I am so sick of Christians claiming that America was created for Christians!

I have noticed that there is a lot of resentment if not downright hate for Americans who are not Christians. I find it confusing since the bible says Jesus taught his followers to love and respect one another. It makes me wonder if I have a wrong idea of what Christians really believe.

The founding fathers certainly believed in God and the Bible but to equate their beliefs with Christianity is another story. Its only natural for them to be influenced by what they believe. Personally I don't see anything wrong with Christianity, I am a Christian myself. One of the reasons that causes negative reactions from people of different beliefs (or non-belief) is the mistaken zeal and enthusiasm of the fundamentalists and religious extremists who call themselves Christians. That's gives Christianity a bad name to people of different view. People will misunderstand, people will react negatively and even violently for some reasons or another but at the end of the day this will not alter in anyway the fact that Jesus Christ existed in history and revealed God to men. I don't agree with the idea that America is created for Christians or that America is supposed to be a Christian Nation. I believe in religious freedom and peaceful co-existence of people of different faiths. Anything less is a very unchristian attitude.

Hi! I just wanted to add that Alan Dershowitz wrote a book about this subject called, "America Declares Independence." I've read most of it and it's an excellent book. It's written from the same viewpoint you are expressing, that America was not formed with the intent of creating a christian nation.

For sure America was created for everyone. I have also read what you say about Thomas Jefferson. However, to be fair to modern day Christians, there were founding fathers advocating Christianity more strongly. The balence that was struck between the Christians and people like Thomas Jefferson is just about right. I like the way things turned out. What do I mean? Well, probably like yourself, I am glad that the slogan "In God we trust" is not "In Jesus we trust".

I'm not quite sure where you are coming from or where you are going. I am a Christian and I never learned that the US was founded for Christians. Our Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776 states....We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness........ It would seem that atheists and demonist would also fall into the category of "all men". Checking on facts I read the Declaration of Independence in its entirety....the first time I have done so in over 50 years. I was appalled at what I didn't remember. It is a fascinating document and still true today as it was the day it was signed. I don't find most Americans to be dyed in the wool Christians. There are those who like to build their own pulpit and preach what they think is the "Gospel truth". That is their right under the freedom of speech amendment. But I feel that the more we protest their preachings and wrathfilled oratories the more they will go on and on and on and on. Maybe it's time for those of us who are in disagreement to keep our mouths shut and let their words fall on deaf ears. Our rage against it only fuels the fire for more and more and more. End of Sermon.

Did you investigate correctly the T. J conviction and all former-former the American president whether their religion? Certainly one country not in allocated for the inhabitants of the indigenous people because of this earth belonging to Allah and all entitled humankind lived in any with all the honours that he had, and did not have any religion that had the country

well... even in christian religion have too many version just in america (USA) ,prostestan and catholic, methodist, aglican, etc.what about the jews, and atheist?

I have seen such posts as well, especially in all the Christmas posts during last month. About how the founding father's wanted this to be a Christian country, that America was founded on Christian beliefs, etc. It irritated me as well and I told a few in them that it wasn't the case. I'm glad to see someone who knows their history and knows how to research it. There were some who were Christian but not all of them and even those that were Christian most were considered heretics at the time. They didn't go with the norms of the day with religion. They wanted freedom to practice what ever religion they wanted, it's why many came to this land. Yes we do have "In God we trust" above things, however it does not say what God that is. For all anyone knows it could be Zeus they were referring to, they just think it's the Christian God. They were giving indication that there is something above us and they wanted to remind others of that. Whether that other is Christian, Islamic, or the Force, it doesn't matter. They wanted us to make our own choice on it. If the founding fathers had wanted us to be a Christian nation they would not have put in the separation of church and state. They would have declared one religion/church to be the Church of the United States like England had. No instead they wanted each person to have the right to follow whatever path they wanted.

A Country should not be considered as created for a particular religion it is completely absurd. See the plight of the middle east where people say it is ISlam country and invariably fosters to terrorism without even the knowledge of the governments A country needs to be socialist and Cosmopolitan . It can be spiritual but shd not be religious

to the point. I hate american distric but I like american peoples

Well Done! You have covered a highly relevant, timeless topic very thoroughly & could have even gone much further with it. Like you, I have read the primary documents & some very nice commentary on them also. We seem to be, even now, hearing a lot on this from the "religious right" in the US that they want the country to "return to the Christian principles on which it was founded". Such statements are at least, very misleading. The men responsible for building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Deists who clearly did not believe the bible was historically true or scientifically accurate. When the Founders wrote the nation's Constitution, they specified that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3) This provision was radical in its day-- giving equal citizenship to believers and non-believers alike. They wanted to make sure that no single religion could make the claim of being the official, national religion, such as England had. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention religion, except in exclusionary terms. The words "Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible & God" are never mentioned in the Constitution-- not even once. The Declaration of Independence gives us important insight into the opinions of the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the power of the government is derived from the governed. Up until that time, it was claimed that kings ruled nations by the authority of God. The Declaration was a brilliantly radical departure from the idea of divine authority. The 1796 treaty with Tripoli says that the United States was "in no sense founded on the Christian religion". This was not an idle statement, meant to satisfy Muslims-- they believed it and meant it. This treaty was written under the presidency of George Washington and signed under the presidency of John Adams. Most of the Founders were Deists, which is to say they thought the universe had a creator, but that he does not concern himself with the daily lives of humans, and does not directly communicate with humans, either by revelation or by sacred books. They spoke often of God, (Nature's God or the God of Nature), but this was not the God of the bible. They did not deny that there was a person called Jesus, and praised him for his benevolent teachings, but they flatly denied his divinity. Some people speculate that if Charles Darwin had lived a century earlier, the Founding Fathers would have had a basis for accepting naturalistic origins of life, and they would have been atheists. Most of them were stoutly opposed to the bible, and the teachings of Christianity in particular. There were Christians among the Founders. Just as Congress removed Thomas Jefferson's words that condemned the practice of slavery in the colonies, they also altered his wording regarding equal rights. His original wording is: "All men are created equal and independent. From that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable." Congress changed that phrase, increasing its religious overtones: "All men are created equal. They are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights." But the US is not governed by the Declaration of Independence-- it is a historical document, not a constitutional one. If there are some who truly wish to return this country to its beginnings, then so be it, because it was a climate of Free-thought. The Founders were students of the European Enlightenment. Half a century after the establishment of the United States, clergymen complained bitterly that no president up to that date had been a Christian. In a sermon that was reported in the newspapers, Episcopal minister Bird Wilson of Albany, New York, protested in October 1831: "Among all our presidents from Washington downward, not one was a professor of religion, at least not of more than Unitarianism." The attitude of the age was one of enlightened reason, tolerance, and free thought. The Founding Fathers would turn in their graves if the Christian Extremists should have their way with their country.