I am continuing to read through James Ungureanu’s most excellent book Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition: Retracing the Origins of Conflict. He hits on something that is pertinent to our societal moment as Americans. It is not the most popular demythologization that we could highlight among evangelical Christians, but it is important nonetheless. Mind you, Ungureanu is making a different point than I am going to make, but it isn’t totally unrelated either. Let me state it as bluntly as possible: America was not a “Christian Nation” in its founding, not exactly. This is not to say that America’s broad ideological bases aren’t funded by the so-called Judeo-Christian framework and value system. But it is to say that that system has more to do with a Unitarian deistic theological doctrinal basis than it does with anything resembling an orthodox Christian understanding of the world. This will not be a full-blown argument for my assertion, but it ought to serve as a placeholder and alerter for anyone interested in pursuing this fact further. Here, Ungureanu is writing about the rationalist (I would say: natural theology) ideology that stood behind three very important American ‘founders’’ thinking in regard to God and nature:

As we have seen, for may nineteenth-century thinkers, theology and revelation could no longer provide a sufficient answer to the question of religion, not only because of the religious disagreements that emerged during the sixteenth century, but also because the physical and historical science seemed to discredit orthodox Christian beliefs. Thus, such questions and their subsequent answers were collected in tracts or studies that followed a “rationalistic” or “naturalistic” approach. As Paine put it, natural religion is the “only religion that has not been invented, and that has in it every evidence of divine originality, is pure and simple deism. It must have been the first, and will probably be the last that man believes.” Other founding fathers concurred. Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Ezra Stiles (1727–1795), then president of Yale College, expressed himself in the following terms: “you desire to know something of my Religion . . . Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That he governs it by his Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable Service we render to him is doing good to his other Children. That the soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its Conduct in this.” When it comes to “revealed religion,” Franklin is clear about his disdain for sectarian differences and for any claims about the truth of the “supernatural” character of religion. Likewise, Thomas Jefferson attests to the prevalence of “natural religion.” In his 1803 letter to Philadelphia scientist, physician, and political leader Benjamin Rush (1726–1813), Jefferson similarly follows Franklin’s descriptions.[1]

This is just among many examples of this sort that could be enumerated in regard to the spirit of ‘naturalism’ that enlightened the days of the founders. I only highlight this because I think Christians need to be honest about the founding of the United States of America. Some of the founders were certainly orthodox, but what that even meant for them was colored by the naturalist mood of the day. It is better to recognize these things so that we avoid insinuating, or straight-out screaming, that America is a Christian nation. If America is a Christian nation, in its founding, then what we mean by ‘Christian’ ought to be tempered by the reality and role that a rationalistic naturalism—that led to Unitarianism and deism—played in establishing the spirit and trajectory of the American experiment.

None of this is to say that America is an inherently evil nation, or that many of the values she is founded on aren’t indeed informed by the Christian religion. But it is to say that America’s understanding of the Christian religion, at its founding, had been watered down by Enlightenment rationalism and a form of natural theology that any orthodox Christian worth their Spirit-filled salt ought to be wary of. Notice the most famed clause in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.[2]

The notion of ‘self-evident,’ is contra the revealed religion that Christianity is grounded upon in Holy Scripture’s reality in Jesus Christ. The notion of being ‘endowed by their Creator’ fits with the deistic religion noted above in the beliefs maintained by Paine, Franklin, and Jefferson, respectively. Again, none of this is to say that the principles upon which the American nation stands are bereft of anything valuable or even Christian, per se. But it is to say that these “Christian” principles have been modulated by an alien theological framework that is based on man’s reason, rather than God’s Self-revelation. These are important things to bear in mind, particularly for evangelical Christians, because we are too often wont to jump on the concept of manifest destiny and the idea that the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution are inspired by God Himself. If the Christian were to listen to David Barton or Glenn Beck, for example, they might think just the aforementioned; i.e. that America is the ‘new Israel,’ and ‘the shining city on a hill.’ I personally believe that America is an amazing nation, and I am proud as apple pie and baseball to be an American. I just want to hold these truths in hand in order to temper any propensity I might have towards thinking of America from a golden-age that never existed. Soli Deo Gloria  

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[1] James Ungureanu, Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition: Retracing the Origins of Conflict (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019), 165-66 kindle.

[2] Declaration of Independence.

/Also see The Search for Christian America , editors Noll, Hatch, and Marsden (1989).