Religion and Politics

"The Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." -- Treaty of Tripoli, 1797, signed by President John Adams and approved unanimously by Congress.

   "America is a Christian nation," goes the refrain, taken up again by the Radical Righteous as they work to impose their views on everyone else.
   Except for the 9 million Jews, 2.7 million Muslims, 1.4 million Buddhists, 586,000 Hindus, 582,000 Native Americans, 186,000 Sikhs, 340,000 Wiccans, 342,000 Pagans, 35 million Atheists and Agnostics, 31 million who say they are Non-Religious, and the 12 million who refused to reply to the question posed by the U.S. Census Bureau. Not to mention the millions of others who are Zoroastrian, Confucian, Shinto, Tao, Baha'i, or the odd Druid here and there.
   The "Christian nation" chant is heard most often from ultra-conservative, evangelistic groups. But they are a distinct minority among the more than 30 major Christian denominations listed  in the Census report. Of the total adult population of 228 million, self-described Christians total 173.4 million, or some 54 percent -- just above half. And the largest denomination is Roman Catholic, with 57.2 million members, followed by Baptists, with 36.1 million. Moreover, this lists only those who say they have a religious affiliation, not whether they actively participate.
   The survey dealt with adults. The total population of the U.S. is now about 316 million.
   One recent survey showed that more than half of Republicans surveyed said Christianity should be made the official religion of the U.S., and another survey showed that "55 percent of Americans believed it already was," according to a column in the New York Times March 14 issue.
   The column, by Kevin Kruse, a professor of history at Princeton, points out that this belief is relatively recent in America, going back only to Depression Era efforts by corporations to fight off federal regulations.
   It's a continuation of the earlier attitude of corporate executives who relied on their religious beliefs to justify their efforts to defeat labor union activists. To quote George Frederick Baer, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in 1902, "The rights and interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for -- not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men of property to whom God has given control of the property rights of the country."
   It's important to remember that nowhere in the Constitution or in the Declaration of Independence is Christianity mentioned. Neither, for that matter, is God. And any rights listed in the founding documents are not granted by government. Rather, the documents guarantee rights we already have. And Congress shall make no law abridging these rights.
   The separation of church and state was so important to the founders because they had been victims of the imperial tradition that disallowed many positions to those who were not members of the state-sponsored, established church.
   There is no established church in America, and to claim that there is, or should be, is to show an ignorance of what America is all about: Freedom of religion, as specified in the First Amendment, and freedom from religion, as specified in Article Six of the Constitution itself.