Is America a Christian nation?

This transcript has been adapted from the attached audio. It may not be in its final form and may be updated.

We are a nation that was founded by people, most of whom were operating out of a Christian or a Judeo-Christian worldview. Some of them were very serious Christians and some of them were not.

I would argue that if you look at what happened in the 18th century with the Declaration of Independence and with the Constitution, you had people who were operating out of a Judeo-Christian worldview who sought to wed Judeo-Christian values with enlightenment ideas of self-government and a pretty serious understanding from the people who were primarily the architects of the Constitution, (Madison and Adams, who were the two guys who really were the architects of the Constitution itself) that you could not have the kind of freedom that was being guaranteed in the American system that they were proposing unless most people obeyed the law voluntarily because they had a sense of obligation and responsibility to a higher power.

Adams said we have a government that is designed only for a “moral and a religious people. It is insufficient for any other.” What he meant by that is if you do not have that interior compass, that interior moral compass guiding you and seeking to guide your behavior, then the liberty we have in this country that is built into the system will lead to license and will lead to disorder.

I think when we say that America is a “Christian nation”, as a Baptist, I find that phrase problematic because, for me, a Christian is someone who is in a regenerate state, someone who has had a born-again experience with the Lord Jesus Christ. So the idea of a “Christian nation” it seems to me, is at odds with my understanding of what a Christian is.

Now, a nation that is being guided and directed by Judeo-Christian values is another thing. I believe in that firmly. I believe that is what we have been for most of our history, and that is what we want to restore in this country because it is under serious challenge by people who [Bill] O’Reilly calls them secular progressives. You can call them secularists, you can call them liberals, but they have a very different worldview, they have a very different vision of America’s future.

Our vision is, the one that we have at The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, we believe in “an American society that seeks to live by, affirms, and practices Judeo-Christian values rooted in Biblical authority.”

Now, when I showed that to a New York Times reporter, The New York Times reporter said, “uhh, what about separation of church and state?”

I said, “Well, can you find the word government or state anywhere in that statement?”

She said, “No.”

And I said, “It says, an American society that affirms and practices Judeo-Christian values, rooted in Biblical authority.” I said, “Now I know you believe in self-government, I know you believe in representative government, government of the people, by the people, and for the people, so if the majority of the people are espousing Judeo-Christian values, you would expect that to be reflected in the country’s laws?”

And she said, “Well, I have to think about that.”