THE EXPECTATIONS FOR CHRISTIANITY IN SOCIETY
Today , the idea of “ separation of Church and State ” is being confused with “ separation of Christianity and State .” These two mindsets are not the same . Viewing Christianity as strictly a private matter , not relevant to public policy , law , or civil government , may be accepted as “ normal ” by many Americans today , but our Founders did not think this way .
On the contrary , while the designers of America did not want a State Church , as England had , they created a nation in which all people of any religion ( or no religion ) could share the same human right to the pursuit of happiness . Yet , the Founders expected Christianity to affect society beyond the four walls of churches and certainly beyond the private prayer closet of individuals . The privatization of Christianity was not on their radar whatsoever . What evidence supports this ? Consider the observations of French historian Alexis de Tocqueville , who visited the United States in 1831 to find out what made this country tick : “ From the earliest settlement of the emigrants , politics and religion contracted an alliance which has never been dissolved . [ p . 281 ] . . . I do not know whether all the Americans have a sincere faith in their religion ; for who can search the human heart ? But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions . This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or to a party , but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society . [ p . 286-287 ] . . . The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds , that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other . [ p . 287 ] America is still the place where the Christian religion has kept the greatest real power over men ’ s souls ; and nothing better demonstrates how useful and natural it is to man , since the country where it now has the widest sway is both the most enlightened and the freest . . . [ p . 291 ]” 3
Here ’ s what the Supreme Court had to say about Christian America in 1892 : “ Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind . It is impossible that it should be otherwise ; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian . . . This is a religious people . This is historically true . From the discovery of this continent to the present hour , there is a single voice making this affirmation . . . We find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth . . . These , and many other matters which might be noticed , add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation .” 4 [ emphasis added ]
The Court clearly identified a “ Christian nation ” as a nation whose laws and institutions are based upon and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind .
Daniel Webster , one of the most prominent American lawyers of the nineteenth century , who served as Secretary of State under President John Tyler , put it this way : “ Our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment . Moral habits , they believed , cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle , nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits . Living under the heavenly light of revelation , they hoped to find all the social dispositions , all the duties which men owe to each other and to society , enforced and performed . Whatever makes men good Christians , makes them good citizens .” 5
Was Webster a Christian Nationalist ? Can the Supreme Court ’ s 1892 description of America be Christian Nationalism ? Did Alexis de Tocqueville observe rampant Christian Nationalism in 1831 ? You tell me .
Although New Testament values in America ’ s past were normative , this is not to say the implementation of those values was faultless . I can hear a chorus of objectors pointing out the presence of slavery in our Christian past . Yet these same objectors ignore the fact that a great civil war was waged in 1861-65 that resulted in the abolition of the same .
“ The Founders expected Christianity to affect society beyond the four walls of churches and certainly beyond the private prayer closet of individuals .”
A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
I suggest we avoid using the term “ Christian Nationalism ” because it is open to too much interpretation and misunderstanding . Rather , let ’ s communicate what we want to say about a vision for the future of our nation using clear , unambiguous language and avoid unnecessarily entangling ourselves with those who want to target Christians with pejorative and fear-inducing labels . If someone were to ask me , “ Are you a Christian Nationalist ?” I would have to respond with , “ Define the term , please , and then I ’ ll tell you .”
Let ’ s also bear in mind that Christian Nationalism in nineteenth-century America was voluntary . It came from the “ bottom up ,” not the “ top down .”
RENEWANATION . ORG 13