Because I'm tired of Christians saying that this is a Christian nation...
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. "
-Thomas Jefferson
"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and I think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble...."
-Benjamin Franklin
From the Treaty of Tripoli:
"Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion"
If it were to become a christian nation... you just screwed over the 1st amendment dumb****.
First ammendment has freedom of religion, doesn't mean you can't define your nation a specific religion. Fact is, the nation is 77% Christian. You have a better name than a "Christian nation"? Everyone knows it's "the nation that has mostly Christians but still offers freedom of religion". That's just not a catchy title.
I am dropping from this debate. If you can ignore how God is mentioned in our currency and our pledge, and if you can ignore who started the city on the hill, then I will not debate this any further. This was a Christian nation at one point, and it still is (even if it is something as small as currency).
"ZOMFG ZOMFG ZOMFG WHAT ABOUT THE 1ST AMMENDMANT?!?!?!?!"
There is religous freedom, but that does not mean we are not a Christian nation. The constitution was written in a way so that it can be loosely translated (most nations have a huge decloration, ussually whole books). The decloration is not the only thing that represents the government or the nation. So stop using that as your only excuse.
I've read time and again that many of you believe that because the nation is a majority Christian this does not necessarily make it a Christian nation. But what is a democracy anyway? Isn't the power of the government supposed to be in the hands of the common people? Who's the most common in this country Christians or non-Christians? If the ruling power in a body follows a direction, how can you say that direction doesn't in any way effect the whole body?
You're saying that an imperfect system can produce a perfect result. If you want a definition of nation here's one from dictionary.com;
naâ...tion â â/ËneɪÊÉn/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ney-shuhn] Show IPA â"noun 1. a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own: The president spoke to the nation about the new tax. 2. the territory or country itself: the nations of Central America. 3. a member tribe of an American Indian confederation. 4. an aggregation of persons of the same ethnic family, often speaking the same language or cognate languages.
Notice that no where in there is a nation defined as multiple parts. It is a single group. A nation is one whole that means that despite the differing opinions of a people being governed, the nation can have only a single direction for itself. That direction is the same direction that results when you take a weighted average of its parts. If we're talking religion guess who has the most weight in the nation? Christians.
In short, although the nation is made up of pieces, it is itself a single sum of those pieces. If you take the pieces apart and analyze them separately, you no longer have a United States.
It doesn't matter what the Constitution says or what laws are in place that should protect freedom of religion. The truth is we only have those so we don't look so bad, we certainly don't follow them to the letter, a single example is enough to prove that, I'll take I don't know, how about "In god we trust" printed on our currency. That right there shows we don't completely follow our own rules. So stop clinging to the first amendment like its your last scrap of bread. If the nation doesn't honor it then its just an empty statement.
So yeah, I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna sum up all I said above, cuz if you need the summary to understand what I said, you're in no position to argue your point here. I want you to actually read these views and then reply to them in kind, please don't ignore it and move on otherwise it undermines the meaning of this debate.
Yakooza you must think you are always right when you are wrong on this one.
The U.S. in my eyes and in the people I know (trust me I asked them) think that this is a Christian Nation.
DON'T BE SO STUBBORN YOUR JUST REALLY P.O.ing me and NoName
If you don't like it move to Canada or something.
Sorry but its true.
I assume you live around Christians. And that's your only argument..
I am dropping from this debate. If you can ignore how God is mentioned in our currency and our pledge, and if you can ignore who started the city on the hill, then I will not debate this any further. This was a Christian nation at one point, and it still is (even if it is something as small as currency).
"ZOMFG ZOMFG ZOMFG WHAT ABOUT THE 1ST AMMENDMANT?!?!?!?!"
There is religous freedom, but that does not mean we are not a Christian nation. The constitution was written in a way so that it can be loosely translated (most nations have a huge decloration, ussually whole books). The decloration is not the only thing that represents the government or the nation. So stop using that as your only excuse.
America had only christians before. So therefore it has been at least.
Yaaaaaaaa...no.
The founding fathers were deists, and opposed the church. They were enlightenment thinkers. Besides, most native Americans were not christian, neither were first generation slaves. Some jews in there too.
Wow that was a jerky thing to say. you obviously dont pay attention in school because one of the reasons people came to america was religious freedom. so if you don't like christians then you don't like the basis on which this country was started.
This country was founded on the belief of freedom, including freedom of religion. So officially, this is not a Christian nation. However, Christians have always been the highest percentage of people in the country.
