The U.S. Constitution does not mention Christianity or any specific religion. The Declaration of Independence famously proclaims that human rights come from a “Creator” and “God of Nature” – but does not specify who that is.
Yet large numbers of Americans believe that the founders intended the US to be a Christian nation, and many believe it should be so.
Such views are especially strong among Republicans and their white evangelical base. Such views are already being expressed by supporters of Donald Trump amid his bid to regain the presidency.
The idea of a Christian America means different things to different people. Pollsters have found a wide swath of Americans who hold general God-and-country sentiments.
But within that is a smaller, hardcore group that also checks other boxes in surveys — such as that the U.S. Constitution is inspired by God and that the federal government should declare the U.S. a Christian nation, advocate Christian values or stop enforcing of the separation of the church. and state.
For those who embrace that set of beliefs, they are more likely to have unfavorable views of immigrants, to dismiss or downplay the impact of anti-Black discrimination and to believe that Trump was a good or great president, according to a study by the 2021 Pew Research Center.
The latter group reflects a movement commonly known as Christian nationalism, which combines American and Christian values, symbols and identity and seeks to privilege Christianity in public life.
The idea of a Christian nation fulfills Americans’ need for an origin story, a belief that “we came here for something special, and we are here for God’s work,” said Eric McDaniel, an associate professor of government at the university. of Texas.
It creates a sense of “national innocence” so that supporters resist confronting uglier parts of American history, he said.
The faith aligns with other beliefs from the past and present, from the Manifest Destiny doctrine that justified continental conquest to Trump’s America First and Make America Great Again slogans, said McDaniel, co-author of “The Everyday Crusade: Christian Nationalism in American Politics.”
Trump has echoed some of these ideas, promising to ban immigrants who “don’t like our religion.”
Many conservatives and Republicans embrace the idea of a Christian national origin, just as many reject the label “Christian nationalist.”
Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson has proclaimed that America is and was founded as a Christian nation and that Thomas Jefferson was “divinely inspired” to write the Declaration of Independence, according to a 2015 sermon that drew wider attention with his recent election to chairman.
WallBuilders, an organization that Johnson credits for its “profound influence” on him, has circulated material claiming that “revisionist” historians have downplayed America’s Christian origins, but the group has been widely criticized for historically dubious claims.
A lawsuit is being filed on behalf of the company challenging the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s refusal to run bus advertisements touting the alleged beliefs of its founders.
Vocal Trump supporters have described the current politics as spiritual warfare for the fate of a country that former Trump aide Steve Bannon described as the “New Jerusalem” and conservative activist Charlie Kirk said was founded by “courageous Bible-believing Christians” .
Recent Republican Party platforms in Texas, Oklahoma and Kentucky proclaim that the country is founded on “Judeo-Christian” principles.
The Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, said he does not identify as a Christian nationalist but believes America was founded as a Christian nation.
“I don’t claim that all our founders were Christians,” he said in an interview. “Some were deists, some were atheists, but the majority were Christians. I am also not saying that non-Christians should not have the same rights as Christians in our country.”
But he said: “There is a case to be made that the Judeo-Christian faith was the basis for our laws and many of our principles.” Quoting Founder John Jay – the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court – he asserted that it is the duty of Americans “in our Christian nation to select and elect Christians as their rulers.”
Jeffress said he does not believe America is favored by God, but as with any nation, “God will continue to bless America to the extent that we follow him.”
Anthea Butler, chair of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania, said history rules out any idea of a Christian nation.
“It doesn’t mean that Christians weren’t part of the founding of this nation,” said Butler, a historian of African American and American religion. “What it does mean is that if you believe that America is a Christian nation and as part of that you happen to subscribe to Christian nationalism, you are believing in a myth.”
That America-as-Christian-nation idea is “a trope of exclusion,” she said, with American history focusing on white Anglo-Saxon Protestants as “those willing to run the country, then and now.”
That justifies viewing others as “heathens,” including enslaved blacks and Native Americans whose lands were taken.
Those who argue for a Christian America are generally not historians and don’t really talk about history — they talk about politics, said John Fea, author of the 2011 book “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?”
“They appeal to a false view of the founding, or at least a partial view of the founding, to advance the political agendas of the present,” said Fea, professor of history at Messiah University, a Christian university in Mechanicsburg, PA. “These agendas are built on a very weak historical foundation.”
Belief in America’s Christian origins is mainstream.
According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, six in 10 American adults said America’s founders wanted to be a Christian nation. About 45% believe the US should be a Christian nation. Four in five white evangelical Protestants agreed with each statement.
By some measures, Democratic President Joe Biden could be seen in that category, citing the importance of his Catholic faith and invoking God’s blessings on America and its troops — but also appealing to shared values ”whether you’re Christian, whether you are Jewish. , Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist or any other faith, or no faith at all. ”
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 report from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI)/Brookings.
Such surveys have found a smaller, more fervent group of believers in the Christian nation. In another survey, PRRI identified about 10% of Americans as its most committed adherents.
The Constitution prohibits any religious test for office, and the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of any religion in Congress while guaranteeing the free exercise of religion.
Defenders of the Christian nation can point out that several of the thirteen original states funded Protestant churches from the beginning, although within a few decades they had all followed Virginia’s example in ending the practice. They can point to the Christian rhetoric of some of the founders, such as John Jay, Patrick Henry, and Samuel Adams.
But several key founding fathers would never pass a test of orthodoxy. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin regarded Jesus as a great teacher, but not as God.
“Can you find any material where John Adams speaks of religion as the foundation of the republic, as George Washington said in his farewell address?” Fea asked. “Are there states where Christianity was privileged? Yes, you can find all those things. You can also find things that show that the Constitution wants to keep religion and government separate.”
Some secular activists today argue for an opposite view: that America’s founders sought to banish religion from public life. Fea said that also goes too far: “When you’re dealing with the 18th century, nuance and complexity are essential,” he said.
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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.