FTA: The Founding Myth argues persuasively, those views are largely irrelevant anyway, as the founders’ work on our national institutions reflect their political—not religious—beliefs. He explores how the founding historical documents themselves do not set up a Christian nation, or even a set of laws based on Christian principles. As Seidel frames it “Christian nationalists have never convincingly answered a basic question: How, precisely, did the Bible influence American political thought and America’s founding?” As he shows through detailed textual and historical analysis, “American principles and Judeo-Christian principles are so irreconcilable that we can fairly say: Judeo-Christianity is un-American.”
As The Founding Myth substantiates, this never happened. (The Prayer at Valley Forge by Arnold Friberg, 1975)
The book provides a close examination of the Declaration of Independence, followed by the Constitution and the principles enunciated in those documents, many of which arose directly in opposition to prevalent religious beliefs of the times. No phrase is more in opposition to the religious tenor of the day than “We the People,” which clearly enunciates that the basis of power is the people, not some supernatural power.
Richard Dawkins: Nationalism Could be Worse than Religion
Never one to shy away from controversy, Dawkins' conclusion ruffled feathers.
I read this book and loved it! You can tell he researched the hell out it! He makes a “Christian Nation” sound ridiculous. Highly recommend it.
I once did a word search on the US Constitution and found no reference to God anywhere wirhin it. Since then, I read a counter arguement which stated that one of the later Amendments (after the Bill of Rights) reffered to the date as " year of our Lord", and this reference of the date proved the Constitution was a "Christian document". What a stretch of imagination!
zblaze's openning comment already states the irreconcilable differences between the Constitution and the Bible. These differences are exemplified by the difference of the First Amendment and the first several of the Ten Commandments. The First Amendment prohibits government from interferring with religious practices while the first of the Ten Commandments prohibits the practice of any other religious practices or beliefs. The two couldn't be more in opposition.
If the founders had intended to create a Christian nation as many of today's Christians seem to believe, they could have certainly been much clearer about it than the very flimsy evidence today's Christians point to supporting their claim. I believe the evidence is very clear, and it doesn't support the claims of today's Christian extremists. The founders through the Constitution intended to protect the diversity of religions in this country, or they would have written the Constitution differently. So, either the Constitution doesn't support the idea that the US was intended to be a Christian nation, or our Founding Fathers were imbiciles who collectively wrote a document that unintentionally appears to say the exact opposite. My vote is for the former.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know how the myth that America is founded on Christianity doesn’t add up compared to how the forefathers actually founded America on.