The U.S. Constitution doesn’t mention Christianity or any specific religion. The Declaration of Independence famously proclaims that people’s rights come from a “Creator” and “Nature’s God” — but doesn’t specify who that is.
Yet large numbers of Americans believe the founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian nation, and many believe it should be one.
Such views are especially strong among Republicans and their white evangelical base. Already such views are being voiced by supporters of Donald Trump amid his bid to recapture the presidency.
The idea of a Christian America means different things to different people. Pollsters have found a wide circle of Americans who hold general God-and-country sentiments.
But within that is a smaller, hardcore group who also check other boxes in surveys — such as that the U.S. Constitution was inspired by God and that the federal government should declare the U.S. a Christian nation, advocate Christian values or stop enforcing the separation of church and state.
For those embracing that package of beliefs, it’s more likely they’ll
have unfavorable views toward immigrants, dismiss or downplay the impact
of anti-Black discrimination and believe Trump was a good or great
president, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey.
This latter group reflects a movement widely called Christian nationalism,
which fuses American and Christian values, symbols and identity and seeks
to privilege Christianity in public life.
The idea of Christian nationhood fills Americans’ need for an origin story, a belief that “we’ve come here for something special, and that we’re here for God’s work.”
Eric McDaniel, an associate professor of government at the University of Texas.
It creates a sense of “national innocence,” so adherents resist
confronting uglier parts of U.S. history, he said.
The belief connects to other beliefs past and present, from the Manifest
Destiny doctrine that justified continental conquest to Trump’s America
First and Make America Great Again slogans, said McDaniel, a co-author of
“The Everyday Crusade: Christian Nationalism in American Politics.”
Trump has echoed some of these ideas, vowing to bar immigrants who “don’t
like our religion.”
Many conservatives and Republicans embrace the idea of Christian national
origins, even as many reject the “Christian nationalist” label.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has proclaimed that America is and
was founded as a Christian nation and that Thomas Jefferson was “divinely
inspired” in his writing of the Declaration of Independence, according to
a 2015 sermon that drew wider attention with his recent election as
speaker.
WallBuilders, an organization Johnson credits for its “profound influence”
on him, has spread materials claiming that “revisionist” historians have
downplayed America’s Christian origins, but the group has been widely
criticized for historically dubious claims.
A lawsuit on its behalf is challenging the Washington Metropolitan Area
Transit Authority’s refusal to run its bus ads touting the purported
beliefs of founders.
Vocal supporters of Trump have described current politics as spiritual
warfare for the destiny of a country that former Trump aide Steve Bannon
described as the “New Jerusalem” and conservative activist Charlie Kirk
said was founded by “courageous Bible believing Christians.”
Recent Texas, Oklahoma and Kentucky Republican Party platforms proclaim
the country was founded on “Judeo-Christian” principles.
The Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, said
he doesn’t identify as a Christian nationalist, but does believe America
was founded as a Christian nation.
“I’m not claiming that all of our founders were Christians,” he said in an
interview. “Some were deists, some were atheists, but the majority were
Christians. I’m also not saying that non-Christians shouldn’t have the
same rights as Christians in our country.”
But he said “there’s a case to be made that the Judeo-Christian faith was
the foundation for our laws and many of our principles.” He cited founder
John Jay — the first Supreme Court chief justice — asserting it was
Americans’ duty “in our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians
for their rulers.”
Jeffress said he doesn’t believe America is privileged by God but, as with
any nation, “God will continue to bless America to the extent that we
follow him.”
Anthea Butler, chair of religious studies at the University of
Pennsylvania, said history precludes any idea of a Christian nation.
“It doesn’t mean that Christians weren’t a part of the founding of this
nation,” said Butler, a historian of African American and American
religion. “What it does mean is that if you believe that America is a
Christian nation and you happen to subscribe to Christian nationalism as a
part of that, you’re buying into a myth.”
That America-as-a-Christian-nation idea is “a trope of exclusion,” she
said, centering American history on white Anglo-Saxon Protestants as “the
ones that are willing and should be running the country both then and
now.”
That justifies viewing others as “heathens,” including the enslaved Blacks
and the Native Americans whose land was being taken.
Those arguing for a Christian America are generally not historians and not really talking about history — they’re talking politics, said John Fea, author of the 2011 book “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?”
“They appeal to a false view of the founding, or at least a partial view
of the founding, to advance political agendas of the present,” said Fea, a
history professor at Messiah University, a Christian university in
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. “These agendas are built on a very weak
historical foundation.”
The belief in America’s Christian origins is mainstream.
Six in 10 U.S. adults said the founders intended America to be a Christian
nation, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey. About 45% said the
U.S. should be a Christian nation. Four in five white evangelical
Protestants agreed with each assertion.
By some measures, Democratic President Joe Biden might be seen in that
category, citing the importance of his Catholic faith and calling for
God’s blessings on America and its troops — but also invoking shared
values “whether you’re Christian, whether you’re Jewish, Hindu, Muslim,
Buddhist, or any other faith, or no faith at all. ”
One-third of U.S. adults surveyed in 2023 said God intended America to be
a promised land for European Christians to set an example to the world,
according to a Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI)/Brookings report.
Such surveys have found a smaller, more ardent group of believers in
Christian nationhood. In another survey, PRRI identified about 10% of
Americans as the most committed adherents.
The Constitution prohibits any religious test for office, and its First
Amendment bars congressional establishment of any religion, along with
guaranteeing free exercise of religion.
Defenders of Christian nationhood can point out that several of the 13
original states funded Protestant churches at their origins, though within
a few decades all had followed Virginia’s example in halting the practice.
They can point to Christian rhetoric by some founders, such as John Jay,
Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams.
But several key founders would never pass a test of orthodoxy. Thomas
Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin viewed Jesus as a great
teacher but not as God.
“Could you find stuff where John Adams talks about religion being the
foundation of the republic, like George Washington said in his farewell
address?” asked Fea. “Are there states where Christianity was privileged?
Yes, you can find all those things. You can also find things to show the
Constitution wants to keep religion and government separate.”
Some secular activists today advocate for an opposite view — that U.S.
founders sought to banish religion from public life. Fea said that also
goes too far: “When you’re dealing with the 18th century, nuance and
complexity is essential,” he said.
