate alternative.  That was the real intent of our Founding Fathers.  Any real attempt to establish one single national religion would tear this country apart over which denomination wins; all others lose.  “Christian” is a beautiful inspiration containing many different meanings to which we can choose to aspire. But it is not a universal form applicable to a nation of 300 million independently-minded citizens rooted in individual American freedom.  Let us leave the details of that inspiration to the individual Self and to his/her conscience in the privacy of each home and house of worship.  Instead of expending our efforts in trying to achieve religious superiority, perhaps we should be focusing our energy on perfecting the practices of our own spirituality, and leave the souls of others to a power far greater than ourselves,   The public arena is no place to look to find one single true religion.

©   2015   Randy Bell               www.ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com