Majority of population professes a particular religion:
Yes for me, though I believe this requires a significant majority. In my mind it would need to make up more than 3/4ths of the population for it to apply. This would mean that America was definitely a Christian Nation early on, but is currently close to no longer being able to be claimed as such.
Founding Father's religious beliefs:
No, this is not relevant. A nation is more than the founders.
The country is special as ordained by God:
A country is land, not a nation which is people, therefore irrelevant.
The government backs a particular religion (but no church backed government):
“Government” relates to a State, not a Nation. So again, no.
A government established religion or denomination:
As above. Government = State, People = Nation. This could create a religious nation by defacto rule however.
All laws are primarily derived from a religious tradition:
One could say the STATE was then founded on [religion] principles, but that has nothing to do with a Nation.
The government is a theocracy:
As above, State not Nation.
The majority of government officials are of a particular religion
Government officials are just individuals within a greater population, they’re religion matters not for a Nation any more than anyone elses.
Members of a particular religion enjoy a special status
This would have no baring.
Country = Specific geographical section of land
Nation = Population within particular portion of land
State = Government controlling said land and ruling over said Nation
My own views of the Nation of America has changed a bit, in large part thanks to tucker for being the
only person I’ve ever met to actually give a legitimate argument against the notion of a Christian Nation. In my mind the Nation that is America is multi-faceted and to claim it as any specific nation singularly would be erroneous. What I would say however is that there is one particular umbrella Nation that one could state, that all other possible ones would fall under. This I believe is that we simply are a “Nation of Americans”. By that I mean we are a population who, from its inception to today and throughout the life of America as we know it, all adhere and share to a point the common bond of the principles and histories that created the political will for this state to be formed, which in turn formed a nation. This is our shared history, that every citizen of the country has by default through their citizenship, our shared method of government by the people, and shared ideology of freedom and liberty that is the foundations from which this State and Nation was willed into being.
However, there are portions of the Nation that can be pointed out and I believe are still correct in their designation that co-exist within the above umbrella nation. We are an English Speaking Nation, as a
significant portion of our population has that as their primary language, even though English is not our National Language. We are an Individualist Nation, as from the very onset of the Declaration of Independence we have cultivated and created a culture of individual freedom and liberty that is held in high regards by a significant majority of Americans. We are a Christian Nation, as a significant majority of this nation adhere’s to that
particular religion and over the years has shaped the culture of the Nation. I would even dare say as well that you could state we are a “Nation of Excess” or a “Nation of Wealth” depending how you want to look at it, as I would claim in relation to the world our population significantly consumes and enjoys a more comfortable level of living as more than
75% of our households enjoy $20,000 more a year and more than 90% enjoying an income greater than the world average of
$7,000 a year.
So essentially we are a Nation of Americans, which one could argue has sub designations that would be correct as well if applied as a generality but not implied as a definitive singularity.
So in essence I’d say this, and some are honestly my own opinion…
We are a fragmented country, due to the various internal territories within the overarching country.
We are a Nation of Americans of which contains various applicable subnations one could categorize it as.
We are as a State a secular representative republic based on the notion of individual liberty and equality.