The weekly blog

No Christian Nationalism in the United States of America

The Founding Fathers were on to you 250 years ago.  They insisted on separation of church and state, not because of the conflicts in Europe - although that alone would have made a pretty good case.  No, separation of church and state was because of what was going on in the 13 colonies. 

American history glosses over much of our past.  It is far easier to blame a greedy king in England with a catchy line of “No taxation without representation” than to look at the real reason for revolution. 

⅓ of the colonials were perfectly happy being subjects of England, ⅓ could care less - they had crops to plant, and ⅓ wanted out. 

Many of those who wanted out were Founding Fathers.  And many of those were rich.  And land speculators.  Land speculators that had put money down on land west of the 13 colonies.  Land they could not develop.  Because England promised that land would remain in Native American control.  There would be no payday until the Native tribes were no longer allied with England. 

England had to go.  It wasn’t about taxes.  It was about land.

Now the Founders had to find a way to unite 13 colonies.  No small chore because fully 10 of them HAD OFFICIAL STATE ENDORSED RELIGIONS. 

Have you ever wondered why there were 13 colonies in the first place?  And with the strangest borders anyone could conjure up.  It’s America.  Not that many people.  Why colonIES, not colonY?  And why are they shaped so weird? 

The answer is simple.  State endorsed religions.  And they didn’t get along. 

Let’s take a look: 

Many colonies were “safe havens” for religious groups who faced persecution in Europe.

Massachusetts was to be the “city on a hill,” a society based on Puritan interpretation of biblical principles.

They banned dissenters, whipped Baptists, and executed Quakers. 

Rhode Island was an area of religious liberty founded by Roger Williams when he was exiled from Massachusetts for opposing a state affiliated religion (Puritanism).    Williams considered forced religion to be “soul rape.” 

Pennsylvania was a “holy experiment” by William Penn who offered religious tolerance to Quakers and others.  But not other tolerance.  They banned gambling, theater, and oath taking.  Quakers were fined for refusing military service (they were pacifists) and barred from government because they refused to take an oath. 

Maryland was established by Lord Baltimore as a refuge for English Catholics.  They included a law stated anyone who denied the Trinity could be put to death. 

Religion was deeply ingrained in government in New York, Virginia, and North Carolina.   Ironically it was the  Church of England (Anglicanism) that was intertwined with the government in these colonies.  Taxes supported the church and attendance was mandatory. 

In New York Lutheran pastors were forbidden from speaking publicly in the 1600’s. 

In  Virginia you could be fined or jailed if you missed church.

The colonies were NEVER formed as a single religious faith.  It was not religious freedom, it was religious ENFORCEMENT.  If one stepped out of line there was a potential punishment assigned. 

The Founding Fathers had seen firsthand the dangers of state sponsored religion, even if the religions were ALL CHRISTIAN! 

To attain freedom (separation) from the King of England, to cash in on the land speculation west of the colonies, the existing colonies had to be UNITED.  One of the major factors in the separation of the New America into specific colonies was the religion that they embraced and tied to their government. 

The Founding Fathers saw separation of Church and State as essential in keeping the colonies together as UNITED colonies for freedom.  Colonies that eventually became the UNITED States of America.

Need a stronger statement?  Article 11 of the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli UNANIMOUSLY ratified by the senate and signed by President John Adams states “the government of the United States is NOT, IN ANY SENSE, founded on the Christian religion,”  The statement was made to assure the Muslim state of Tripoli thet the U.S. was not a Christian power and would NOT use religion as a pretext for conflict or war.