Is the U.S. a Christian Nation?

• “No”

  

  “The Wall of Separation”

• No Objections Yet

The Wall of Separation

William Martin, Ph.D.

Baker Institute, Rice University

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In 1802, the second year of his presidency, Thomas Jefferson wrote a famous letter to the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptist Association, in which he said, “I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.” Some, including the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, have contended that this note should not be regarded as a seriously considered statement of Jefferson’s views. But Jefferson told his Attorney General at the time that the Danbury letter “furnishes an occasion, too, which I have long wished to find, of saying why I do not proclaim fastings and thanksgivings, as my predecessors did.” In the original draft of the letter, which you can read on the Web, Jefferson explained why he did not want to proclaim fast days: "Congress thus inhibited from acts respecting religion, and the executive authorized only to execute their acts, I have refrained from prescribing even occasional performances of devotion."

Evidence

Link

Jefferson's Notes on the Letter to the Danbury Baptists

Link

Jefferson's Notes 2

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Correspondence Between Danbury Baptists and Jefferson

Next Argument

"No" William Martin PhD

• What Do You Mean By That?
  11
• Jefferson, Madison, and the Separation of Church and State
  9
• We the People
  3
• Public Reaction Was Mixed
  3
• Early Presidents Regarded the New Nation as a Secular State
  5
• The Wall of Separation
  5
• The Father of the Constitution Agreed
  6
• Repeated Attempts to Reverse the Framers' Intention Have Failed
  3
• The Wall of Separation Has Protected Both Church and State
  6
• Any Number Can Play
  3

"Yes" Dr Paul S Vickery

• Judaeo-Christian Beliefs Form Basis for Constitution and Legal Code
  2
• There is No Coercion to Follow a Particular Faith
  1
• We Have Become Ignorant of the Founding Principles of This Nation
  1
• The First Civil Government and Institution of Higher Learning
  2
• Let’s Look at What Some of the Founders Wrote
  2
• The Framers Were Inspired and Motivated by Scripture
  1

Most Objections

• Let’s Look at What Some of the Founders Wrote
  2
• The Framers Were Inspired and Motivated by Scripture
  1

U.S. a Christian Nation?

• Yes
• No

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