Christian Nation?

by Alex Buffalo

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On his recent visit to Turkey President Obama made the comment that the US is no longer a Christian Nation. Sadly I have to agree with his comment, over the past fifty years the push to remove the presence of Christianity from the public operations of the United States has proved fairly successful. There is an all out assault against the recognition of God in the Pledge of Allegiance; a few years back an Alabama Judge was forced to remove the Ten Commandments from his court house; a community in Massachusetts successfully blocked the use of Christian Memorials in a public memorial project, and for the past twenty to thirty years there has been an absence of prayer in schools…well Christian prayer that is. There is an entire commentary on the left’s blind embrace of Islam, but I will have to reserve that for a later date.

Obama’s comment has sparked the debate as to whether or not the United States was founded as a Christian Nation. The “I am not a blind believer therefore I must be more intellectual than you” crowd makes claims that the country was never founded as a Christian nation and that you cannot find the precepts of the Constitution anywhere in the bible. They also make the comment that most of the authors of the constitution were Deists and not Christians and that the influence of their Masonic traditions are what our country is based on. I will try to address those claims here.

The comment is that most of the authors of the Constitution were Deists is blatantly false. Among the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence and forty who signed the Constitution only four have been found to be Deists. Chief amongst those Deists, supposedly, were Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. To clarify, a Deist believes in a God who has set things in motion and then leaves the rest up to man, seldom interfering in earthly affairs.

In questioning Benjamin Franklin’s Deism I give you this quote from the man himself as deliberations over the forming of the Constitution began to break down: “The small progress we have made after four or five weeks close attendance and continual reasonings with each other—our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ayes, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own wont of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.

In this situation of this Assembly groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine Protection.—Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance.

I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that “except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall be become a reproach and a bye word down to future age. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human Wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service.”

It seems fairly evident that Mr. Franklin believed in the active participation of God. When this information is raised in the argument many will point out that such prayers were voted down by a three to one margin, a point that Franklin himself notes. What they neglect to tell you is that the representatives did vote in favor of having a sermon preached each morning of the congress instead of prayer, a sermon which ended up being performed by George Washington throughout the term of the Constitutional Congress. This practice resulted in the appointed position of a clergyman to preside over both houses of congress to this day.

Another Deist, Thomas Jefferson, provides a greater case for those Christian detractors as Jefferson himself wrote many scathing and heretical things concerning God. What they neglect to tell you is that Jefferson lost his faith late in his life and that most of his writings that eschew faith in God were written after his direct involvement in the forming of the Constitution and his term in the office of the Presidency. His early writings and practices show a profound faith, in 1801; “…the Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which [the clergy] have enveloped it, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and freest expansion of the human mind.” 1803; “Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus.” and finally in 1781; “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” It has been documented that Jefferson began to renounce his faith as early as 1813, twenty six years after the Constitutional Convention.

Another counter point to the Christian foundation of our country is the Masonic background that many of the authors of the Constitution shared. This common thread is used to point out that the basis of our Constitution is decidedly Masonic and therefore cannot be Christian. The irony in this statement is that all of the Masons who were members of the Constitutional Convention were also Christian. Thomas Jefferson was not a Mason. That being said I will agree that our country has a Masonic hand print, as a Mason myself I can see it. I will say that this hand print is a distinctly Christian Masonic hand print. I cannot go into a whole lot of detail but I can invite all of you to visit a Masonic temple to note the Judeo-Christian influence. I will also point out that many lodges in the 13 original Colonies were dedicated to the Holy Saints John and many of the Grand Lodges remain dedicated to these two followers of Christ today.

Now, on to the specific details of the claim by the “I am not religious therefore I am more intelligent than you,” people that the precepts of the Constitution cannot be found in the bible. In a comment on the Huffington Post I read the following: “The Constitution states that we have the ‘unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ and these can not be found in the bible by a controlling and ‘jealous’ God.” My first comment here would be that the unalienable rights mentioned by the author of the comment are found in the Declaration of Independence, not the actual Constitution. God is referenced at least four times in the Declaration through various descriptions, which are distinctly Masonic, but all mean the same God of the Bible. Now think of the Declaration of Independence as the mission statement of the country and the Constitution as the bylaws that allow the carrying out of the mission.

In Genesis 2:7 we read: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” I think that pretty much establishes the principle of “life” as being found in the Bible.

The Lord also speaks of liberty to the believer. In Psalm 119:45: “And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.” We also read in Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;^”

I point to Isaiah because it highlights on problem with the non-Christian view of liberty. The non-Christian view of liberty is an anything goes mentality, which generally leads us to Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory. If the fittest survive then someone is being put upon. Isaiah shows us here that God is lifting up the meek, the brokenhearted and the captives, God’s laws allow us all to live in liberty with strict consequences for infringing upon the liberties of others. In layman’s terms, liberty, or freedom, cannot exist without rules. To borrow an example from a friend, if I were to simply hand a basketball to person who had never seen it he or she would not be free to play the sport of basketball without the rules.

There is more to Christian liberty however. In Galatians 5:1 we read: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” The key here is that in Christ we observe the commandments of God which teach, as Jesus says in Matthew 22:37-40, love and respect for the Father (God), and love and respect for our neighbors. Without these basic rules men become subject to those who are stronger, something we have seen throughout history, something we see in the schoolyard bully. In keeping with my earlier example; if in basketball there were no provisions for fouling another player, stronger and bigger players would rule the courts, not necessarily the talented ones.

God also teaches us that the pursuit of happiness lies with Him, the direct quote may not be found in the bible, but it is through adherence to God’s law that we find some happiness here on earth. In not killing others, committing adultery, stealing, bearing false witness or coveting other peoples things, and not having the same done to us, we can live a happy life. This is something the detractor cannot understand because he or she derives happiness from the material things of the world, the best house, the best car, the best iPod, which invariably leads to a cyclical game of disappointment because the desire cannot be fulfilled as each time someone buys something better the detractor needs to upgrade. This is the full reason for the last commandment, Exodus 20:17: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

However, the pursuit happiness means more to the Christian, it means the freedom to worship the Lord and follow His commandments, and live according to the liberties I have mentioned above. We see this concept through history, most notably for Americans in the pilgrims landing in Massachusetts, but even more so in the landing of William of Orange in the English isles at the behest of parliament for the restoration of civil and religious liberties. It does go further than that, because through our faith in Christ and following God’s law (faith in Christ comes first) we may achieve the ultimate happiness in inheriting the eternal land prepared for us from the foundation of the world. 2 Corinthians 5:1: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

One more point detractors make is that you will not find the separation of church and state in the bible, the reality is that you can find that in the bible, but not in the Constitution. There is no provision for the separation of church and state in the United States Constitution, the first amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This amendment is named as “freedom of religion, press and expression.” The purpose of this amendment was to keep the federal government from establishing an official “state” religion, such as England, France, Spain, or Armenia, or perhaps a better example would be Sharia law prohibiting the practice of any religion save for Islam, and to allow the free exercise, or practice of, religion, something the aforementioned countries did not allow. The fact that the Declaration of Independence, remember my comment about it being the mission statement, mentions God at least four times renders the separation of church and state argument moot.

The reality is that the bible does lay out a plan for separation of church and state, yet not in the way the detractors would have us believe. In Matthew 22:17-21 we read: “Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny?. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?? They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. By the very nature of this statement Jesus shows us that there is a Civil Magistrate that is separate from God’s Church. The reality is God gives us separate rules for the governing of the Church and establishes that the Church is responsible for ministering unto Him; read Leviticus. He also establishes rules for the civil magistrate that are separate from the Church; again read Leviticus, Chapters 17-26. What God does do is admonish the civil magistrate to act according to His law or incur the wrath of God. Psalm 2:10.

We can study in detail the origins of our country and Constitution and see the influence of the Christian faith. We can look further and see the foundations of the country are built on the Christian model and that these principles are all contained within scripture. I have only touched on the surface of the Christian foundation of our country, a foundation that is etched into the walls of the Capitol Building, in the rotunda, behind the speaker’s chair, are the words “In God We Trust,” circa 1791.

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Alex Buffalo holds an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Master of Fine Arts degree, is a college professor of art, and is a member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church (Hanover Presbytery) in Manassas, Virginia.  This article first appeared on the Irishbison’s Blog (irishbison.wordpress.com) on 27 May 2009.

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