When interviewed in 2008, presidential candidate John McCain said that "the number one issue people should make [in the] selection of the President of the United States is, Will this person carry on in the Judeo-Christian principled tradition that has made this nation the greatest experiment in the history of mankind?" (1) McCain also claimed that he would be uncomfortable with a non-Christian president because of his belief that this government was founded on Christian principles. Exactly how true that belief is, however, is open to debate. While it is undeniable that there is mention of a deity on our money and in many of the founding documents of this nation, there is no evidence of anything specifically promoting Christianity or demonizing Islam.
The often-cited proofs for America being a Christian nation, from the Creator mentioned in the constitution to the God that we trust in on our money, actually have nothing to do with Christianity. They are instead instances of Ceremonial Deism, a legal concept stating that all cases of the word "God" used by the American government refer not to any specific deity and are only there for purposes of custom. (2) The phrase "in God We Trust," a late addition to our currency first added to coins during the Civil War and later mandated by Congress during the 1950s, has no mention of which God we should trust in or even whether that God is monotheistic or one of many.
While it is true that many of the founding fathers were Deists, the vast majority of them were Christians of some denomination or another. Over 57% of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were Episcopalians, while less than 4% of them were Unitarians (3). They may have disagreed privately about matters of faith, but they publicly agreed to keep religion out of State affairs when they approved the Bill or Rights guaranteeing "that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." There is no mention of God or Religion in the entire Constitution, save for the use of the phrase "Anno Domino," which means "in the Year of Our Lord."
The decision to exclude Christ from the Constitution was not based in forgetfulness, but nor was it grounded in any sort of anti-religious bias. Instead, the majority of statesmen in the 18th Century saw religion as a private affair, one which should not overlap with public activities such as science or politics. When Benjamin Franklin suggested that each meeting of the Constitutional Convention begin with a prayer, Alexander Hamilton famously replied that they had no need of "foreign aid."
Thomas Jefferson, who wrote that all Americans are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights," was as far from a Christian as was possible at the time. Jefferson famously created his own version of the Gospels with all the miracles edited out. In fact, the first Muslim senator in the US was sworn in to office using Jefferson's copy of the Koran, which the author of the Declaration learned Arabic in order to read.
If the founding fathers of this country could not agree on religious principles to found this country upon, then what exactly was it that united them? In my mind, one need look no further than the two illustration on the back of a one-dollar bill to find the answer. Taken together, these two circles are called the "Great Seal of the United States," considered by conspiracy theorists to be proof that the Freemasons control the United States. Designed by Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin, these illustrations show less of an occult influence and more of a deep faith in the country that they have founded.
The circle to the left shows an uncapped pyramid with 13 steps, representing the 13 colonies ant the amount of work still to be done on the unfinished country. They eye above they pyramid, known as the "Eye of Providence," represents enlightenment or divine providence. Above the pyramid is the phrase "Annuit Coeptis," which means "He blesses our Undertakings," while the Latin banner on the botton reads "a new order for the Ages." Both of these phrases tell us that the founders believed that their new Country was destined to last, and that it would perhaps become the model for future governments. The illustration on the right is of an Eagle holding an olive branch and 13 arrows, representing how our country is united in war and in peace, and was inspired by the similar symbolism used by the Iroquois League that inspired much of the Democratic system (4).
When John Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797, ending the Barbary war with African Muslim nations such as Libya and Morocco, he remarked that "the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion" and that "it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Musselmen [Muslims]." (5) What unites the American people today is the same as what united the founding fathers over 200 years ago- a sense of confidence in the individual, a desire for freedom from foreign countries, and a quest for internal unity. None of these are particularly Christian concepts, nor are any of them antithetical to Islam.
Links:
1. John McCain on Beliefnet.com, on how he admires "the Islam."
2. Ceremonial Deism on Wikipedia
3. The Religion of the Founding Fathers on the awesome Adherents.com
4. All about the Great Seal on Goddrinksbeer.com
5. Our Godless Constitution on thenation.com
