I remember a different story.

“The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.”

I imagine this quote is libel to raise a few eyebrows and perhaps maybe a few readers’ blood pressure. Many Christians these days are talking about a concept called Christian Theocracy, that is, Christians must dominate our American political landscape in order for our country to be that shining city on the hill that was intended by our Founding Fathers. We are one nation under God and In God we trust -- these are core American ideas. We are a Christian Nation and that’s part of our history and legacy.

So what infidel could have uttered such Anti-American words?

It was George Washington who first wrote these words on November 4, 1796 for the Treaty of Tripoli. At the time, this treaty was of great importance to our foreign policy and was later ratified by John Adams; neither of these men blinked an eye over signing this treaty. Was good old George, the man who could never tell a lie, fibbing?

The United States, was founded on a principle of religious tolerance for all peoples. While we were indeed founded by Christian men, they understood the important value of religious freedom and tolerance having fled governments that held with a state religion and persecuted those with dissenting voices.

The idea of a Christian Theocracy is not only ahistorical but clearly different from what was originally intended by the founders of our nation. Our Constitution is clear in the very first amendment of our Bill of Rights—we are free to practice any religion we so choose. While we are one nation under God, it is very clear that this God is far bigger than any one religion.

The real question is this: Are Christian Values the only values? It seems that our founding fathers and Christian Theocrats have two distinctly different answers to that question. Religious freedom and Christian Theocracy are definitely two very distinctly different ideas.

So how is that we have gone so far a field from religious freedom to Christian theocracy?

In a word, fear. In a country that seems more and more governed by the anxious need for safety and security, rather than rights and freedoms, the vision of Christian Theocracy is safe. Religious freedom means allowing Muslims and Jews and Atheists to practice their different beliefs. Christian Theocracy feels safer and after all, we know what Christianity stands for.

Feeding the hungry and clothing the poor, loving our neighbor and our enemies—aren’t those Christian values? I rarely hear those values espoused from Christian theocratic visionaries. What I have heard is fear. Fear of people who are of different beliefs from us.


It is ironic that fear and anxiety have taken such a deep hold over so many Christians that say they value scripture—perhaps they should go back to their Bibles and do a little research—the most popular phrase that Jesus utters more than any other phrase is, “Be not afraid.”

Is Safety and Security worth sacrificing rights and freedoms? I believe that all too many Christians these days would say yes without thinking twice.

Is this kind of fear really a Christian value or even an American value?

One American I know summed it up this way, “those that choose security over freedom deserve neither.” What American would utter such blistering words? Benjamin Franklin.