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america the christian nation?

america the christian nation?

  • yes we are still ruled by christianity

    Votes: 3 7.3%

  • we are not as christian as we were

    Votes: 38 92.7%
  • Total voters
    41
Our government by design and intent is secular. And filled with representatives. For a long time those reps have been "devout" christians pandering to a "devout" christian base. Nevermind the only true devout Christian I ever met was a liberal Amishman. Lately, the American population has been growing in diversity. And many Christian traditions adopted into policies are being removed. This of course worries those who rely on those traditions to maintain their authority. They use that authority and influence to affect public opinion. Mostly through reoccuring hot button issues that are really decided by unelected officials who hold lifelong unimpeachable positions.

This creates a barrier of non communication, and imparts a distrust between those who Christian, and those who are not. That and a growing movement of people emboldened by the now peaceful religion constantly bringing up past christian crimes to a people that are desperately trying to distance themselves from those dark times. White Christians are the most guilt tripped group of people on the planet. Their ancestors did some pretty horrible things, built a future catered for themselves. And left the inevitable backlash for their descendants to deal with. And now those descendants are faced with constant criticism and dismantling of parts of their long established culture.

I understand how they feel, I'd be butthurt too, my only consolation I can give them. At least the comeupance you're getting isn't punitive. It's mostly just shame and a loss of privelage. Which considering the atrocities committed to earn that shame and gain those privelages, I think is getting off lite.
 
11Bravo said:
i voted yes we are still a Christian nation cause i havent lost faith in the US. the wife and i are very tolerant of the atheists because they are ignorant of how the world works, but they are still human beings
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It's equally possible that atheists are as likely as any other group to understand how the world works.

Your tolerance is intolerant.
 
jimbo said:
Other

We were never a totally Christian nation.0
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laugh out loud. we are and always have been. there is no need for that "other".
 
JackA said:
Who's we?

I tolerate you and expect you to tolerate me. What business is it of yours what I believe.
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thank u! your a very nice person.

since we are a nation built on Christianity, we must honor that. what do we make of the atheists and other "religions"?
 
11Bravo said:
this is a public opinion poll. there will be no insult slinging and there will be rational debate.

is america still the Christian nation we always were? all other "religions" have the right to practice freely and we should respect them even if they are wrong. however atheism isnt a religion so are they protected under the constitution? does anyone see us illegalizing atheism in the near future?

Christianity and America | Faith of Our Fathers

since this is a public opinion poll i expect fair and rational conversations.
Click to expand...

http://www32.homepage.villanova.edu/robert.w.caverly/Treaty Between US and Tripoli Muslims.pdf

Treaty of Tripoli said:
Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
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Ratified unanimously by the Senate in 1796.
 
11Bravo said:
that was the treaty allowing non-Christians to enter our borders
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That... wasn't really what the treaty was about, but ok.

These were the words of our founding fathers. Our government is not founded, in any sense, on the Christian religion.
 
11Bravo said:
laugh out loud. we are and always have been. there is no need for that "other".
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So you're choosing to make a statement rather then asking for opinions.
 
No idea what the wording of option #2 means. Maybe fix that?

In any case, the concept of "making it illegal to have no belief in god", is the most absurd proposal I've read this election cycle, and that includes all of Trump's nonsense.
Why not just attack them, it's apparently a very christian thing to do.

I don't see anyone taking it seriously, so I'll leave it at that.
 
11Bravo said:
should we tolerate the intolerant atheists?
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Tolerance is different than legislation.
How does an intolerant atheist infringe on your rights?

Typically the angst against atheism is when they defend the separation of church and state.
If you don't believe in religious freedom (to have or not), then I don't find that to be anything near what I consider an American ideal.
 
jimbo said:
You need more choices in your poll.
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Only if you are of the opinion that we were never a Christian nation. The Founders, almost to a man were Christian to some degree and they were crystal clear on the concept that the prevailing perception of God and Christianity shaped their view of right and wrong, good and evil, moral and immoral, free or subservient.

They also were determined to enable a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people who would govern themselves and their own lives and that the central government would have no say in that whatsoever. So they didn't give us a secular government. They gave us a government in which the Constitution allowed no say in what any person did or did not believe or profess in matters of religion, and in which no religious group would have any power to control the government and thereby assume power over everybody else.

But we were nevertheless a Christian nation that was begun by settlers looking for a place their could practice their Christian beliefs unhindered and free of retribution by any monarch, Archbishop of Canterbury, or pope.

And the Founders to a man were pretty much of a unified conviction that our form of government and the Constitution that bound it would only work for a religious and moral people.

George Washington: "While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian."
--The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.

John Adams:"Now I will avow, that I then believe, and now believe, that those general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as the Existence and Attributes of God; and that those Principles of Liberty, are as unalterable as human Nature and our terrestrial, mundane System."
--Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, excerpt from a letter to Thomas Jefferson.

Patrick Henry: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."
--The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii.

John Hancock: "Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. ... Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us."
--History of the United States of America, Vol. II, p. 229.

John Adams: "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1854)
 
11Bravo said:
this is a public opinion poll. there will be no insult slinging and there will be rational debate.

is america still the Christian nation we always were? all other "religions" have the right to practice freely and we should respect them even if they are wrong. however atheism isnt a religion so are they protected under the constitution? does anyone see us illegalizing atheism in the near future?

Christianity and America | Faith of Our Fathers

since this is a public opinion poll i expect fair and rational conversations.
Click to expand...

How Christian was America and when was that?
 
AlbqOwl said:
Only if you are of the opinion that we were never a Christian nation. The Founders, almost to a man were Christian to some degree and they were crystal clear on the concept that the prevailing perception of God and Christianity shaped their view of right and wrong, good and evil, moral and immoral, free or subservient.

They also were determined to enable a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people who would govern themselves and their own lives and that the central government would have no say in that whatsoever. So they didn't give us a secular government. They gave us a government in which the Constitution allowed no say in what any person did or did not believe or profess in matters of religion, and in which no religious group would have any power to control the government and thereby assume power over everybody else.

But we were nevertheless a Christian nation that was begun by settlers looking for a place their could practice their Christian beliefs unhindered and free of retribution by any monarch, Archbishop of Canterbury, or pope.

And the Founders to a man were pretty much of a unified conviction that our form of government and the Constitution that bound it would only work for a religious and moral people.

George Washington: "While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian."
--The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.

John Adams:"Now I will avow, that I then believe, and now believe, that those general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as the Existence and Attributes of God; and that those Principles of Liberty, are as unalterable as human Nature and our terrestrial, mundane System."
--Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, excerpt from a letter to Thomas Jefferson.

Patrick Henry: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."
--The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii.

John Hancock: "Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. ... Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us."
--History of the United States of America, Vol. II, p. 229.

John Adams: "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1854)
Click to expand...

Yes, lots of religious people think you can only be moral and good through their religion. In fact, that's a central pillar to all the Abrahamic faiths: our way is the only way to get to heaven.
 
11Bravo said:
should we tolerate the intolerant atheists?
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Look to the teachings of Jesus for the answer.
Note if you need to look, perhaps more reflection on his teaching is needed,
 
year2late said:
Why the quotation marks around "religions"?


Weird.
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I'm guessing because in the eyes of the OP there are two religions. Chrisrianity, probably only one version of that, and those others that don't count.
 
11Bravo said:
that was the treaty allowing non-Christians to enter our borders
Click to expand...

So non Christians never entered the US prior to that Treaty?
 
11Bravo said:
this is a public opinion poll. there will be no insult slinging and there will be rational debate.

is america still the Christian nation we always were? all other "religions" have the right to practice freely and we should respect them even if they are wrong. however atheism isnt a religion so are they protected under the constitution? does anyone see us illegalizing atheism in the near future?

Christianity and America | Faith of Our Fathers

since this is a public opinion poll i expect fair and rational conversations.
Click to expand...

No, and America was never a "Christian" nation. Many of the People happened to be some flavor of Christian, but the government is, was, and always has been secular.
 
jimbo said:
I'm guessing because in the eyes of the OP there are two religions. Chrisrianity, probably only one version of that, and those others that don't count.
Click to expand...

My guess is Roman Catholic. All the rest are wrong.
 
AlbqOwl said:
Only if you are of the opinion that we were never a Christian nation. The Founders, almost to a man were Christian to some degree and they were crystal clear on the concept that the prevailing perception of God and Christianity shaped their view of right and wrong, good and evil, moral and immoral, free or subservient.

They also were determined to enable a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people who would govern themselves and their own lives and that the central government would have no say in that whatsoever. So they didn't give us a secular government. They gave us a government in which the Constitution allowed no say in what any person did or did not believe or profess in matters of religion, and in which no religious group would have any power to control the government and thereby assume power over everybody else.

But we were nevertheless a Christian nation that was begun by settlers looking for a place their could practice their Christian beliefs unhindered and free of retribution by any monarch, Archbishop of Canterbury, or pope.

And the Founders to a man were pretty much of a unified conviction that our form of government and the Constitution that bound it would only work for a religious and moral people.

George Washington: "While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian."
--The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.

John Adams:"Now I will avow, that I then believe, and now believe, that those general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as the Existence and Attributes of God; and that those Principles of Liberty, are as unalterable as human Nature and our terrestrial, mundane System."
--Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, excerpt from a letter to Thomas Jefferson.

Patrick Henry: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."
--The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii.

John Hancock: "Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. ... Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us."
--History of the United States of America, Vol. II, p. 229.

John Adams: "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1854)
Click to expand...

Many of those, not sure if all, are the ones who participated in the writing of the Constitution
Yet they saw fit not to include those points in the Constitution.
 
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