‘CHRISTIAN NATION’: Evidence cherry-picked

In the 24 May edition, T. Turrentine relies heavily upon Thomas Jefferson to support the notion that the United States is a Christian nation. I think that we can all agree that Christianity is a significant feature of American history, culture, and politics. 

However, that doesn’t mean that the United States is a “Christian” nation. For example, we’ve had 45 presidents, 43 of whom were Protestants, and only 2 of whom have been Catholic — even though Catholics form 20% of the US population (Protestants are 40%). None have been Jews, none Muslims. Furthermore, there are as many “no religion” Americans as there are Catholics; we’ve never had an avowed atheist as President.

Jefferson himself is a complicated figure. He is a Founder of the Nation and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, which begins, “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.” And yet Jefferson owned slaves, and it is clear that he sired children with at least one of them, Sally Hemings: the descendants are with us today. Jefferson was clearly skeptical of the Bible, famously razoring out passages that he found offensive. Jefferson also possessed a copy of the Koran. Most historians describe Jefferson as a Deist, not a devout Christian.

Jefferson, Madison, and others carefully constructed a Constitution, which has done pretty well *precisely* because it included an Amendment process, including the first 10 Amendments as the Bill of Rights. The very first Amendment contains the Establishment Clause which has been consistently interpreted for 200 years as requiring the separation of church and state. 

If you want to quote Jefferson, don’t cherry-pick: Jefferson himself would have objected.

J. D. SAHR

Otis Orchards