America was not Founded on Christianity: The History that Never Happened

Where our nationalist spirit came from:

It’s no secret that North America is rooted in an independent nationalist pride. Escaping the rule of Great Britain and obtaining complete independence in 1776 will always give Americans an excuse to be proud. But our journey to the civilized country we are today is also embedded in slavery, the Trail of Tears, and the manifest destiny we still manage to claim is ours for the taking.

Our history is littered with the abuse of Indigenous people and unjust acquisition of territory, land tended by enslaved people, and cities built by unpaid Black bodies. America’s history is filled with a concern for the country more than the people.

Photo Credit: UC Santa Barbara

What is Christian nationalism:

Christian nationalism is the belief that America is and should remain a Christian nation. And that conservative Biblical teachings and doctrine should be the root of all legislation in the U.S. This is problematic for serval reasons:

1 — Not all Christians interpret the Bible the same way. While conservative Christians demand that the Bible supports pro-life and pro-gun legislation, other sects of Christianity believe the Bible supports pro-choice and pro-reform legislation. The hang-up is that both perspectives could be supported with Biblical passages, depending on which passages you choose to focus on. Christian nationalism operates under the false assumption that there is one way to interpret the Bible.

2 — The U.S is not a Christian nation. While the U.S of the ’1950s and 1960s might have reflected a more unanimous Christian identity, the current Christian population in the U.S has never been lower. According to Pew Research Center, 63% of U.S adults identify as Christian, a decrease from 75% a decade ago. That being said, even if the population was 100% Christian, would it make sense to use Christianity as the foundation for legislation in a country founded on the concept of religious freedom?

3- Contrary to Christian nationalist belief, America was not founded on Christian values. America gained its independence from Britain, the Catholic Church, and protestant leadership and obtained religious and political freedom on July 4, 1776. There is no mention of the Bible or Jesus in any of America’s founding documents. Thomas Jefferson even said

“(I)t does me no injury for my neighbor to believe in twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

Aside from mentioning the all-encompassing term “God” in various documents, there is no evidence of specific Christian values within the founding records of America. In fact, most documents created between 1765–1790 appear to be heavily influenced by the enlightenment and classical republican theories according to Steven K Green Ph.D. of Willamette University.

Where did the misconception that America was founded on Christian theology come from? In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, there was increased ridicule of religion and openness toward atheism from the rising generation. Evangelical Christians became a popular force against this rising wave of anti-religious ideals. Evangelical ideals were used to support manifest destiny and the unjust treatment of marginalized groups. The evangelical influence over political movements created the misconceptions that America was founded on evangelical ideals. But this is incorrect.

Why is Christian nationalism growing?

Christian nationalism has always existed. Sometimes it has appeared dormant, sometimes it has led the charge for legislative reform. But why does Christian nationalism appear to be more prominent than ever before?

We have US Representative Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Georgia) proudly identifying as a Christian Nationalist. And US Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) suggests biblical citizenship training. Blatantly forced ideals ironically remnant of why so many British people escaped to America in the first place. Why is Christian nationalism getting louder and bolder?

The answer is complex, yet simultaneously simple. Christian nationalists have been planning this growth for decades. In the late 1970s when the Republican Party realized the untapped voting potential among the evangelical Christian population, they needed an issue the religious audience would identify with and unwaveringly support. So the Republican Party pivoted away from pro-segregation ideals and chose a ballot issue they knew evangelicals would feel strongly about. Abortion.

Before the mid-20th century, the Republican Party was vocally supportive of abortion rights and the pro-choice movement. But their desire for the evangelical vote forced the party to exchange their pro-choice values for pro-life values. And due to the religious nature of the target audience, Biblical passages became an authoritative way to justify the party’s new stance.

This is when we see an increased use of Biblical scripture to support political ideas. And the beginning of an inextricable link between the political right and the evangelical church and a formative Christian nationalist population.

The increased use of Biblical scripture to support Republican campaigns and the heightened involvement of the evangelical community in political movements is what likely gave birth to the inaccurate narrative that America was founded on Christian values.

While a minimal amount of research into the annals of American history would prove that to be incorrect, as George Orwell said “Those who control the present, control the past”.

Christian nationalists have been given a platform for which they can promote this false history as justification for their current desire to place Biblical backing under every form of legislation. For Christian nationalists, it’s not forced religion, it’s simply going back to our roots.

Roots that do not exist but are continually watered.

Since then, the marriage between the far-right and evangelical church has only become stronger and more defined. And with the election of Donald Trump, we saw increased use of Biblical scripture to support pro-life policies by a man who, not decades earlier had been a strong pro-choice supporter.

Did Donald Trump liberate the Christian Nationalists?

Former President Donald Trump’s Senior (R-Florida) bold declarations surrounding immigration, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and his claims against his political opponents seemed to permit a formerly silent demographic to voice their concerns, regardless of their unorthodox crassness.

Trump’s racist remarks toward immigrants, sexist remarks toward women, and toxic comments toward the LGBTQ+ community undoubtedly gave the green light for those sharing similar beliefs to be more outspoken. Towards the end of Trump’s term, we saw the former president address a white supremacist group called the proud boys, and instead of ordering the group to halt all hate crimes and violence, the President ordered the group to “stand by.” Leading to the proud boys’ public response, “We are standing by.”

Donald Trump was not a Christian nationalist until the time surrounding his presidency. Formerly pro-choice and pro-federal protection of LGBTQ+ communities (or so he publicly stated in his attempt for the presidency in 2000), the flipped politics are the result of an attempt to land the evangelical vote. A population that fuels the far-right beliefs and ultimately, the Republican vote.

And in the process of flipping his politics to suit the far-right ideals, Trump spoke in his consistently bold manner on ideas we’ve not seen promoted by recent U.S presidents. Topics with racist, sexist, or homophobic underpinnings are a call back to Nixon or Reagan but are far from what we’d expect from the podium by a 2016 elected president. And yet, his unapologetic take on such matters gave universal allowance for those who shared similar sentiments to be outspoken about their problematic beliefs, creating a wave of social conflict between political parties we’ve not seen in years.

This entanglement of the far-right and the evangelical church created the perfect storm for Christian nationalists to emerge with more authority than ever before. While other factors were certainly at play to make the Christian nationalist group what it is today, including the long haul effort to turn the U.S. Supreme Court red (perhaps an article for another time), the Trump administration certainly did more than the Christian nationalist group was expecting for the advancement of Christian nationalist ideals.

By creating a platform that supported conservative biblical values while simultaneously electing a president with charismatic abilities to unite a group of people, even if it is through racist, sexist, and homophobic ideologies, the Christian nationalist group has grown into what it is today.

And with the rise of Christian Nationalist influence, we see an increased perpetuation of the narrative that America was founded on Christian ideals.

The misconception that America was founded as a Christian nation has been stated as historical fact for so long, that it just might become the truth America believes.

America was not Founded on Christianity: The History that Never Happened was originally published in Lessons from History on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.