Is America Really a Christian Nation?
It’s been debated over the years. Is America a Christian nation? If not, was it ever a Christian nation or has this nation always been a secular nation at heart? These days in this debate it seems more and more of the loudest voices claim the United States is certainly not a Christian nation today and many even suggest that the idea that America was a Christian nation at any point is just a myth. So, what is the truth?
What Do You Mean “Christian Nation”?
First we really should define what it means to say that America is a Christian nation. Certain countries, like Iran, in the Middle East are called Islamic nations. When people refer to these nations as Islamic nations, they mean that the nation has an official religion, Islam, and that the government of that nation is a Theocracy. In other words, the heads of the Islamic religion in the country are the head of the government and the laws of the country are determined by the religious, Islamic laws.
When people refer to America as a Christian nation, though, they are not using the term in the same way as described above for the Islamic nations. Nobody is saying that America is a theocracy (other than some on the extreme fringes). What people generally mean is that the vast majority of the society of the United States is made up of Christians and that the culture and societal norms of the U.S. are Christian. So, when people refer to America as a “Christian nation” it would probably have been better to use the phrase “nation of Christians”.
So, what is it? Christian or not?
As a professor at an online Christian College, I like to deal in facts. Guess what: America is a profoundly Christian nation! And now we have the statistics to prove it. A poll from Pew Research as found on USA Today, has found that over 75% of Americans self-identify as Christians. A little under 8% of Americans claim another religion and 17% are either unaffiliated or did not answer the question. Even California and New York are at or above 70% self-identified Christians. Very interesting! Isn't it nice to see the true facts?
(Note: If you look at the poll, you’ll see Pew putting the Christians at close to 80% as they included Mormon and Jehovah’s Witness as Christians, I moved them into the “Other Religions” category.)
Now ask yourself, why are we allowing our government and special interest groups such as the ACLU to take God out of our culture and schools? We need to step up, people! Send this all over the nation and the world. Let them all see! Let us not be part of the "silent majority." We need to speak out! This is very encouraging news!
