News of the World: One Nation Under One God

About 10 years or so ago, I participated in a program of patriotic theme music put on by my church choir around Veteran's Day.

Between various pieces of music where dramatic readings including one that stated that the United States was a Christian nation. 

I wish I had the courage and the strength of character to challenge that assertion, if America is a Christian nation, how American citizens who are also Jewish feel about that?

Or Hindu? Or Muslim? 

And exactly what kind of "Christian" nation are we talking about? Does that include Catholics or is it just a Protestant thing?

I said nothing and grinned like an idiot as I proclaimed "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty".  

I guess the statement that America is a Christian nation is not a big deal if you're ostensibly a Christian. 

I wrote a post a few year ago in a response to a poll on the subject of what does it mean to be an American. An alarmingly large percentage named one condition for being an American was to be Christian. 

The idea that America is a Christian nation is hardwired into the talking points of a lot of alleged conservatives.  You know, the same conservatives who demand absolute fealty to the US Constitution exactly as written yet manage to overlook this text from the 1st amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".   

Freedom of religion is "the right of all persons to believe, speak, and act – individually and in community with others, in private and in public – in accord with their understanding of ultimate truth."*

Political conservatives will solemnly swear America is a Christian nation and that the founding fathers meant it to be so.

Oh hell no they didn't. 

Virtually every single person associated with the founding of our country and the writing of our Constitution was quite adamant this is not a Christian nation.  Matters of faith were best left to the individual and not to the state to proscribe. 

Micheal Flynn feels differently.

“If we are going to have one nation under God — which we must — we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.”

Flynn was Donald Trump’s former national security adviser and a convicted felon.    

Flynn got a lot of pushback online from people pointing out the obvious. 

Ben White

@morningmoneyben

As fundamental a rejection of the very founding principles of this nation as you are likely to find.

Javier de Diego

@JaviCNN

Literally the opposite of what the Constitution says.

While speaking at a far right rally in San Antonio, Flynn's remarks were greeted with cheers and applause. 

Christians have this propriety notion that the American dream belongs only to them.

Nevermind that exclusive ownership of the American dream by one religion over all others is step one on the path to killing that dream.    

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*Farr, Thomas (November 1, 2019). "What in the World is Religious Freedom?". Religious Freedom Institute. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020.