Biden subordinates religion's role in the founding of America -- with the direct implication that the United States is not strictly a "Christian nation" as many claim.
If you look at the founding documents, there is ZERO mention of Jesus or Christianity and only one mention of “God” and that’s in the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
Nature’s God, which had and has a very specific meaning.
This is why, in the Treaty of Tripoli, the first international document to recognize the US as an independent nation, it reads:
“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, religious or tranquility of Musselmen, and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan 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.”
I find it amusing how the argumentation that America is a Christian Nation is wholly reliant on not understanding political terms along with being ignorant of the history and founding documents of the United States. This is so frequently bundled with American supremacism and yet they care so little for the work of the founders or the history of the country.
Didn’t the first pilgrims who came to what is now the USA do it because they wanted to practice their specific flavor of Christianity and England was like “nah bro, that’s crazy”? Or did my teachers in school lie to me? I know the country itself wasn’t founded on religion.
Yeah, the timeline between Columbus and the Constitution was huge. I know that a lot of the founding fathers were deists as well, which is fascinating. I wish some of their visions for the country were still a thing.
I mean he’s not wrong.
If you look at the founding documents, there is ZERO mention of Jesus or Christianity and only one mention of “God” and that’s in the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
Nature’s God, which had and has a very specific meaning.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
Good book on the topic:
https://mwstewart.com/books/natures-god/
This is why, in the Treaty of Tripoli, the first international document to recognize the US as an independent nation, it reads:
“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, religious or tranquility of Musselmen, and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan 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.”
Musselmen = Muslims
Mehomitan = Islamic
I find it amusing how the argumentation that America is a Christian Nation is wholly reliant on not understanding political terms along with being ignorant of the history and founding documents of the United States. This is so frequently bundled with American supremacism and yet they care so little for the work of the founders or the history of the country.
Didn’t the first pilgrims who came to what is now the USA do it because they wanted to practice their specific flavor of Christianity and England was like “nah bro, that’s crazy”? Or did my teachers in school lie to me? I know the country itself wasn’t founded on religion.
The Puritains. Yes, kicked out of England and came here because nobody else wanted them.
But you have to keep in mind the time scales involved…
1492 - Columbus makes contact in the Carribean.
1620 - Pilgrims come across on the Mayflower.
1630 - Some 20,000 Puritains come across.
1776 - Declaration of Independence.
1787-1788 - Constitution.
Yeah, the timeline between Columbus and the Constitution was huge. I know that a lot of the founding fathers were deists as well, which is fascinating. I wish some of their visions for the country were still a thing.