Christian Nation?

Newt Gingrich, a former history teacher, proclaimed recently that the United States is the only nation in history in which men are "endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.(the word used by Jefferson was actually "inalienable")" 

It is unclear whether Newt was asserting that the U.S.A. is so endowed by God, or so endowed by Thomas Jefferson's having said so. The latter is the case, of course.

So, here we go again. America as a "Christian" nation. Newt and his christian brothers and sisters are unable to accept america's non christian  founding, so fervantly religious and patriotic are they. It is well known, but evidently not well enough, that Thomas Jefferson, who wrote those creator endowed words, was an atheist, and considered the Christian religion superstitious folly, and the christian God a petty, vicious tyrant.

Many if not most of the founders were educated intellectuals, and deists, (and lawyers), believers in science and reason, not religion in general or christianity in particular.They saw God as nature, as a force of reasoned creation. The "clock maker deity", who established the laws of nature, then vanished. 

Every nation in history has believed itself to be specially endowed by whatever god was in style at the time, the difference is that in america the endowment was extended to include all male caucasians, rather than a mere few, or even the singular head of state. Women and minorities  would have to wait.

If anything, the country was founded as an enlightenment nation, a nation of reason, secular, not religious. Jefferson, who wrote the declaration, and James madison, who wrote the constitution, were atheists, as were second president John Adams, and sixteenth president Abraham Lincoln. More are in hiding.

Linclon's religiosity was a bit vague, he gave lip service to the christian faith, but he didn't practice it. John Adams wrote a letter to Jefferson expressing the wish that religion would vanish from the earth. Jefferson agreed.

The current bizarre marriage between the christian faith and extreme political conservatism may be the last gasp of attempting to transform america's founding into a christian event.  It is to be hoped that future students of history will choose to study it more closely and accurately.

Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler.Thanks!