Manufactured Myth
Church & State Magazine - February 2009
America Isn't a "Christian Nation" As The Religions Right Claims, And The Constitutional Convention Proves It
By Mark Weldon WhittenReligious Right advocates of “Christian America” make two claims, which they most often confuse.
First, they assert that the American people and their social and cultural institutions have been profoundly influenced by a Christian religious heritage – that the American people have been a “Christian nation” in an historical-cultural sense. Then, they assert that the Founding Fathers intended, and the Constitution instituted, a national government based directly and primarily upon Christianity – that America is a “Christian nation” in a legal-institutional sense.
They are substantially correct concerning the former assertion and radically wrong concerning the latter.
The proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 constitute the most powerful argument against the claim that the Founding Fathers intended to create a national government based upon the Christian religion. The following facts concerning the proceedings of the Convention are inconsistent with the claim that the United States of America is a Christian nation in any legal-institutional sense of “nation.”
The Convention made a deliberate decision not to begin its proceedings with official public prayers. Since meetings of the Continental Congress had done so, and as the First Congress would create a chaplaincy and implement opening prayers in meetings of Congress, the Convention’s decision is noteworthy. Is this fact consistent with the Religious Right description of the Founders as pious Christian ideologues meeting to create a Christian nation?
During the darkest days of the Convention, Benjamin Franklin offered an eloquent motion noting the omission of prayers and recommending that they be instituted.
Time and time again I have seen apologists for Christian America assume or deceitfully insinuate that Franklin’s motion was well received and that the initiation of prayers in the Convention was the moment of breakthrough, resulting in a miraculous, God-blessed Constitution. In fact, a debate broke out over Franklin’s motion and it was never voted upon.
Franklin wrote that the Convention “except for three or four persons, thought prayers unnecessary.” Is this fact consistent with Religious Right claims concerning “Christian America”?
