What does it mean to claim the US is a Christian nation, and what does the Constitution say?
Many Americans believe the United States was founded as a Christian nation, and the idea energizes some conservative and Republican activists. But the concept means different things to different people, and historians say that while the issue is complex, the founding documents prioritized religious freedom and did not create a Christian nation.
No.
“(N)o religious tests will ever be required as qualifications for any office or public trust under the United States.” (Article VI)
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” (First Amendment)
Now it is. Early in the republic, some states officially sponsored certain churches, such as the Congregational Church in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Within a few decades they had all lifted this support. The post-Civil War 14th Amendment guaranteed all American citizens “equal protection of the laws” and said states could not interfere with their “privileges or immunities” without due process of law. In the 20th century, the Supreme Court applied this to a number of First Amendment cases involving religion, saying states could not ban public conversion, reimburse the funding of religious education, or sponsor prayers in public schools.
It depends who you ask. Some believe that God worked to bring European Christians to America in the 17th century and secure their independence in the 18th century. Some take the Puritan colonists at their word that they were making a covenant with God, similar to the Biblical description of ancient Israel, and see America still subject to divine blessings or punishments depending on how faithful the country is. Still others argue that some or all of America’s founders were Christian, or that the founding documents were based on Christianity.
Several had Christian language in their founding documents, such as Massachusetts, where established churches continued for decades after independence. Others, such as Rhode Island, offered broader religious freedom. It is also questionable whether the colonies’ actions lived up to their words, given their history of religious intolerance and their initiation into centuries of African slavery and wars against Native Americans.
The leaders of the American Revolution and the new republic had a mix of beliefs: some Christian, some Unitarian, some deistic, or otherwise theistic. Some major founders, such as Benjamin Franklin, admired Jesus as a moral teacher but failed to pass a test of Christian orthodoxy. Many believed strongly in religious freedom, even though they also believed that religion was essential to maintaining a virtuous citizenry.
References to the Creator and God of Nature in the Declaration reflect a general theism that might be acceptable to Christians, Unitarians, deists, and others. Both documents reflect Enlightenment ideas about natural rights and responsible government. Some also see these documents as influenced, or at least compatible, with the Protestant emphasis on ideas such as human sin, which require checks and balances. In fact, believers in a Christian America were some of the strongest opponents of ratifying the Constitution because of its omission of references to God.
Many were and many were not. Membership in the early church was actually quite low, but revivals known as the First and Second Great Awakenings, before and after the Revolution, produced many converts. Many scholars see religious freedom as a way for multiple churches to grow and flourish.
Not by many early Americans. Some state constitutions have barred them from office.
Gradually, but by the time of the Cold War, many saw Catholics, Protestants, and Jews as God-believing American patriots, united in confronting the atheist, communist Soviet Union.
No. Many early 20th century social gospel advocates saw their efforts to help the needy as part of building a Christian society. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt prayed on national radio for God’s blessing “in our united crusade… over the unholy forces of our enemy.”
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that civil rights protesters were standing up for “the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage.”
“Christian nationalism has historically used images that advocate an idealized view of the country’s identity and mission, while purposefully ignoring those who have been excluded, exploited and persecuted,” said a 2021 statement from the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States. USA, an umbrella group that includes several progressive denominations.
According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, six in 10 American adults said the founders originally intended America to be a Christian nation. Forty-five percent said the U.S. should be a Christian nation, but only a third thought it currently is.
Among white evangelical Protestants, 81% said the founders envisioned a Christian nation, and the same number said the U.S. should be one — but only 23% thought this was currently the case, according to Pew.
In a 2021 Pew report, 15% of U.S. adults surveyed said the federal government should declare the U.S. a Christian nation, while 18% said the U.S. Constitution was inspired by God.
A third of American adults surveyed in 2023 said God intended America to be a promised land for European Christians to set an example to the world, according to a Public Religion Research Institute/Brookings survey. Those who embraced this view were also more likely to dismiss the impact of anti-Black discrimination and more likely to say that true patriots may have to act violently to save the country, the study found.
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Sources: Pew Research Center; Research Institute for Public Religion/Brookings; “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?” by John Fee.
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Associated Press religion reporting is supported by the AP’s partnership with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.