Rep. Mike Johnson, the newly elected Republican House speaker, used to conduct a seminar in churches premised on the idea that the United States is a “Christian nation.” This ministry, as he has referred to it, is yet more evidence that Johnson is committed to a hardcore Christian fundamentalism that shapes his views of politics and government.
The seminar, titled “Answers for Our Times: Government, Culture, and Christianity,” was organized by Onward Christian Education Services, Inc., a company owned by his wife, Kelly Johnson, a Christian counselor and anti-abortion activist who calls herself a “leader in the pro-family movement.” The website for her counseling service—which was taken down shortly after Johnson became speaker—described the seminar, which featured both her and Johnson, as exploring several questions, such as, “What is happening in America and how do we fix it?” The list includes this query: “Can our heritage as a Christian nation be preserved?” There were different versions of the seminar running from two-hour-long lectures to retreats lasting two days.
The closest America comes is in the Declaration of Independence:
“Their Creator” is about as non-denominational as it gets. It’s not like it’s saying “endowed by Jesus God.” It’s more of a generic “men are born with these rights” statement than any statement of religion.
Yet the Christian Fundamentalists will point to that and say “See? That means God and clearly it refers to our God so that means it’s a Christian country!”
Oh, and a big reason why the US is secular? We broke off from England where the king was the head of the Church. If you weren’t part of the Church of England, you were persecuted against. The founding fathers were trying to avoid that in the US.
Yep, good points. Even though the Declaration holds no legal bearing, they will try to point to that (but ignore the Treaty of Tripoli, LOL). Though I think some of today’s Christopaths would probably burn the Deist Founders as heretics if they had the chance.
Lastly, yes, the Founders were well aware of the worst impulses and excesses of religion that is given any power, given that the Inquisition was still going during their lifetimes. Given that many were Deists, surely they had to know that kind of heresy [1] would not be tolerated by the most fanatical of xtians.
[1] - Heresy literally means “choice”. Kind of ironic that today’s right wing that has co-opted terms like “liberty” and “freedom” are the very ones that would be America’s own Morality Police, zealously trying to stamp out any and all heresy (choice) if they had the chance. Also, the same bunch constantly concern troll over things like “Shariah Law” - more irony, I guess, since they only differ on small matters of doctrine dealing with unverifiable superstitions, but don’t really differ at all on the outcomes and the methods on who should be subjugated (women, LGBTQ, the “other” faiths).