Is the U.S. a Christian Nation?

• “Yes”

  

  “The Framers Were Inspired and Motivated by Scripture”

• “Objection”

  

  “A Comment More Than an Objection”
  

A Comment More Than an Objection

William Martin, Ph.D.

Baker Institute, Rice University

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This is not really an objection, but a comment. As I noted in the first of my arguments ("What Do You Mean By That?"), I do not dispute--nor lament--the historical fact that Christianity has, from the arrival of the first settlers to the present, had enormous influence in American social and political life. Some of that has been unfortunate, but much has been quite positive and, as a practicing Christian, I am grateful for that. My argument here is that the Framers of the Constitution deliberately intended to found a secular state, in which government 1) guaranteed its citizens the right to exercise freely their religious beliefs or unbelief as long as that exercise did not infringe on the rights of others, and 2) that it would not offer assistance to or express a preference for any religion, for religion over non-religion, or for no religion. They believed both religion and government would be better off with that wall of separation between them. I agree.

Next Argument

"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

"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

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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