As a minister I often receive forwarded e-mails from my congregation such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlfEdJNn15E. This is of a tour of the capitol lead by a pastor. The main focus is about our founding fathers being Christian, with visual evidence from paintings in the Capitol and other evidence from letters, etc. I have not researched the accuracy of the statements made in the video, but I am willing to take them as being factual.
What is implied but not said in the video is that the United States of America was founded as a Christian nation with Judeo-Christian values and therefore our government should be promoting Christianity. These are my words and not theirs, but this is the context in which I place these comments.
While it may be factual that many of the first citizens of this country were Christian, these same Christians stated in the 1st Amendment to the Constitution the following: "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."
When the writers of this amendment wrote it they were probably thinking of different sects of Christianity and perhaps Judaism. However, I've also been told that the level of church attendance around the time of the Revolution and during the writing of the Constitution was almost as low as it is today. A generous estimate is that 20% of our population is in worshiping in some house of worship in any given week. Some of the low attendance at that time might be attributed to people living in rural areas without access to churches, but it's my understanding that church attendance in the cities was not high either. That low attendance might not have been a sign of lack of faith, although it certainly was indicative of a lack of public worship. If you ask Americans today if they believe in God and if they pray the percentages are pretty high, somewhere between 85% and 90% is usually quoted. But that doesn't mean that they are all Christian, or attending a Christian church, or practicing a Christian life.
Just because government declares a religion the "official" state religion doesn't necessarily mean the citizens embrace that religion. Until the year 2000 the Lutheran church was the official church of Sweden. Yet I just went to the official website for Sweden and this is what it said: "In practice, Sweden is very secularized. The Church of Sweden is Evangelical Lutheran;[it] co-exists with many other beliefs."
Some Christians think the government persecutes Christianity, citing instances such as Christmas displays removed from city squares. Yet the school year still revolves around Christian holidays, especially Christmas. Should we be closing school for holidays celebrated by other religions? Or, should we Christians, like most other religions, be confronted with the choice to send our kids to school on a holy day or keep them home to observe it?
If our government was going to promote Christianity, I have two concerns:
1. Who gets to decide what kind of Christianity is acceptable? and
2. If a citizen chooses some other kind of religion or no religion, is it acceptable to ask the government to promote that too?
The Declaration of Independence says "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." If I am a citizen who chooses not to be religious, am I receiving equal treatment if I am subjected to government promotion of religion?
Perhaps we need to be careful what we are praying for. A prayer for the United States to "once again be a Christian nation" might be answered in the affirmative. But what if that Christianity wasn't YOUR brand of Christianity?
Hmmmmmm......
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