Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.~Even President Bush made it clear that our country is a place for people of any faith or of no faith at all.
~Examples of anti-Christian values and practices common in America include: Homosexuality (Including now gay marriage in four states), Premarital sex, Adultery, Divorce, Contraception, Abortion, Pornography, Blasphemy, Militarism, Secularism, Anti-authoritarianism, Disrespect of parents, Drug use, Schools and media teaching anti-Christian values and ideas.
~Countries can’t be Christian. Only individuals can.
~The Constitution specifically forbids the notion that we are a country built on any particular religion. ~The founding documents make very little reference to religion and specify no particular one in any prominent way.
~This country was founded by people fleeing religious persecution and seeking the freedom to practice the religion of their consciences.
~The Supreme Court has been clear again and again that any law must derive its justification from non-religious motivations and reasons. Any law based primarily or even largely on religion will be struck down. In essence, the law must stand on secular reasons or not at all.
Links:
Is America a Christian Nation? (Catholiceducation.org)
2 comments:
America has never been, and will never be, a “Christian” nation in any significant sense. Among other things, America, like every other fallen, demonically-oppressed nation (see Lk. 4:5-7; 2 Cor. 4:4; I Jn. 5:19; Rev. 13), is incapable of loving its enemies, doing good to those who mistreat it or blessing those who persecute it (Lk. 6:27-35). By applying the term “Christian” to America, we’ve massively watered down its meaning — which undoubedly helps explain why the vast majority of American Christians assume being “Christian” is perfectly compatible with hating and killing your national enemies if and when your earthly Commander and Chief asks you to. The sooner the label “Christian” gets divorced form this country, the better. It provides hope that someday the word “Christian” might actually mean “Christ-like” once again.
The “Christian” element of American culture was never deeper than the thin veneer of a shared civic religion. A major problem Kingdom people have faced on the mission field of America is that the majority of people mistook the civic religion for the real thing. So it is that so many think that being “Christian” is focused on preserving the civic religion (e.g. fighting for prayer before sports events, keeping the ten commandments on government buildings, holding onto a “Christian” definition of marriage within our government, etc.). Not only this, but this veneer of Christianity causes Jesus followers not to notice the many ways foundational assumptions that permeate American culture are diametrically opposed to the values of the Kingdom. If the civic religion of Christianity were to die, Kingdom people would be less tempted to associate Christianity with symbolic civic functions and would become more aware of how the Kingdom sharply contrasts with foundational aspects of American culture.
Some more links on the topic:
http://delicious.com/naum/christiannation
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