The Stop the ACLU blog reports that Michael Newdow, the atheist who sued to have the “one nation under God” clause removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, is now suing to have “In God We Trust” removed from the nation’s currency. In the article, Newdow is quoted as saying that the clause “violates the religious rights of atheists who belong to his �First Amendment Church of True Science.�
David Price over at Espresso Roast comments: “The ridiculous thing is that in this nation, one man (supported by an out-of-control activist court) can completely alter the landscape for a majority of people who both believe in God and desire to see this land maintained upon her Judeo-Christian foundation.” This is the common opinion among the Stop the ACLU crowd. However, the fact that Newdow is able to alter the landscape is the American Dream of individual assertion, isn’t it? Beyond that, I’m not convinced that we are in fact a “Judeo-Christian” nation, or that we ever were.
Opinion polls consistently report that 40% of Americans regularly attend church. 40%? Really? I simply don’t believe it. Neither did C. Kirk Hadaway and P.I. Marler who report: “Several years ago we teamed up with sociologist Mark Chaves to test the 40 percent figure for church attendance. Our initial study, based on attendance counts in Protestant churches in one Ohio county and Catholic churches in 18 dioceses, indicated a much lower rate of religious participation than the polls report. Instead of 40 percent of Protestants attending church, we found 20 percent. Instead of 50 percent of Catholics attending church, we found 28 percent. In other words, actual church attendance was about half the rate indicated by national public opinion polls.”
In fact, truth be told, the number of Evangelical Believers in America has not changed, and thus is actually becoming a smaller percentage of the overall American landscape. Barna states: “Despite the media frenzy surrounding the influence of evangelical Christians during the 2004 presidential election, the new study indicates that evangelicals remain just 7% of the adult population. That number has not changed since the Barna Group began measuring the size of the evangelical public in 1994.”
William Romanowski reports in his book Eyes Wide Open: Looking For God in Popular Culture that “over 80 percent of Americans believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. But apparently they don’t read it. Only twenty percent of Americans have read the whole bible, 17 percent read it daily, and nearly 50 percent of those surveyed rarely or never read the Bible.” If that’s not enough, he adds that “Eighty-four percent of adults ‘could not even hazard a guess’” as to what the term “Great Commission” meant, “Sixty-three percent of the population had no clue what it refers to, and only half who said they were born again Christians knew it as a verse from the Bible addressing salvation.” I for one am simply not convinced that we are a Christian nation.
A further (and perhaps deeper) question is whether or not this ever was a “Judeo-Christian” nation. Would our Founding Fathers have meant the same thing by the phrase In God We Trust that we do? I doubt it since Deists certainly don’t define God as the God of the Bible and anyone who’s ever seen Jefferson’s Bible cannot with any sincerity accuse him of being a Believer. Yes, there may have been a prevailing “Judeo-Christian” ethic, but this, does not a “Christian” nation make.
Another issue that arises here truly is the question of “religious liberty” that we are so desperately claiming as a foundation for keeping references to God on the nation’s currency. It is certainly in the best interest of Christians in America to protect all “religious liberty.” But, are we doing so by parading our belief in God over those who do not share that belief, in a country that never defined it the way we do to begin with?
At the end of the day, does it really matter if we remove In God We Trust from our currency and don’t say Under God in our pledge of allegiance (should Christians pledge allegiance to a country anyways?)? Are we and have we been pretending that America is something that it never really was in the first place? Does it really affect our personal faith if we admit that this is a primarily secular society? I’m not so sure it does matter. We’ve allowed patriotism to become associated with Christianity and now, many can no longer separate the two.
In fact, there is the reapossibilityty that if we allow such empty terms to be removed from the shell of patriotism that the true Christians in America will actually awake from their complacency and engage the culture, live their faith and voice the Gospel! What would happen if we removed the thin veil of pretend “Christianity” from our country? Perhaps the sheep truly would be separated from the goats?
I absolutely believe that the idea of the “separation of church and state” has been misinterpreted, misunderstood and misapplied. However, that does not mean that this is, or ever was a “Christian” nation (as current believers define it), or that we must officially acknowledge God and force all of our citizens to do so as well. Christians, above all ought to support freedom of religion, and we must alsacknowledgege that for some, this means exercising the right not to believe.
Read the original post from Stop the ACLU.
Read David Price’s comments.
Read Did You Really Go To Church This Week by C. Kirk Hadaway and P.I. Marler.
Read Religious Identification in the U.S. on religioustolerance.org.
Read the piece by the Barna Group.
Read Eyes Wide Open by William Romanowski.
Not pledge allegiance to the flag!!! What are you some kinda liberal? Or maybe you’re one of them libetarians…
But seriously, good blog. I look forward to the day when the Church of America Worship has been thoroughly dismantled. Some may say that we will have lost the battle to the secularists, yet my hope doesn’t rest in “Old Glory” or the Constitution or Uncle Sam, but in the one who is currently seated at the right hand of the Father. When that battle is “lost”, perhaps we reach those who are trusting in a false gospel, with the real one.
Good thoughts. Man, just think of it. If the church placed all of its resources toward true gospel proclamation in this country (and of course in foreign missions) rather than in trying to fight the political agenda and the marginalized atheists - not only would we be biblical, but because of changed lives the fights we are fighting would not exist.
Whatever the number of true believers, God can do mighty things through us. So whether we are 20%, 40%, or just 5%, let’s go all out for the Lord and be a living testimony to what he can do through a few faithful, like David’s mighty men.
I don’t know that I could more thoroughly disagree with your conclusions. Most assuredly this nation was founded on Judeo Christian principles. The fact that Jefferson was a Deist is inconsequential, especially in light of the predominance of Christianity among the founding fathers. We must always go with the weight of existing documentation to support our conclusion, documentation that in this case overwhelmingly Christian especially in state and local government constitutions of that era.
So what does this have to do with “in God we trust” or “one nation under God”? Everything. Saying these things has never made anyone more or less Christian, made the nation more or less Christian nor has it “paraded” anything other than this: The founding principles of our country are uniquely Christian in nature and thus makes our nation unique among all the nations of the world. These laws and the One in whom they are based are the source of our liberties and therin lies the offense. Therein is the reason for the continuous attack against these “innocuous” words.
The question one might more readily ask is why do they want to remove every vestige of the religious heritage of our country, the heritage that is the foundation upon which our country and its law’s are sourced.
The answer I believe is obvious.
Once this has been accomplished man is the source of law. Anything goes because there is no higher standard to which man is accountable. Kind of like today.
It started with not teaching the truth or at best only partial truth about our county in public school and it will end with removing the truth about our country.
When this happens everyone loses, Christian and non Christian alike.
In God we trust and one nation under God are skirmishes in the larger spiritual battle. We can’t fight any enemy we don’t see and I am afraid we are blind.
Kody;
Thank you so much for your comments. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to challenge.
Much of what I do here is “thinking out blog” to quote a good friend; feeling out issues and honestly looking for feedback. This is a big part of the way that I think through issues; through interaction, so I appreciate your comments.
Your point about God remaining the foundation is very strong. However, I guess what I’m wrestling with is whether or not we are the country we claim to be (Christian). If, practically speaking, much of the country has already removed God from their lives, does it matter if we remove acknowledging Him from our money?
Thanks again. See you in 30 minutes.
America founded on christian principles? Really, I’ve never seen, “no taxation wihtout representation” in the Bible. In fact, what I do see is “everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13:1-2).
We cannot escape from the fact that America was formed out of a rebelion to the governing authorities and as scripture would say, to God. Please don’t take me to be anti-American. I love this country and the people whom God has ordained to make up this nation. Not all that God has ordained to be comes to fruition through righteous acts. I am simply pointing out this historic fact to lead us away from our natural self-righteousness that we often ascribe even to our nation. Are there elements of Judeo-Christian principles in our laws and government? Yes. Does this make us a Christian nation? No.
Good thoughts Brent.
Psalm 22:27-29
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.
All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him�
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
What a great blog to get us thinking! Here are my two cents for the day. Whether we are truly a “Christian” nation or not, doesnt really matter. “for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations!(psalm 22:28)” Whether the majority of our nation recognizes it or not, our nation IS ruled by God. So we truly are “one nation under God” because God rules over our “one nation” as well as all other nations - whether the majority likes it or not!
I guess they should define “regularly”. Many people regularly attend church every Christmas and Easter.
I’m still thinking about the rest of what you wrote. Nehemiah 6 comes to mind.
Also thinking about the woman at the well. He mentions her five husbands and all of a sudden she wants to talk politics and religion. Hmmm, sounds like she is avoiding the heart issue.
Here is another item that I am thinking about: Right when his disciples thought he was going to overthrow Ceasar and set himself up as ruler of the world and the Jews as the new Romans, Jesus washes their feet. I’m not sure how this last part applies, except that they too seemed ready to fight a very conventional battle and Jesus is showing them they are missing the point. Christ’s kingdom does not function like the kingdom of this world.
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They say students can choose not to say “under God.”
When teachers can teach the pledge and lead it without the “under God,” then, and only then, will the public schools’ policies honor the separation of church and state.
In response to “skithestars,” this representation is exactly the misrepresentation of “separation of church and state” I referred to.
It historically means that there would be no state-imposed religion. It does not mean we cannot say “under God” in our schools or that “faith based initatives” are unconstitutional.
There is nothing more profane than the government which is all about force, coercion and violence. Why would a Christian want anything to do with it?
Vache Folle;
I’m not sure I’m following your logic. Are you saying that our current government “is all about force, coercion and violence”?
The law that inserted �Under God� in the Pledge should be removed because the government should not meddle with the obligation of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to his conscience and convictions. A man�s obligation, or non-obligation, to put himself under God is a matter that lies solely between a man and his God.
