Is the United States a Christian nation?

It's July 4th and I felt I had to do something special for today. I was thinking to do artwork for about a month before, but wasn't sure how to present it properly. One drawing or several drawings. Maybe a collage. Then I thought a journal entry would be more effective. They seem to get more views anyways.

As I read through U.S. history and it's culture and understand them the past few years, and have been going to Church, I have questioned the U.S. being a Christian nation like most Christians seem to think. That it was founded as one though the founding fathers and that they were Christians, though I have read from some people that most were really Deists. That Thomas Paine didn't approve of Christians and that Thomas Jefferson choose to remove sections of his Bible that told of Jesus divinity. And then there's the Treaty of Tripoli, which has the quote:

"The government of the United States is in no sense founded on the Christian religion." George Washington.

Some explanations on this: www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissues… (Written by David Barton, who supposedly can't be trusted as a legitimate historian so I hear and he's always featured on Right Wing Watch, saying some crazy stuff.)

www.tektonics.org/qt/tripoli.h…

www.earlyamerica.com/review/su…

Founded on Jesus or not, what about the American culture? Almost everyone went to Church every Sunday. We think Christians back then were more Godly, God fearing, who took following God more seriously so we seem to think.

But then, why was there such hostility towards Native American's? I know, there were Christians who were friendly with them and got along with many of them. But as a whole, the U.S. and especially the government saw them all as savages. Inferior people who needed to get with the times, guilty of witchcraft and barbaric actions, which was not really true. False Christian missionaries going to Indian reservations kidnapping Indians children and made them go to their own schools and churches to Christianize them against their own will and even making them stay with White families. Around 400 treaties that have been ignored by the government. President Andrew Jackson making the Cherokee tribe move far away from their home, in the event called The Trail Of Tears in which many died on the way. The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian has a copy of an old treaty written by Jackson which includes this quote:

"Your Father [name for the U.S. president then] has provided a country large enough for all of you, and he advises you to remove to it. There your white brothers will not trouble you; they will have no claim to the land, and you can live upon it, you and all your children, as long as the grass grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty. It will be yours forever."

Even though there were protests against this action by White Americans, it was not enough. Where were all the God fearing Christians then to let the Cherokee Indians stay in their homes or towns? Instead, many of the Indians died of starvation, going to an area of the U.S. that they were not familiar with.

"The Indians must conform to the white man's ways... The tribal relations should be broke up, socialism destroyed, and the family and autonomy of the individual substituted." Thomas J. Morgan, Commission of Indians Affairs 1899.

Wars were done in the name of expansion, consumption and imperialism. Such as the discovery of gold, and in their greed, U.S. troops went to get rid of the Indians, and more treaties were violated.

"Strangely enough, they have a mind to till the soil, and the love of possession is a disease in them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break, but the poor may not. They have a religion in which the poor worship, but the rich will not! They even take tithes from the poor and week to support the rich and those who rule. They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbors away from her, and deface her with their buildings and their refuse. We cannot dwell side by side. Only seven years ago we made a treaty by which we were assured that the buffalo country should be left to us forever. Now they threaten to take that from us also. My brothers, shall we submit? Or shall we say to them: 'First kill me, before you can take possession of my fatherland!" Sitting Bull

Where were all the God loving and fearing white Christians at to help the Native Americans? It's as though they forgot certain sections of the Bible on associating with people different than them. Did they forget John 3:16? Did they forget about Phillip meeting with the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8? Did certain people or newspapers influence Christians on how to view Native Americans?

Slavery was a big problem, but thankfully the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin woke readers up to the evils of Slavery, mostly in the Northern states.

Then later lynching was accepted by a lot of people. Check here for pretty graphic photos on lynching and see it's history: withoutsanctuary.org/main.html

Those African Americans being hung around their necks on trees, bridges and other spots with crowds of people watching as though it was entertainment? Yeah, it's fun to watch people die for petty stuff or things they never did. This is really the U.S.? This is really taking place in the South, known as being part of the "Bible Belt"? These white people went to church? What was going through the minds of these evil people who did these sickening things? Thanks to garbage like this and other racial things such as segregation, separating restrooms and drinking fountains by race, the South has a stigma on it that doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. And I was told there's still racism there supposedly.

Asians, especially Chinese were not safe either. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prevented Chinese from immigrating to the U.S. Other Asians were included such as Japanese and Filipinos. Many Americans hated Asians for some reason, including so called Christians I am sure. Thankfully it was overturned in 1898. Years later, Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps during World War 2, all because of fear that they would take Japan's side.

How about the popularity of eugenics in the 1920s? Forcibly making certain people get sterilized so they don't give birth, all because of "bad genes"? And many Christians went along with it. Were there any Christians who tried to put a stop to it and show love to everyone, no matter how they look or acted after they were born? Maybe there were but not enough. Maybe they just trusted those scientists without checking with God first?

Eugenics Archive: eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/l… 

Some history: www.emmerich1.com/EUGENICS.htm

Mostly done in California: www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics…

And for any real Christians who have to debate with atheists who think science is amazing for the world and that religion has no use anymore and that it's the cause of evil in the world; that science will save us all, I think you can use eugenics as proof that science has a bad history itself. The ideas behind eugenics was also used against the Jews during the Holocaust.

American culture is obsessed with sex. Sexual images are everywhere in the U.S. and they seem to be pushing the limits of what is shown more and more with each decade, from tv shows, ads, music videos and lyrics, movies, and more.

How about the popularity of porn? While just about all Christians are against it, many watch or read it anyways secretly. 50% of men and 20% of women in the church regularly view porn. Men watch it to lust for the women they see. Women watch it in the hopes of learning from the porn stars to copy what they do to their own boyfriends/future husbands. Of 1351 pastors surveyed, 54% had viewed Internet pornography within the last year. Most Christians haven't gone to the trouble of putting a stop to it. Porn movies have offensive names. Many of them parody movies and celebrities in them. Some surprising porn facts:

Around 13,000 porn films made every year, worldwide porn revenues are about $97 billion, from 2006. That's more than the revenues of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, Netflix, and EarthLink combined. Annual sales in the U.S. are estimated at $10 billion or higher. The largest users of porn are between ages 12 to 17. Over 100 straight and gay performers died from AIDS. The porn stars often do sex acts in ways that don't show love and compassion. Often it's really abuse and they do sex acts that their bodies were not designed for and the women often get abused by the men in the films, even if it's acting. The women often insult themselves in sex scenes.

Yet, Porn is accepted in American culture. Playboy is a respected corporate magazine.

The Pink Cross is a site run by former porn stars who became saved:  www.thepinkcross.org/ They warn of the dangers of porn.

Finally, Nationalism and military support. I support the troops and am glad for what they have to go though... at certain times. But what about when they are ordered to do things for their commanders or the President that go against what God commands? Should I support the military when they are ordered to go to war in a country that is not a threat to the U.S. or when we invade a country with the excuses to be helping people there from the dictators, but the real agenda by the President and officers is to steal that nations resources? And yet everyone, especially the families and friends of the troops often say "Thank you for protecting our freedoms." People like these seem naïve to the corruption that is going on in our own government, blindly following our military because they believe we are the ones who keep peace in the world. Even though really, it's our own government that's taking them away and that they are really the biggest threat to our freedoms? Such as the Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act? Signed by George W. Bush and Barack Obama in the name of security when they really just take our freedoms away!

rt.com/usa/obama-ndaa-detentio…

"God bless America" everyone says. Seriously? After how messed up our culture is? Isn't it a dangerous way of thinking when we as Americans think God blesses all that our nation does? That somehow, we are the best in the world, everyone should be like us? Isn't this kind of thinking similar to the U.S. early history and imperialism of other countries. The U.S. had control of the Philippines for some time, because they thought they could civilize them.

Here's an excerpt from Gregory A. Boyd from his book The Myth Of A Christian Nation, which he describes what many churches do, because of their love of nationalism. And many Christian's need to "Take Back America For God" And to me, this type of scene looks like patriotic brainwashing, which doesn't belong in church.

"Shortly after the Gulf War in 1992 I happened to visit a July 4th worship service at a certain megachurch. At center stage in the auditorium stood a large cross next to an equally large American flag. The congregation sang some praise choruses mixed with such patriotic hymns as 'God Bless America.' The climax of the service centered on a video of a well-known Christian military general giving a patriotic speech about how God has blessed America and blessed it's military troops as evidenced by the speedy and almost 'casuality-free' victory' He gave us' in the Gulf War (Iraqi deaths apparently weren't counted as 'casualties' worthy of notice). Triumphant military music played in the background as he spoke.

The video closed with a scene of a silhouette of 3 crosses on a hill with an American flag waving in the background. Majestic, patriotic music now thundered. Suddenly, four fighter jets appeared on the horizon, flew over the crosses, and then split apart. As they roared over the camera, the words 'God Bless America' appeared on the screen in front of the crosses.

The congregation responded with roaring applause, catcalls, and a standing ovation. I saw several people wiping tears from their eyes. Indeed, as I remained frozen in my seat, I grew teary-eyed as well-but for entirely different reasons. I was struck with horrified grief.

Thoughts raced through my mind: How could the cross and the sword have been so thoroughly fused without anyone seeming to notice? How could Jesus' self-sacrificial death be linked with flying killing machines? How could Calvary be associated with bombs and missiles? How could Jesus' people applaud tragic violence, regardless of why it happened and regardless of how they might benefit from it's outcome? How could the kingdom of God be reduced to this sort of violent, nationalistic tribalism? Has the church progressed at all since the Crusades?

Indeed, I wondered how this tribalistic, militaristic, religious celebration was any different from the one I had recently witnessed on television carried out by Taliban Muslims raising their guns as they joyfully praised Allah for the victories they believed 'he had given them' in Afghanistan?" Myth Of A Christian Nation pg. 88

Indeed, why do we associate God with our military? Other countries have done the same throughout history.

Now I can understand that we need the military to defend us from real threats. Like invasions from other countries. But how is it proper of so called Christians to think that when we go to war, we are doing it for the U.S.'s freedom? George W. Bush claimed God told him to invade Iraq, and many Christians believed him, blindly. If they only knew that George W. Bush was involved in the Bohemian Grove (pagan worship in secret) and was a member of the Skull and Bones fraternity at Yale, (witchcraft), and did many other evil non-Christian things, they would feel very let down.

There's more to the sad history of the U.S. that should make any God fearing Christian who is familiar with the countries history and just by looking at the culture around us to make them think we were never a Christian nation. I am not ashamed really to be an American. We still have more freedoms than other countries, but we are losing them fast. How can we possibly call our country a Christian nation with all the horrible trends in culture that our country has went through, especially against non-white people? And also the love of pleasing ourselves with pleasure, the worship of fame and money, and other things that we as Americans treat as idols?

How is it that not enough preachers and pastors have not been influential enough to make Americans want to put a stop to those evil things? Or raise awareness of becoming too in love with their country?

Some final thoughts from Got Questions, who gives answers for those who think the U.S. is a Christian nation: www.gotquestions.org/Christian…

I hope I open up the eyes of many Christians here.