Over the holidays I see friends & talking-heads trying to claim that "America was founded as...
Happy Belated 🦃 day folks. Over the holidays I see friends & talking-heads trying to claim that "America was founded as a Christian Nation" 🤔 These statements always perplexed me as; ➡️ There is no mention of God nor Jesus in the Constitution ➡️ The 1st sentence of the 1st Amendment ensures that Congress shall never touch Religion ➡️ Most of the Founder were Deists - they believed in a Creator, but separated that from governance and science. They prioritized their beliefs in what they observed in the natural world. ➡️ The Founders took care to separate religion from government to ensure everyone could worship (or not) as they chose 🗨 "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion" - John Adams, Treaty of Tripoli, 1797 (Article 11) 🗨 "Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together" James Madison, Letter to Edward Livingston, 1822 🗨 "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God [...] American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion [...] thus building a wall of separation between Church & State" - Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, 1802