America is a child of the Age of Enlightenment. This Age stands in contrast to the Dark Ages in two intertwined respects: A determination to independently determine the nature of the universe through the scientific method and a rejection of the faith and hierarchies of the church-dominated Dark Ages. In order to come into existence, America had to turn her back on religion. How else could the revolutionaries have fought against a divinely chosen king?

america is a christian nation only if being one means just saying so. if, however, if it means giving up all you have, taking up your cross, and following him, i'd say the american christian is a rare thing indeed.

What the f*ck? Who was this damned Jesus? A radical? We don't like communist scum like that in America, where consumerism and free enterprise MUST be the true faith.

The very idea of incorporating Christ's teachings into actual law strikes at the core of his teaching; religion and theocracy make hypocritical Pharisees. Jesus wants your heart, not laws telling people how to act.

However, what is true, and metaphysical about our country, is that we recognize (or at least, on paper we do) that individuals possess rights - regardless of their government. The collective does not determine our rights - they are inalienable to every human individual, and it doesn't take belief in a Creator to see the revolutionary and awesome significance of that truth.

"Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it."

And perhaps someday some one will, and then we'll find out.

What is maddening is that such detailed refreshers are needed because some are so insistent on ignoring the facts. It was taught in my grade school history classes that the country was founded by people escaping lands in which church and government were one. People came here to be free, and the government was built on principals of freedom, particularly including freedom to worship as one pleased and to prevent church leaders controlling government. These teachings, which everything I've learned since confirm, were not in Berkley CA or such; this was in the heart of the bible belt. The fact the government didn't start out with the word God on its money, in its anthems and the like, indeed should be a clue too. However, most I've spoken with didn't even realize God hadn't always been one the money.

One doesn't even have to look at history -- how well are things going today in countries where government and religion are one? How are women treated, how is anyone treated who is a bit different or who doesn't agree with the church? We should be proud to live in a nation that has no particular religion, but does happen to be mostly populated by Christians.

The United States of America: a nation that mostly sustains a government seperate from religion, at least until so many of its citizens forget history that they don't understand what a tremendous gift that is.

Although I'd agree with you that the United States is not now or ever was a Christian Nation. I don't think that the Judeo-Christian influences can be overlooked. Your article is very black and white with no middle ground. It's overly simplistic to discount the influences of personal beliefs. Most of the founding fathers were christians. Even Jefferson thought the new testament minus the supernatural was a good moral base. Those "values" that we share are articulated fairly well in Judeo-Christian beliefs.

To that fine truth, so easily uttered, and eloquently so, by President and Mr. Lind, we must proudly and audaciously add others, equally true: that we are a nation of peace and goodwill, a shining beacon of freedom and democracy, with liberty and justice for all.

The Native American influence, through the pre-existing confederation of nations in the Iroquois Confederacy, is often overlooked. The Iroquois and framers of our Constitution such as Benjamin Franklin had dealings, negotiations and conversations of various sorts.

One author whose name I forget made the case that Europe provided no model for the new American nation, especially the focus on freedom. But the Iroquois Confederacy did, including their own constitution and greater rights and equalities.

And the Iroquois sure weren't Christian!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois

There is actually a very good YouTube video where Obama explains, in a law school professor manner, the intersection of religion and government under our Constitution. In that speech he explains why we are not a Christian Nation. As a law school graduate myself, I understand exactly what he is saying.

Unfortunately, the wingnuts have cut the very good speech down to just 17 seconds--the "we are not a Christian nation" portion--and posted this totally out of context portion...to inflame hate.

Sorry, meant to post the link to the YouTube view...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXcvbnzNIjg

The values and morals of ANY religion have absolutely no place in politics with respect establishing public policy or writing legislation. We need to focus on ETHICAL behavior and leave morals in the church and within every individual's home.

We were never a "Christian" nation. Neither are we a "Caucasian" nation or an "Anglo" nation. The notion that one group of religions is more American than any other is contrary to the tenets established by our founding fathers when they endorsed the "separation of church and state" as a fundamental concept in the US Constitution.

Jake,

You are so very correct about what WAS taught in grade school. But I bet you're north of 50 now, because it hasn't been taught for decades. No, this isn't some left-wing or right-wing conspiracy by wannabe Charter School principals or union radicals. It's that not much of anything has been taught for decades to any students except a few gifted. Not much except "stay in your seat", "be nice to each other" and "go to the office"

Families have abdicated their socialization responsibilities to the TV, so many kids have the attention span of a gnat. While many teachers working today are dedicated and skilled, a great shift happened to education in the late 1960's. When talented women got opportunities for dignified work other than teaching but society didn't raise teaching salaries to remain competitive, the profession was flooded with people who couldn't do much else. And of course, there is the "I don't have any kids, so why should I pay to educate other peoples'?" crowd of narcissists.

So for many reasons a cravenly selfish nation has pissed away its future because it has failed to educate its children -- ALL of its children. I'm glad I'm old but I fear for my grandkids. They will need to learn Mandarin to get ahead, and it's DAMN difficult if one doesn't hear it as a youngun'.