A “Christian” nation?
Written on December 3, 2006 – 8:40 pm | by Ed Warkentin
As teachers, sometimes we are more in a position to define our nation’s beginnings than others in society. This is particularly true of teachers who teach American History (5th, 8th, and 10th grades).
Some Christians (teachers or not) are tempted to define the U.S. as a “Christian nation”, and take this to the extreme. By this I mean that they take passages of the Bible intended for God’s chosen people, Israel, and reading them as if it were written to modern America.
Taking verses or passages of a text, and lifting them out of context and using them to make them appear what we want them to say, rather than what the author originally meant is called prooftexting – a dangerous, yet common thing. We need to read the Bible, or any other book, for that matter, with context in mind. If we are going to quote from it, base a decision on it, or use it to convince someone of something, then the author’s original intention must be thoroughly considered. Thus, many modern American Christians have read passages which actually refer to Israel as if they are talking about 21st Century United States.
Sadly, in my view, this leads many to a misguided form of patriotism that mixes allegiance to God and allegiance to our nation to a dangerous degree.
The notion that America was founded on the Bible, on Biblical principles, or that our judicial system was based on the Old Testament law is also wishful thinking.
These things have long bothered me.
Recently, a book by John Meacham called American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation explores this issue. Turns out, many of the Founding Fathers weren’t Christians at all – many were merely deists, believing in a deity, but not the God of the Bible (Christianity). Others were actually atheists!
John Meacham was interviewed on NPR recently about the book. Listen to the interview here.
We should have an accurate view of our nation’s beginnings, neither imagining the Founding Fathers as 100% Christians, nor 100% atheists.
While I haven’t yet read Meacham’s book, I have certainly heard & read enough to make me interested in what he has to say.
I hope I have described the book accurately. I hope to dig in to it during the Christmas break, so perhaps I will have a more substantial review in a future blog post.
Tags: books, Christianity
