Trending
Robert T. Rodkey
Julian
This commentary is to counter the assertions of Assist. Prof. David Mislin's opinion editorial, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, titled, "2026 isn't the first time Christians have tried to claim the United States as their own." This seemingly innocuous title needs to be examined.
Back in the 1970s, when I was in college, the professors were telling us everything we ever learned about American History was wrong. That our government was purely secular and there was this high wall of separation between church and state. In one of my courses in Religion in America series, we were told that most of the Founding Fathers were atheists, agnostics and deists. In political science we were exposed to Marxism, The Communist Manifesto and the evils of Capitalism. We were the ugly Americans. This has been amplified and repeated for over half a century.
The author makes an assertion that, "Christians have tried to claim," is revealing. He is telling you the country never was a Christian nation. His message has dates and facts of events which were accurate, however some of his interpretations were wrong. Christians were not trying to claim, but were reaffirming that America's founding was uniquely and unequivocally Christian. Yes, there has been an appeal to Almighty God by Christians in times of crisis because that is what Christians are supposed to do. In his concluding paragraphs, he claims that it has been faith and fear that have inspired efforts to declare the U.S. a Christian nation.
In typical fashion and revisionist style the author frames the story with the title then interprets the historical events to support his claim. The author conveniently never makes any reference to quotes by our Founding Fathers.
The late D. James Kennedy, Ph.D, wrote in an article titled "America, a Christian Nation," and said "that is a concept that has been so systematically blotted from the collective memory of this country as to sound in the ears of most people in America to be an alien philosophy -- an intrusion of religion into the tranquility of a secular nation." In another article on the same topic he noted "Charles Hodge, the notable theologian from Princeton Theological Seminary, that said, "the proposition that the United States of America is a Christian and Protestant nation is not so much the assertion of principle, as a statement of a fact."
In 1892's Trinity decision, the U.S. Supreme Court with a unanimous ruling, said that the documentary evidence of the Christian influence was of such magnitude, "it would take hours to even quote it." 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."
John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of the United State said, "highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in on indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. Patrick Henry that had the fiery speech that said "Give me Liberty or Give me Death," became governor of Virginia also said, "It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Professors Donald Lutz and Charles Hyneman researched 15,000 documents over 10 years to see what our Founding Fathers quoted most. The results were the four most quoted were the Bible, British Philosopher John Lock and British Judge Sir William Blackstone and French Philosopher Baron Montesquiere. The Bible was quoted 4 times more than Montesquiere and Black and 12 times more than Locke.
In another study by Dr. Thomas S. Kidd at Baylor University concluded that our Founding Fathers, having varied personal religious beliefs had a deep understanding of the Bible. The scholars associated with the research came to three major findings. One called Saturated Rhetoric: The Founders referenced the King James Version of the Bible frequently and their fellow citizens easily recognized the insinuations.
Second was Public Virtue and the Republic: Founders, like John Adams, second President of the United States, as well as others believed the Bible to be "the most republican book in the world." That the scriptures teach good moral character and these instructions were necessary to maintain a virtuous public in order to have self-governance.
Third was The Complexity of the founders: like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson the most noted Deists, because they held unorthodox theological views, but at the same time frequently quoting scriptures, because they valued biblical morality.
Of the church affiliated individuals at the time of our country's founding in 1776 data shows that 97% were Protestant, 2% were Catholic and 1% were Jewish or other. Even so, Deists like Benjamin Franklin unaffiliated to any but friend to all thought scriptures were so essential to public life that they needed to be taught in schools.
So, just be careful not to get too enamored with the authors, when you read their articles, just because they have fancy titles or pedigree. I will leave you with this from Poor Richard's November 1750, "He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages, So ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on."