The Decline and Fall of Christian America???

It seems our President and Newsweek share the same view on this matter. I found it insulting that Newsweek, which has been showing its ideology so clearly this year, chose this week to put out this headline and to do it in the shape of the Cross, but Newsweek is just a liberal magazine that masquerades as a news magazine, (evidenced by many of its covers such as one saying we are all socialists now.)

When our President takes the same position, I am struck deeply.

It is my opinion that this nation IS still a christian nation. And I am disgusted by the ideology of our President when he made that statement. He is our President.. our leader.. He pledged to uphold the Constitution and it is my opinion that in this statement he shows that he is undermining it at its very foundation.

Even so, I disagree with their entire premise. America is not and never has been a theocracy... so that in some ways we have never been a Christian Nation... BUT... at the same time.. we have been and still most certainly are a nation founded on Christianity and Judeo-Christian values and ideals. Our founding fathers knew this. Our Constitution and Declaration of Independence were written with that in mind. So I contend that we were founded as a Christian nation and continue to be one today. Despite their opinions. It just so happens the majority of America agrees with me.

Let us look at some quotes...

At a press conference in Turkey, President Obama casually stated: "One of the great strengths of the United States," the President said, "is ... we have a very large Christian population -- we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values." (I can not help but contrast to the middle east. Can you imagine the Saudi King coming to the US and stating that his nation is not a muslim nation? Hardly!)

For a contrasting view, we need only look to our founding documents. I have also find worth noting the quotes of our Founders:

John Adams and John Hancock: "We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus!" [April 18, 1775]

Patrick Henry:“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” [May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses]

John Quincy Adams:“Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?"
--1837, at the age of 69, when he delivered a Fourth of July speech at Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Benjamin Franklin: “God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Constitutional Convention of 1787 | original manuscript of this speech

“In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?” [Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787]

Thomas Jefferson: "God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

James Madison: “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” [1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia]

George Washington: “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.”

As for a decline and fall? As I have laid out I think it is indisputable that our founders intended that this be a christian nation.. and our Constitution and Declaration of Independence are still our nations ruling documents. To evaluate the idea that it is no longer a christian nation... well let us look at trends. On one hand we see a total moral decay and the collapse of the family unit, but on the other hand... we see a growth in other areas. 43 states have passed laws to protect marriage. The christian music and literature markets have exploded in the last 2 decades. There are movements throughout this nation to take back this nation and to halt moral decline. And conservative and evangelical and pentacostal church attendance is on the rise.

The very poll that Newsweek used to make this declaration is amusing. Yes, since George Bush's presidency the number of people in the poll who said America is a christian nation is down a bit... though still a majority... but the numbers are in fact up from the first time they took the poll, in 1996. Perhaps, Newsweek is not about writing the news, but instead writing their ideology. Sadly I believe that President Obama is doing the same thing... revealing his own ideology and intent.