Category: Is America a Christian Nation?

For more than three decades—and notwithstanding its deep absurdity—the claim that “America is a Christian nation” has never gone undefended. Yet what does it mean to ascribe this or that religious identity to a nation? If America is a Christian nation, does it have a soul? Was that soul stained by original sin? Did Jesus …

Once they begin to circulate, falsehoods—like counterfeit currency—are surprisingly tenacious. It doesn’t matter that there’s no backing for them. The only thing that counts is that people believe they have backing. Then, like bad coins, they turn up again and again. One counterfeit idea that circulates with frustrating stubbornness is the claim that America was …

When I was growing up in the fifties and sixties, almost no one in politics or everyday life went around proclaiming, “I am a Christian.” If indeed you were a Christian—that is, someone who considers Jesus Christ the Messiah—you identified yourself as a Lutheran, a Methodist, a Baptist, a Catholic, and so on in excelsis …

“The United States is a Christian nation.” If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard this statement at a religious Right meeting or in the media, I wouldn’t be rich—but I’d probably have enough to buy a really cool iPad. The assertion is widely believed by followers of the religious Right and often …

Regular readers of Free Inquiry are probably familiar with some of the basic statistics regarding unbelief. People who describe themselves as having no religion (“Nones”) are increasing, and church attendance is probably not as high as has been believed by some.* While I have had my doubts in the past, I believe that the secularization …

  “I would not vote for man who was atheist because I believe you—you need to have acknowledgment, a reverence, a fear for alm ighty God. And I believe that’s where wisdom comes from.” — Anne Graham Lotz (the wife of Billy Graham Jr.) on Meet the Press, April 8, 2012 It’s a major election …

During the primaries, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum made an impassioned plea for rejecting the famous doctrine of the separation of church and state. He clarified his position on the ABC-TV program This Week on Sunday, February 26: “I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. The idea …

The home in the photo is the $1.75 million mansion of the Reverend Randy White, the former head pastor of Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Florida. While some people may be bothered by the fact that there are pastors who live in multimillion dollar homes, this is old news to most. But here is …