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America isn’t a “Christian nation”

Nor should it become one. We should remain a pluralistic society of many religions, and a land of religious liberty.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, known for his clenched-fist salute to January 6 rioters (photo, left), told a conservative group that “Christian nationalism founded American democracy” and “Christian political tradition is our political tradition” (story here).

That’s hypocritical. Hawley’s values — anti-gay bigotry, which he promotes, and political violence, which he salutes — are distinctly un-Christian.

It’s also historically inaccurate. While most Founding Fathers were practicing Christians, though from a variety of denominations, they founded a secular state. And it has to be secular for religious freedom to be possible.

Greg Koukel (bio here), a prominent “Christian apologist” (explained here), has looked into that history. While he’s not considered mainstream, nevertheless his comments are interesting. He says, “The debate over the religious heritage of this country is not about who is ultimately going to heaven, but rather about what the dominant convictions were that dictated the structure of this nation.” Read his article here.

He says, “Today there are legions of born-again Christians who have absolutely no skill at integrating their beliefs about Christ with the details of their daily life,” and describes them as people “who live lives of practical atheism.” This helps explain their support of politicians and ideas far removed from true Christian values of compassion, tolerance, and forgiveness.

Hawley is one of a new breed of politicians trying to tear down the separation of church and state. Many of history’s worst wars, atrocities, and tortures were perpetrated in the name of a religion. Many of today’s conflicts are along religious fault lines. Hawley and his ilk are wrong; the world needs more religious tolerance, not less. And the last thing America needs is anyone trying to force their religious views on the rest of the country through the agency of government.

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