Over at Wizbang! , blogger Jay Tea writes about the claim that the USA is a Christian nation.  He agrees with the claim despite the fact that he is not a Christian.  I, however, disagree with the claim.

Here is the response that I gave to Jay.

“Although I am a Christian (in spite of my failure to act like one), I have trouble believing that the USA was founded on Judeo-Christian principles because I have yet to read just what those Judeo-Christian principles are. Nobody that I know of has ever spelled them out.

Here is a test. Go through the Bible and find all of the rights that God has given to Man. Does the Bible say that God gave Man the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness? No, it doesn't. I know of only one biblical right, and it is found in John 1:12, which reads as follows:

“Yet to all who received him [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he [Jesus] gave the right to become children of God.”

It is one thing to say that the Christian faith thrives in the USA, but it is another thing to say that the USA is a Christian nation. The latter claim implies that the majority of U.S. residents behave the way that Christians are supposed to behave, which is a claim that can be disputed.”

What standard is a person supposed to use to determine whether or not the USA is a Christian nation?

Should that standard be the percentage of U.S. citizens who claim to be Christians? *Or should that standard be the percentage of U.S. citizens who claim to be Christians and who also behave the way that Jesus expects Christians to behave?

It isn't enough for U.S. citizens to claim to be Christians.  People can claim to be Christians and still act like the goats in Christ's parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46).

I would go so far as to say that a person can claim to be a conservative Christian and still be one of those goats.

It isn't enough for U.S. citizens to do things in Jesus' name, because not all people who do things in Jesus' name will go to Heaven, as Jesus indicates in Matthew 7:21-23.

It isn't even enough for U.S. citizens to attend church.  Being inside a church no more makes one a Christian than being inside a garage makes one an automobile.

In the end, there is no human way to determine if the USA is a Christian nation, because it takes an examination of the human heart to determine if one is truly a Christian, and the only one capable of making such an examination is God.  As God told the prophet Samuel, "The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."**

I would consider it accurate to claim that the USA is a nation where the Christian faith thrives, where Christians have an influence on the culture.  Yet, the claim that the USA is a Christian nation is a claim that cannot be verified on this side of eternity.


*Grammatical note: Yes, I know that it is improper English grammar to start a sentence with the word Or.

**1 Samuel 16:7