Is America a Christian Country Founded on Christianity? - Comments

Wow, this was excellently written. From a personal perspective, as a Christian, I thoroughly believe in keeping Christianity in the heart of our nation. It's fine the way it is- why uproot our Pledge of Allegiance now? It's ridiculous and pointless. Nonetheless, you most definitely should publish an article on another site as well- a blog or a website or a magazine. You WILL go far if you do.

Yes, many of the groups of people that first settled in America were Christian - Protestants, Quakers, etc, BUT
The FOUNDATION of America is freedom OF and freedom FROM religion. This is in the first amendment. It does not matter whether or not the founding fathers were themselves Christian - they all wanted the same thing: THE FIRST AMENDMENT (the most important amendment) to be upheld.
THE MAIN REASON PEOPLE MOVED HERE were because they were persecuted religiously overseas. They wanted to build a society that would respect THEIR and OTHERS beliefs, not one that necessarily supported ONLY theirs (because there were also differing types of Christianities at the time) specifically.
Now, freedom of religion is pretty self explanatory. Freedom FROM religion is a term that is not as popular and a lot of people I've gotten into discussions with have not realized this is even is an idea in our constitution. Basically, religion should NOT infringe on other people's rights. Yes, there is an overwhelming Christian population in the US, but there are also large atheist, Muslim, and Jewish populations. It is the government's duty, as it is set up, to protect the rights of the minorities. (Also why gay rights should be upheld: they are a minority! Also, take religion out of the context and no one can offer any rational reasons as to why it is wrong.)
This is why GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION should be separated. Governments should be secular. Religion often times gets in the way of rationalization and protection of minorities.
Making students say the pledge and "under god" is not adhering to freedom FROM religion for example, if you are atheist. THIS IS GOING AGAINST YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS OF EXPRESSION. This, in my opinion, should not be legal. If they can't force me to say a prayer in a public school, they should not expect me to say the pledge every morning with this clearly theist addition.

BTW I am actually religious, but I don't believe in ORGANIZED religion, which has been the source of too much fucking heartache and war. And while I do believe in God, this does not mean that I can't rationalize and understand that other people may want to live their lives differently. This is NOT up to me to decide, it is not up to the government either as long as it is not infringing on OTHER people's rights.
OH and PS sorry I accidentally clicked submit before I was done writing, teehee.

We came over as Catholics saying we were going to "convert" natives, but we didn't bring priests we brought soldiers. So. No. We had a lot of Protestants in the early Americas. (another form of Christianity). Yet that didn't effect politics like many idealists would hope. We had to use the reasoning that Africans were less than human to appease the mass religious population when inflicting slavery upon an entire race of people. We discriminated against indians, mexicans, any immigrant, anyone that wasn't "white" which is concept, not a biological reality by the way. Separation of Church and state eventually... I think as much as we like the idea that were a Christian nation (implying that we have morals) is the high ground America likes to take when really were just about money. If that were a religion thats what we'd be. You could argue Capitalism would be that.

@ bmroland
"I am a Christian and will openly tell anyone what I believe and point out that something that they are doing is not correct according to what I believe"

That's why both sides can't be friends.

I think that saying that America is a Christian country because the 'founding fathers' were Christians is a moot argument. By that logic it should be Native American religions which should be the country's mainstay. Christianity was brought to America, and has not always been there. I say that the country should be neutral and not clamour to one religion, and just let everyone have their beliefs as long as they aren't harming anyone else.

This is an interesting and very well written article. Good job.

@ Collin Berend
Well, since not everyone shares the same opinion when it comes to "Does God exist?" Then we will never have an answer to any question regarding faith. Well, not until we are dead at least. And at that point, it won't even matter. And by writing an article trying to answer the question "America with or without religion?" wouldn't answer anything at all. In fact, it would only add to the debate on one side or the other. So instead of trying to find an "answer", just try writing an informational article expressing both sides of the argument ^-^ let your readers decide on their own what the "answer" is.

bmroland:

I think we should all just love each other, to be honest. I am a Christian and will openly tell anyone what I believe and point out that something that they are doing is not correct according to what I believe. The only reason people are debating "America with or without religion" is because there are some extremists who give a bad reputation to the rest. I would never force my religion upon others, but I don't want someone telling me I cannot express my own beliefs or have the beliefs of others forced upon me (*cough cough* evolutionism *cough cough*). Why can't we be friends? why can't we be friends?

I am half coaxed to say you put a new notion in my head as what to write in regards to another article. Maybe even able to answer such a question as that.

I think we should all just love each other, to be honest. I am a Christian and will openly tell anyone what I believe and point out that something that they are doing is not correct according to what I believe. The only reason people are debating "America with or without religion" is because there are some extremists who give a bad reputation to the rest. I would never force my religion upon others, but I don't want someone telling me I cannot express my own beliefs or have the beliefs of others forced upon me (*cough cough* evolutionism *cough cough*). Why can't we be friends? why can't we be friends?

I definitely think that there's an overwhelming amount of religion in American politics/society, especially for a country claiming to be founded on religious freedom. As you've stated, the references to God in the pledge of allegiance, as well as on our currency, swearing on a bible, etc. Then there are the laws that have been passed at least partially based on religious beliefs, such as gay marriage and abortion bans. Of course, these two things aren't completely religion-based, but it's rare that religion doesn't come up when debating one or the other. Someone will point out that the bible says that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and a lot of times that seems to be their only reason for being against gay marriage (other than just saying "it's wrong"; a belief that in most cases has stemmed from religion in one way or another (be it directly or just from growing up in a society that portrays it as such due to other people's religious beliefs or simply ignorance). Abortion beliefs can also stem from religion, though most of the argument has to do with when life really starts (at birth or at conception), this seems to be something people turn to either religion or science to try to answer. and it's not like I don't expect people to let their personal religion shape their individual beliefs or the way they choose to live their own lives, but when they think it's okay to let these beliefs come into effect when it comes to laws that govern an entire nation, state, or local group of people, it's a problem.