What do we say when people claim that the United States is not a "Christian Nation"?

When we use the word “Christian” in its proper theological sense, we mean that Christ is indispensable to whatever it is that we happen to be describing. Being clear about what we and others mean when we use the phrase “Christian” is important.

When people suggest that the United States is a “Christian nation,” they may have in mind that (a) some of those who founded our nation were Christians, (b) throughout our nation’s history, biblical terminology has been part of our national discourse, (c) there is some perceived alignment between the principles coded into our nation’s governing documents and the teachings of the scriptures, and/or (d) there was a period in history when many, if not most, of the citizens in the United States held to a Judeo-Christian ethic.

While it is certainly true that some of our founders were Christian and that the Constitution aligns, to some degree, with the moral and ethical teachings of scripture abstracted from their theological context, the simple fact is that the United States has no particular loyalty to Jesus Christ. As such, when the United States is called a “Christian nation,” the use of “Christian” requires qualification.

When people claim that the United States is not a “Christian nation” and, by implication, should have to adhere to certain moral rules that are perceived to be Christian, we can respond that (a) we agree that the United States is not a “Christian nation” in the sense that Christ is perceived as dispensable in the United States and (b) the moral rules we follow have no necessary connection to whether or not the United States is a Christian nation.

To put it differently, we don’t advocate for certain moral rules (like abortion) because we believe our nation is “Christian.” We do so because, as Christians, we recognize that God sits above our political leaders. Advocating for the institution of certain moral rules (like abortion) is one of the ways that we express our faith in Christ and urge our political leaders to fulfil their function as a “secondary theatre of witness.”