Is This a Christian Nation?

Is the United States a Christian nation? And was it ever? Now the only nation that is ever put forth in Scripture as chosen by God is the nation of Israel (Genesis 12:1-3; Isaiah 41:8-16; Romans 9:3-5). But I do believe there is a future in store for Israel (Romans 11:25-27; Zechariah 12:10; Ezekiel 39:25-29), but right now God is at work calling out a people from every nation, and none can claim the priority (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Revelation 7:9).

Nor can we claim to have an established religion, as our constitution forbids the establishment of religion. But the claim is made that our nation is based on Christian principles. Is this true? One of the questions that arises out of this is, were the Founding Father's Christians or Deists? The answer to this is yes; some were Christians, some were Deists, and some were at various places in between. But Deism is just watered down Christianity, and if we trace back the idea of democratic government, we find it traces back to the English Puritans and that it was later adopted on more secular grounds. This makes sense, as this form of political system fits with the broader Reformed approach to church government. This, in turn, traces back to the Protestant principles that every person can approach God directly without any mediator except Christ and can interpret Scripture for themselves. Now there had been some experiments in democratic government before the Reformation, but it was the adopting of this form of government by the Reformed branch of the Protestant church that changed it from an interesting experiment to a movement. The reason was that democracy was not yet a principle that people were willing to fight or die for. But they would fight or die for the truth of God. Later, the idea was adopted by secular people, who made it an end in itself.

What I would conclude is this. There may be a basis here for a detailed, well-thought out argument which shows that our current liberties ultimately stem from a Christian worldview. We can ask, for instance, how we can believe all men are created equal without a Creator. But the argument needs to be made and may seem foreign to the hearers. However, as a simple appeal it falls flat. And we really need to recognize that we now are Christians in a Non-Christian society and approach this accordingly. I do not at all mean we should lose heart. But I do mean we need to let go of the past and rebuild from there. And while I do not want to limit the power of God, I believe we need to be prepared for the long haul of convincing people one individual at a time of God's truth. But we cannot expect to convince anyone but ourselves by the simple appeal to the United States as a Christian nation.