Christmas
arrived and great grandchildren looked forward to an evening or two of riding
around neighborhoods to view the exciting light displays. One evening the great
grandparents went along. For about ninety minutes, we went in and out of
cul-de-sacs and down streets. Toward the end of the journey, I asked my wife if
I was crazy or were there only about 10% of the yards with a decidedly Christian
focus. She agreed what we saw were mostly Santa likenesses or varying degrees
and colors of lights.
Another
observation pointed to neighborhoods in subdivisions of higher-than-average
incomes: multi-story, brick homes with attic floor space larger than our entire
living space, and vehicles with values a quarter of what we paid for our home.
In other words, people of means.
So, why do
you suppose this vast array of American wealth and blessing kowtowed to secular
expectations? I’m not specifically calling out all the Santa lovers. What I am
pointing to is the lack of acknowledgement of most Americans in our neck of the
woods (well within the Bible Belt) to the most obvious blessings of the grace
of God.
There have
been discussions concerning the state of the union relative to whether America
was ever a Christian nation. First, one must understand the definition of
nation. It is not a country. It is not a government. A common social trait
defines it. Something like culture, language, religion, to name a few things it
can be. Secondly, America’s Atlantic coastal colonies were specifically British
during the Protestant Reformation movement. This means we had a common language
(still in effect), a common religion (Protestant Reformation Christianity), and
many common cultural aspects carried over from the British Isles.
How can we
be so certain of the claim to Protestant Reformation Christianity?
The start
includes key events. One was Gutenberg’s moveable type printing press, mid 1400s.
Previous printing required written manuscripts like the Catholic Church’s
versions. Gutenberg ensured Bibles in English could be printed 200 times faster
than Catholic manuscripts. An important one for all Protestants was the posting
of 93 theses from Martin Luther, a Catholic priest who was also an associate
professor at a college, 1513. Another was Tyndale’s translation of Greek,
Aramaic, and Hebrew languages used in the Holy Scriptures directly from the
writings of Biblical scholars and prophets. He translated into Modern English
rather than the Middle English often used in prior work by other people.
King Henry
VIII determined he would not bend to the Catholic pope’s demand to respect the
pope’s instruction concerning a divorce from his deceased brother’s wife. Henry
then determined he would be the religious leader of the newly established
Anglican Church of England, 1517 era. Henry charged the reformation protestants
with heresy, causing the movement of the Puritans and finally the pilgrims’
decision to move to America. During these times in England many bibles were
produced. In Henry’s time, the Great Bible was used. In the same era, the
Geneva Bible drew a huge following mostly because the creators added many academic
notes to the wide margins to assist in understanding the scriptures’ intent.
Things like the four or five major instances in the Bible which showed clearly
the King was not the highest Authority; God was.
By the
time King James took notice in 1604, he demanded a new Bible be printed without
all of those notes, hence the King James Bible appeared in 1611. It took a
while before it met with acceptance in the colonies.
It appears
quite plain there exists any number of reasons why one should consider the
British American colonies as a Christian nation. For sure, there were Catholics
(Maryland the first to allow it recognized), Jews, and even some Muslims within
the colonies, but they were not the vast percentage of religions the Protestant
Reformation Christian represented.
There are
numerous trails to follow when investigating side roads of this journey in
American history. The single worst example is Jefferson’s letter while
President to the Ana-Baptists in New England indicating “a wall of separation”
existed within our Constitutional Republic keeping the government from taxing
any church group to supply funds to a government church as the British were
prone to do in England. Perhaps it would have been a more easily understood
phrase had he used “a wall of filtration” to show Christianity held the keys to
our founding. In that instance, the tenets of Christianity would be the
important governmental controls of the men serving in Congress, the Courts, or
the Presidency, but the Christian nation (We the People) would forever be held
accountable for how those elected servants would govern.
