Is America Truly a Christian Nation?

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Separation of church and state was the best idea ever.

America is a nation wear many people claim to be Christian, but few actually study their Holy Works, or even the works of their theologians. At best, most only read the occassional pulp-pseudo-christian work and accept it as being true and anyone who disagrees or even questions that a discussion may come up as a heretic who needs demons cast out of it.

I would say, "Kudos" to the Orthodox Church, because I haven't heard any controversy about them in the news. My godparents were Russian Orthodox, extremely religious and well educated, I never saw them push their religion on anyone. If you asked them to sit down for a discussion about their faith, they'd oblige, but they wouldn't try to convert you. If you wanted to covert, they'd actually question you about your decision (i.e. "are you really sure you want to do that?", "have you really considered this fully?") I've met a few other orthodox people, and I've never met one who was condescending towards me or wanted to push their religion on me.

But them protestants... tend to cling to conspiracies, superstition, and tend to be so discriminative. And they are so fractured and all the different groups seem to be constantly at each others throats. Meanwhile they run around screaming that everyones going to hell if they don't follow them exactly.

sorry

This often comes across as a loaded question, regardless of intent. As such, here's my stance...

According to actual history, most of the Founders expressed a belief in the Biblical God, whether they called themselves Christians or not. Even deists like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson said the Bible should be used as the source of our laws, so people would know where righteous values originally came from. Rebels often cite the Treaty of Tripoli from 1797, but I would point them to this page, which discusses the historical aspects of the Barbary conflict.

http://www.offthegridnews.com/2012/02/2 ... t-america/

Citing Jefferson's 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association is also often used to "discredit" the idea of a Christian nation. However, I would direct those curious about that issue to this page, which talks about the context of that letter, and Hugo Black's purposeful twisting of it in the 1940s.

http://egnorance.blogspot.com/2011/10/h ... ll-of.html

To sum it up, America was historically founded on principles consistent with the Bible. Scripture was used as the original moral foundation for this country, but laws were made to prevent the government from becoming tyrannical, and giving citizens the opportunity for just rebellion when necessary.

No it is not.

I voted "never was" but it largely depends if you are referring to biblical Christianity, or Christianity as in the teachings of Christ.

For me, they are two very different things and the United States even in its infancy, never observed the latter.

You could argue it never observed biblical teachings either, since the attempted genocide of the native americans was a flagrant contempt of the ten commandments.

I'd say:

Magna Carta and its offspring, mostly liberal ("libertarian") philosophers, were the biggest influence. All the freedom loving Brits, in other words.

I don't see much in the way of individual freedom in the bible, and such is pretty much the biggest point of the US.