Is the United States a Religious Nation?

This is always a question that will seem to draw very strong stances from two opposite sides of the spectrum. The question itself in just how it is presented can sway the way answers will be, or the way it is presented can also just as strongly make it seem it has to be one thing and not the other. But what is the answer to the Question, is the United States a Religious Nation? Is it a Christian Nation? Was the United States based on Christian beliefs?

Is it possible the United States in some respects IS a religious nation, while not being one at the same time? It all comes down to WHAT is being asked and of WHOM.

 

When the question is centered on the Government and how it is set up, the answer is clearly NO. The United States is not a theocracy, it is not based on religious scripture, scripture is not law, and no religious leader makes the political decisions of the United States. In this regard the United States is secular as was intentionally designed to be this way, to protect ALL religious views, and all persons of faith and non faith from any sort of persecution based on their religious views.

If the question is about the people, the answer is a very strong YES. According to a 2008 ARIS survey¹, 76% of the United States populous described itself as Christian, 1.2% other religions and 15% as No Religious Group (includes Atheist, Agnostic and stated “No Religion”). So if the question is asked, “Is the United States a Religious Nation”, and it is asking about the people and not the government the answer is self evident above.

Another Question asked is, “Is America based off of Christian/Religious principles”? This is the tougher question to answer, and it really depends on what you are looking for. Are you looking for clearly based or ideological biblical or other religious principles in governing documents? Some do see them, and some don’t  at all, it does not take a religious person to say murder is wrong, or that the right to life (not having it arbitrarily taken away) is essential, yet both are religious principles too many. So is this or is it not a religious principle, or is it just a moral one?

Some contend that the Government is based of Religious principle laid out in the Bible or other document, but these same principles can be found written earlier by John Locke and Charles de Secondant Baron de Montesquieu. But both Locke and Montesquieu were both very religious, is their influence from religion? Others contend it has Zero religious background at all, and the 1796 Treaty with the Barbary States “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion”. When looking at this in the form of the Government of the United States it is surely not a false statement. But to take it as a literal statement of totality in ALL the United States is to willingly ignore the early History of the United States.

Now I am not going to say the United States is at all a Religious based or Christian based government, but I will say it was influenced by people whom were very passionate in their religion. To say it has no religious background or some resemblance of it being part of the foundation this Nation was built on, is too completely ignore the facts of history. Nor am I contending religious doctrine should directly be the cause of Law, and I am certainly not advocating the establishment of a Church or compelling others to have a religion of any sort. This is a presentation of some of the facts, of how religion was around or has obvious signs of influence or regard, and it was not completely absent from the building of our foundation.

From here it is up to you to decide if Religion had any part or factor in United States from 1776-1791. The following is a list of all Charter Documents from the Period, the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and all the States Constitutions drafted and ratified during that period. As you will see, religion was anything but far from the minds of those who drafted these documents.

(NOTE: All Documents can be opened by clicking on the document name. They can be downloaded in .pdf from that link)

Declaration of Independence

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	1
Lord	0
Divine (Divinity)	1
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	1
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	0
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	1
Total	4

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

Articles of Confederation

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	1
Lord	0
Divine (Divinity)	0
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	0
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	0
Total	1

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	2

 

Constitution of the United States

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	0
Lord	1
Divine (Divinity)	0
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	0
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	0
Total	1

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	2

 

Bill of Rights

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	1
Lord	0
Divine (Divinity)	1
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	1
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	0
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	0
Total	3

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare

 

Delaware Constitution

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	2
Lord	0
Divine (Divinity)	1
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	1
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	1
Jesus/Church	1
Creator	0
Total	6

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

Georgia Constitution

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	4
Lord	1
Divine (Divinity)	0
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	1
Jesus/Church	1
Creator	0
Total	7

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

Maryland Constitution

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	1
Lord	0
Divine (Divinity)	1
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	4
Jesus/Church	8
Creator	0
Total	14

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	1

Massachusetts Constitution

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	8
Lord	1
Divine (Divinity)	0
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	1
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	4
Jesus/Church	2
Creator	1
Total	17

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

New Hampshire Constitution

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	0
Lord	0
Divine (Divinity)	0
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	0
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	0
Total	0

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

New Jersey Constitution

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	1
Lord	1
Divine (Divinity)	0
Almighty	1
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	0
Jesus/Church	2
Creator	0
Total	5

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	1

New York Constitution

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	2
Lord	5
Divine (Divinity)	1
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	1
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	1
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	1
Total	11

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

North Carolina Constitution

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	4
Lord	3
Divine (Divinity)	3
Almighty	1
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	1
Jesus/Church	1
Creator	0
Total	13

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

Pennsylvania Constitution (1776)

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	3
Lord	0
Divine (Divinity)	1
Almighty	1
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	0
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	1
Total	6

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

Pennsylvania Constitution (1790)

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	2
Lord	1
Divine (Divinity)	0
Almighty	1
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	0
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	0
Total	4

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

South Carolina Constitution

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	1
Lord	1
Divine (Divinity)	0
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	1
Jesus/Church	3
Creator	0
Total	6

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

Vermont Constitution (1777)

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	12
Lord	1
Divine	1
Almighty	5
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	0
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	1
Total	20

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

Vermont Constitution (1786)

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	7
Lord	1
Divine (Divinity)	1
Almighty	1
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	1
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	1
Total	12

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

Virginia Constitution

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	0
Lord	0
Divine (Divinity)	0
Almighty	0
Providence/Holy	0
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	1
Jesus/Church	0
Creator	1
Total	2

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	0

GRAND TOTALS

Term/Name	Total Instances
God	50
Lord	16
Divine (Divinity)	11
Almighty	10
Providence/Holy	5
Christ (Christian, Christianity)	15
Jesus/Church	18
Total	132

 

Term/Name	Total Instances
General/Public Welfare	6

Nobody can argue that the Government of the United States is designed intentionally to be secular, and certain protections are put in place to ensure no religious prosecution can take place. But that that does not mean that the Government was influenced to the exclusion or thought of religion itself. It was very much part of the lives of most Americans including those who forged our State and Federal Governments. They went to great length to ensure all could practice how they wished or did not wish, and not be in fear of any retribution or prejudice from the Government. But it can not be argued, that religion was not on the minds, or in the hearts of those same people who debated and ratified these fine documents.

 

1 -  American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), by Barry A. Kosmin, Egon Mayer, and Ariela Keysar at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York http://www.teachingaboutreligion.org/Demographics/map_demographics.htm