The Partisan Paradox X: The United States Is Not A Christian Nation

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times, "The United States is a Christian country/nation."

Eh, no, it’s not. Not by a country mile.

I love this country but the United States is no more a Christian nation than the Roman Empire was after Constantine in the 4th Century when he turned the Roman Empire into the Holy Roman Empire (it was neither holy or Christian). The United States is a religiously neutral Constitutional / Democratic Republic. The Church is God’s Christian nation, not the United States. We need to get our act together in the church. We are not a Christian nation and we need to stop saying it. There have been exceptionally profound Christian influences in the United States at varying points in its history (the Great Awakenings) but we’ve never been a Christian nation per se. Since the arrival of Christ, we must not look upon any nation as God’s chosen nation or even upon America as a "Christian nation.” It is extraordinarily dangerous to say this as it implies some form of moral high ground for the United States who of late (the last 50-60 years) has done little to warrant it.

Some people are distressed over the fact that America is moving too far away from it's ‘Christian’ founding father’s roots. I've got news for them, many of the founding ‘fathers' of the US were not Christian. They were either Universalist, Deist or what is now called Theistic Rationalists. Although they gave off the appearance of Christianity, they were likely not orthodox Christians at all. They include: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, John Tyler, Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen, Alexander Hamilton and probably George Washington based on his writing. It is interesting to note though that none declared themselves atheist either. Admittedly, some founding fathers were genuine Christians but it was essentially a mixed bag…just as it is today.

The New Testament teaches unmistakably that Christ set aside national, ethnic and political barriers and that He has chosen to fulfill His central purposes in history through the Church not through a particular nation or political party. He even used the brutal pagan nations like the Assyrians and Babylonians to complete His will at times. This certainly didn't make them His nations, merely His tools. The church transcends all such boundaries in terms of geography, sovereignty and spirituality. To align Christianity to any specific nation and make Christianity dependent on that nation’s reputation or survival…well, we basically attach a ballast to a balloon. We give our faith a black eye. We are defacing Christianity. Killing it? No. Tarnishing? Yes. Gold needs no embellishment…it is already lustrous and beautiful. Yet we see it on a routine basis in the public eye in the United States. Sadly, in God's house not the White House.

The evangelical church of the 20th century rightly criticized the liberal churches for abandoning their responsibility to proclaim the Gospel and, turning instead, to the "social gospel." Ironically, evangelicals today are doing the very same thing which they condemned liberal churches for doing by seeking a better society, not through Gospel proclamation and intelligent discussion of biblical truth, but through political power strategies, legislation, and efforts to move the unbelieving majority to live like Christians. God chooses who becomes part of His nation of holy people, not the other way around.

It seems that the modern church's primary concern is no longer accurately preaching a God-centered Gospel and its implications for both pagans and believers. Instead it fixates on abortion, traditional values, and a romanticized view of America as a "Christian nation”. Instead of effecting a change via Scripture and prayer we turn to the newest charlatan promising the newest social improvement or legislation that appeals to us.

While abortion and other moral issues are important issues, they are not the Gospel nor is it a message that mankind most needs to hear. The politics and politicians that purvey their ‘Clear Vision of the Future in 2020!” are highly unlikely to spread the vision of the Gospel. So why are so many Christians supporting them? So why are we so dogmatically and zealously pursing the support of politicians? Why are Christians more versed in conservative or liberal politics than in the writings of both the Old and New Testament? Mostly because of a poor understanding of Scripture. I find this fact disturbing. Christians would be well-served to  repent of their intense involvement in politics.

"That’s one of the weaknesses of the evangelical movement today – that it is so obsessed with politics. It believes that there’s got to be a political solution to everything . . . You don’t change a culture by passing laws. You change a culture by changing people’s habits. That’s why the Gospel is so central to the possibilities of cultural reformation in American life (Interview of Charles Colson "Running the Race," Rutherford [Journal], August 1996, p.15).

The early Christians recognized that "the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh," but spiritual in nature (2 Corinthians 10:3-4); because they recognized that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood," in politics but against demonic forces (Ephesians 6:12); because they recognized that their true citizenship was in heaven (Philippians 3:20); because they viewed themselves as "strangers and aliens" within this world (1 Peter 2:11); and because they desired a "heavenly country" (Hebrews 11:16), they did not concentrate their efforts to pursue political action here now.

"Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation" ~Psalm 146:3

"Thus says the Lord, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength’" ~Jeremiah 17:5

"My kingdom is not of this world" ~John 18:36

The Lord of history has not aligned His purposes with the particular values of any given earthly country, civilization or civilian. Only a divine and heavenly One. Jesus Christ. This would certainly carry over to the politicians within said nation inevitably doomed to the dustbin of history. This includes America. Just like all other empires throughout history. All became footnotes at the foot of the Cross. Empires rise and fall but the Son of God is risen and remains so.

Finally, we must remember that political solutions are not the solution. The lesson Scripture and history teaches is that political power and legislation can never reform the human heart. Only the Gospel can. It can turn a heart of stone to a heart of flesh and raise the dead from the grave. Politics is not the eternal or permanent solution to anything only temporary and temporal. We cannot afford to look to humans or human government for providing the answers to the moral and ethical problems that we face. That is why God created a priesthood in the Old Testament and gave His Son in the New Testament. He gave his Son so that we as Christians could be His royal priesthood. A nation of them. Holy. The Church. Invariably we must look to Scripture and the God who is portrayed within its pages.