Christmas is a national holiday, but the United States of America is not a Christian nation! The nation’s founders were Christians, and the Declaration of Independence and Constitution reflect Christian values. However, the founders clearly stated, and the people confirmed in ratifying the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, that the United States is not a Christian nation: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
Over the years, the U.S. Courts have consistently reaffirmed that: first, the government can’t establish an official religion or promote specific religious beliefs, and second, the government can’t stop anyone from practicing their faith. Elected and appointed government officials have the same rights as anyone else to practice their religion. However, it is a violation of the U.S. Constitution for government officials to promote Christianity or any other specific religious or non-religious belief system.
It is not a violation of the Constitution for government officials to promote the Christian values reflected in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, or any other founding documents. These are values that transcend Christianity and are espoused by virtually all of the world’s enduring religions and philosophies. For example, the Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Virtually every enduring religion and philosophy believes that the Earth was created or brought into existence by some higher order, higher power, or Creator. The founders didn’t quote from the creation story in the Bible; they stated a universally accepted, “self-evident” truth. The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not only Christian beliefs. They are foundational beliefs of all major religious and philosophical belief systems. Different religions and philosophies may have somewhat different perspectives on life, liberty, and happiness. However, there is general agreement that everyone has a right to, and no one should be arbitrarily deprived of, their life, liberty, or opportunity to lead a dignified and purposeful life.
The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution specifies the essential functions of government: To "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, and promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." There is no mention of God, Christianity, or Jesus in the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the later constitutional amendments.
Those who claim that this is a Christian Nation apparently do not love the United States of America as it was founded and remains today, but only love their own, narrowly shared vision of what they think America should be.
I am a Christian, but do not affiliate with any specific Christian religion and don’t believe anyone should be coerced or feel compelled to do so. Many of today’s Christian religious codes, rules, and rituals are derived from those deemed appropriate more than two thousand years ago, but have no place in the world of today. For example, slaves were instructed to obey their masters (Colossians 3:22). Women were told to submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22) and to remain silent in church (1 Corinthians 14:34).
Most Christians have attempted to reinterpret the meaning of these admonitions in the context of today’s social values. Christian Nationalists, however, would have the nation adhere to the spirit, if not the legalism, of New Testament religious rules and rituals, just as they would have the Nation return to the spirit of racism, misogyny, and slavery that existed in American culture at the founding of the Nation.
Jesus summed up the core values of Christianity in three simple commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:38-39). And, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12). These are not only Christian values; they are basic human values.
Christianity has never measured up to the core values of its religion, and America has never measured up to the core values in its founding documents. But this doesn’t mean we should return to the rules, rituals, and legalism of previous generations, hoping to find some form of redemption or salvation.
We need not look to religious or political doctrine for the truth about how we should live our lives and treat other people. Instead, we must look deeply within ourselves. In anticipation of his death, Jesus told his disciples: “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me… If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth… I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you…. On that day, you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” (Excerpts from John 14)
The Spirit of Truth, or “Holy Spirit,” that was in Jesus is in all of us: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and those of all major religions. It is also in those who are spiritual but not religious, agnostic, and adamantly non-religious. This Spirit exists in all people of all races, genders, income and education levels, social classes—in everyone. It is this Spirit of Truth that gives those who recognize and accept it a sense of purpose and meaning in life, that distinguishes right from wrong, and good from bad. This Spirit is embodied in all the major religions and philosophies of the world because it dwells in all the people of the world, past and present.
Those who ignore or deny the existence of the Spirit of Truth resort to religious moral codes, rules, and rituals for guidance. Or more commonly, they pursue their individual narrow self-interests without regard for the well-being of others or of the Earth. Their only sense of right or wrong is the sensory pleasure or pain that comes from taking as much as they can and giving as little as possible in return. Their only pleasure comes from wealth, power, or fame, regardless of what it takes to achieve it. They show no compassion or concern for the well-being of others. They feel no responsibility to anyone other than themselves.
Those who put “American First” are putting themselves first. They put their families, their communities, and their country, America, first because they expect to receive more than they invest in those relationships, either socially or economically. When Jesus was asked, “And who is my neighbor?” he responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan who helped a stranger robbed and left by the side of the road. Jesus responded that our neighbors are anyone who is in need, the stranger, the foreigner, especially those caught up in difficult circumstances, like war or famine. He contrasted the Good Samaritan, a foreigner who showed mercy to a stranger, with a priest and Levite who passed by without helping. (Luke 10:29-37),
The United States of America is not a Christian nation, but it was founded on the belief in a higher order, a self-evident truth, or the existence of a Spirit of Truth. The expression of equal rights of all to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness reflects a belief that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, that our neighbors include “everyone,” and that we should do for everyone as we would have them do for us, if we were in their circumstances and they were in ours. The United States of America was founded on the principles that all people are created equal and must be treated with equal dignity and respect. Christmas should be a time to rededicate ourselves to living up to the Spirit of Truth in the core value upon which the nation was founded.
John Ikerd