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Old 12-01-12, 03:09 AM   #1
 
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Default Are We A Christian Nation?

The answer is yes, largely. The American culture was born on the teachings of Christianity and the morality associated with it.

Granted, while these ethics are not mutually-inclusive to to Christianity, the idea of doing unto others as we wish to have done upon us, the glorification of charity, (http://www.news.com.au/money/money-m...-1226227290769) and the focus on family cements the idea that we are a Christian Nation. Even as an atheist, I was raised in a household that taught the Sunday lessons and can identify as a member of the culture.

This isn't a debate about homosexuality or abortion. Those topics have their own places to be discussed and they're being greatly debated within the religion. This topic is about whether we can classify ourselves as a Christian Nation based purely off of the parallels between our reality and the Biblical ideal.




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Old 12-01-12, 03:51 AM   #2
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Default Re: Are We A Christian Nation?

I believe so to, to an extent since there is a plethora of things that do agree your post.
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Old 12-01-12, 04:02 AM   #3
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Default Re: Are We A Christian Nation?

Even if the ideas are parallel with other religions, the founders of this country based their ethics and laws off of christian ideals. Any parallels with other religions are coincidental, because the founding fathers weren't any other religion BUT christian.

Of course there are more secular decisions that the American government has made, like separation of church and state, but ALOT of the American Govt. is based off of christianity.
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Old 12-01-12, 05:01 AM   #4
 
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Default Re: Are We A Christian Nation?

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Even if the ideas are parallel with other religions, the founders of this country based their ethics and laws off of christian ideals. Any parallels with other religions are coincidental, because the founding fathers weren't any other religion BUT christian.
Not exactly.

Benjamin Franklin was a deist/agnostic, as evidenced by this quote from a letter he wrote in 1790:

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As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw, or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes, and I have with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his Divinity.
The divinity of Jesus is a central tenet of Christianity, and to reject it in such a way is to reject Christianity itself.

This doesn't mean their beliefs concerning morality weren't borrowed heavily from Jesus' teachings (because it's rather apparent in that same quote) but is that really enough to make the US "a Christian nation"? I doubt it.

Little-known fact: Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah of Morocco was the first to recognize the United States as a sovereign nation, and in the Treaty of Tripoli (1797) the Founders stated, "The government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Mussulmen [Muslims]—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

Legally, as defined by the separation of church and state clause of the Constitution, the US government is secular. It is for this reason that the US does not have, never has had, and never can have an official state religion, and also why compulsory prayer in public schools is illegal.

Now the question of whether the nation can still be considered "a Christian nation" in spite of Constitutionally-mandated secularism in government. I don't think it can be, simply because of the generalization that such a sweeping statement requires. Yes, the United States has a very prominent Christian majority, but as a whole its inhabitants are very diverse and hold a wide range of personal beliefs. Should we consider ourselves "a white nation" because we have a white majority, or "a fat nation" because of rampant obesity?
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Old 12-01-12, 06:49 AM   #5
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Default Re: Are We A Christian Nation?

I can't really discuss this since I don't live in the US and I don't know much about this, but all I know is that they type on the back of the American Dollar " In God we trust! ". xD









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Old 12-01-12, 08:29 AM   #6
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Default Re: Are We A Christian Nation?

Yes, but is it a christian god?








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Old 12-01-12, 11:18 AM   #7
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Default Re: Are We A Christian Nation?

I believe America is clearly a Christian nation, yes, even if (mostly) tolerant towards other religions/beliefs.









Mistakes are made, and regrets are our luggage; we will drag them with us to slow us down.
The victories are flashes of light, sudden and unlasting, which allow us to glimpse the road ahead before darkness descends.


Love is bitter, yet it is the bread that keeps us. Over and over it fills us up, only to starve us.
The people whom we love shape our destinies and our strengths,yet leave us cold and alone in the darkness.

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Old 12-01-12, 11:21 AM   #8
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Default Re: Are We A Christian Nation?

Read about Thomas Jefferson before making stupid assertions about the founding fathers.
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Old 12-01-12, 11:59 AM   #9
 
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Default Re: Are We A Christian Nation?

Jefferson only ever gave skepticism through private letters. For all purposes of building the nation (and considering he was raised in a religious household) he was 'Christian.'

Being an atheist doesn't inherently make you different, your culture and decisions do, and both corresponded to the common faith.

And the government can be as secular as it wishes, but the government in democratic societies don't influence culture as much as individuals of it do.

Hitchens definitely had an impact. But so did the millions of Christians that preceded him.




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Old 12-01-12, 01:19 PM   #10
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Default Re: Are We A Christian Nation?

^Read more about Thomas Jefferson.
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