A Christian Nation?

For as long as I can remember, I was taught and believed that Jesus loves me and he loves everybody(“all the children of the world”). I learned that God is love and God wants us to love God and each other. This was and is the core foundation of my understanding of true religion. There are many other sets of beliefs and religions, of course. This is just my view of what is most important.

As a young student in Oklahoma, I also was taught that my country was founded with rights such as freedom of religion and that it was important that we keep church and state separate. Apparently the folks who came to this continent from Europe didn’t like the way things were done back home, so they decided to do things a little different. Our history lessons in school painted a picture of noble founding fathers, brave explorers, and savage native people who were the “bad guys.” We also heard about slavery and how Martin Luther King fixed everything before he died. We sang about this “sweet land of liberty” and pledged our allegiance to this land of “liberty and justice for all.” It really seemed like we had a lot to celebrate and be proud of.

Well, honey, sit down for a spell and hang onto your star-spangled knickers, ‘cause I’m about to share a few details that weren’t really covered in most Social Studies or American History curricula. We were taught a fairy tale. Some of the early European settlers actually resorted to cannibalism to survive in the New World. They stole land and food from the indigenous inhabitants, murdered them, kidnapped their children and tried to civilize them by taking away their culture and converting them to Catholicism. That freedom of religion idea didn’t seem to apply to them. They were finally allowed to be citizens of this nation built on their land 100 years ago, in June 1924 when Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act.

The European settlers also kidnapped countless humans from Africa and forced them to work without pay to build this country’s wealth and provide our basic necessities such as food and cotton and tobacco. They were stripped from their families and culture, sold like livestock, beaten, raped, murdered, and again converted to Christian religion. After hundreds of years of people treating each other this way and accepting it as legal and appropriate, our citizens fought against each other over states’ rights to enslave other humans. Fortunately, slavery was finally ended and all the freed slaves lived happily every after. Nah, I’m just pulling your leg. They had to fight for equal rights and continue to work hard for little pay, while facing resistance from violent whites who were upset about losing their free labor and having to live and work alongside their former slaves. Black Americans are still fighting to convince everyone that their lives matter. If you would like to learn more of our true history and take steps toward liberty and justice for all, I encourage you to read books like Black AF History by Michael Harriot, How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith, Caste by Isabel Wilkerson or her movie Origin on Hulu. I also recommend the 1619 Project documentary on Hulu.

[Read this article by Margaret Atwood about her novel and Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale, which should be seen as a cautionary tale rather than a good idea for America: Margaret Atwood on What ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Means in the Age of Trump]

Now let’s circle back to that freedom of religion idea. Somewhere along the way, many people decided that America is a Christian nation and there is a political movement to force Christian values and practices on all people. This is clearly nothing new as Christendom has been forced upon brown and black people for centuries. I just saw on the news that Oklahoma’s state superintendent Ryan Walters is mandating that all public schools teach the Bible to impart “historical understanding,” which obliterates the constitutional boundary between church and state and forces Christianity on children of all religions and the non-religious. Louisiana has already made a similar announcement(see links to articles on this topic below).

It seems like this “Christian” nation needs to consider whether we are even following the teachings and practices of Christ Jesus who we claim as our Lord and God. First of all, Jesus created all people, and loves and died for everyone from "every tribe and people and tongue and nation"(Revelation chapters 5, 7, 13 & 14). Jesus allowed us freedom to choose whether we would believe in him or follow him. He accepted and associated with the outcasts and showed them compassion, healing and forgiveness. One day, “the religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?’ They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, ‘The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.’ Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest.” (John 8, The Message) Clearly, no one is sinless so we have no right to cast stones at anyone. Maybe we need to take Jesus’ advice to the woman to “go and sin no more.” Our country has a sinful history that we are not proud of, but we can build a better future where we actually achieve the ideal of freedom of religion and “liberty and justice for all.” Then we can ALL celebrate our independence.

Here are a few articles from other writers that you might enjoy:

Thou Shalt Not Violate the Constitution

Juneteenth is Here. An Equitable America is Not.

Governor Signs Bill Requiring Shariah Law to Be Posted in Public Classrooms