Do You Really Want An Official American Religion?

Many Christians think of America as a Christian nation or that it once was a Christian nation. Most will acknowledge that a 'nation' is not a human being, so it can't really have a religion or faith in God or gods. A political entity can't have a relationship with God. It's an agreement on paper. Documents like the Constitution are the essence of America's existence as a real thing. Nevertheless, it may be relatively harmless to pretend that one lives in a nation in which all citizens share the same beliefs as oneself; harmless, but unrealistic. This fantasy can, and often does, become problematic.

One thing that defines 'life' is that living things continue to change. Human beings are living things. Human groups are combinations of individual human beings, each who is changing on a regular basis. When the individual humans in a group change, they change in individual ways. They develop different beliefs, because they have different experiences.

In large part, because of these individual ways the citizens belonging to a particular nation change, it has always been disastrous for a state to select and approve of one religion as its national religion. History proves it's extremely damaging for a nation to be governed as a theocracy (government ruled by God or by God as one religion defines God). There's only a fine line of distinction between a state approved religion and a state ruled by the doctrines, rules and dogma of a religion. The issues are complex and multifaceted, but can be simply generalized through a few statements:

• Our religions are based on faith in things and beings of which there's no physical proof. The key word there is faith. If you have proof, you don't need faith.
• Different people believe different things.
• Most religions are based on ancient religious documents written by people who have been gone for hundreds or thousands of years. The world in which they lived was far different, was far more harsh, and had very different challenges and threats than our modern world. As a result their rules and punishments were much more harsh than those of these modern times.
• Immigrants and independent thinkers, both of whom are important ingredients for a successful growing nation, are going to most likely have different religions than the established state religion.
• While a civil government is designed to provide the basic needs of a successful society, a religion has the purpose of meeting the spiritual needs of its adherents.

Becoming the official, state-approved religion for a nation or an empire has, almost without exception, resulted in chaos for the citizens of the state and for the Faith that previously gave true substance and spiritual value to the religion.

Confusing one's Faith with national pride or patriotism (especially when combined with a support of nationalism or isolationism) is a mistake according to the founders of America. They wrote clearly in the Constitution that an all-important principle of the American Republic is a clear rule separating Church and State. In other words, these honored fathers and mothers of America wanted to prevent the version of state owned religion they had experienced in Europe, where the State determined which religion was acceptable and all the others that were not. They were responding, in part, to the fact that the nations they came from taxed all citizens in order to financially support the approved religion, and that the state rulers were approved by the national religion. In essence, the state decided who was going to Heaven or Hell. For many pilgrims who came to the New World, the system they left was oppressive to an unendurable degree.

To be clear, the founding leaders and inventors of the miracle known as America did not envision it as a Muslim nation, or a Jewish nation, or a Buddhist nation, or a Christian nation. Rather, they saw it as a freedoms-based country where each citizen was free to worship through the religion in which they most clearly experienced God, or in no religion at all if that was their choice. It's a wise rule that protects all American citizens from the sometimes deadly consequences of living in a theocracy (a government ruled by the approved religion).

I wouldn't want to live under the Government Moses proposed in Leviticus. Read three chapters (19, 20 and 21) in the Book of Leviticus in your Bible to see just a small sample of what America would be like if our Government was run like Moses dictated in the Bible some 3,200 years ago. If you only trust the King James Version of the Bible read it in there. If you only understand a modern version, read it in there. If you are able to read it in the original languages such as Hebrew, Greek and Latin, it will be even clearer. They show the same rules. If you claim you live by the Bible, but have never actually read all of it in any language or version, you're in for a shock.

In the theocratic government Moses proposed and ruled, people were told how they could and could not cut their hair, what they could or could not eat, how to dress, that they could not apply tattoos to their skin or change their bodies in other unapproved ways, such as with piercings, that they could not wear clothes made of two different types of fibers, could not consult horoscopes or psychics, could not shave their heads or trim their beards in certain ways, and hundreds of other rules that the typical American would consider an unbearable government to live under. The penalties for breaking these rules were severe. Moses' theocracy dictated in Leviticus that any son or daughter "who cursed their father or mother shall be surely put to death". If one's government operates as a religious government (a theocracy), these are the types of rules it can legally demand its citizens must obey.

In Moses' theocracy adulterers are put to death, as are psychics of any kind, as well as citizens who practice numerous other lifestyles and those who simply make bad choices in their behavior (such as being a disrespectful son or daughter). A man who married any woman who was not a virgin (even if the reason was that she was divorced, a widow, or raped) could not be a priest (clergy); neither could men who shaved their heads or cut their beards in a non-approved way or various other things that would eliminate most clergy in America from serving in the ministry. Of course, no woman was allowed to become clergy. It was a far more primitive, uninformed, muscle and brawn dominated society than in our current times. While some might prefer to live in a world where the sword and physical power rule, the majority of us prefer to live in a world of peace, security, culture, and mutual respect; a government made for, of, and by "We the people . . ."

If America were truly a Christian country (as some demand) and made its rules according to the Bible, there are so many ways that we could be severely punished, even executed by the State for failing to live by the rules; so many ways our neighbors could turn against us and legitimately kill us (supported by the Bible) for breaking the rules; so many ways that the government would be oppressive to an obnoxious, unbearable and even deadly way. You've read history books or seen movies illustrating how things were when the Church co-ruled (with the emperors) the Holy Roman Empire in such a way, going about condemning mentally ill people or people with certain, extra sensory gifts, as witches, wizards, or demons and burning them to death in a fire, or killing them in even more painful and horrendous ways such as being pulled apart by wild horses, or boiled to death in a barrel of oil. It was a sad world where drowning someone was actually one of the most humane methods of execution.

Under the Holy Inquisitions that began in the 12th century Kingdom of France and continued in various countries across Europe as late as the 19th century, the Church and State authorities gathered power and achieved their political purposes, using the Bible as their authority to judge, sentence and carry out punishment on condemned citizens for all manner of ridiculous charges. Leviticus 21:9 says that a daughter of a priest who is sexually active outside of marriage shall be burnt (to death) with fire. Verses 16 through 23 are the sources of many troubles and prejudices inflicted on people who are unfortunate enough to be different in many ways from the majority. These verses prohibit people with any type of "defect" from approaching God or the Priests of God. These verses exclude from approaching God's Sanctuary: the blind, the lame, disfigured, deformed, crippled, hunchbacked, dwarfed, those who have festering sores, damaged testicles, and other "defects." Verse 23 says "such people desecrate God's sanctuary". They were still considered outcasts or untouchables in Jesus' time.

When modern people use such verses to affirm their prejudices against people less fortunate than them or who are simply different from them in physique, size, color, language, culture, nationality, and so forth, they demonstrate their own inner darkness or moral challenges. But when a government is given the authority of a state religion using rules for a primitive society from thousands of years ago or any religion that the State decides is the True religion, only chaos and pain will follow.

America does not own Christianity. Jesus was a middle eastern Jew from the first century, as were all of his 12 chosen key disciples and most of his followers during the time he was on Earth. When Jesus died on the cross there was no religion known as Christianity. The Church was born at the first Pentecost. The term Christian is used three times in the New Testament, and none of those uses were on the pages of the four Gospels. Jesus died as the prophesied Messiah to the Jews, though the official religious leaders of that time did not acknowledge him in that role. All the prophecies he fulfilled were recorded in what Christians call the Old Testament. That is why Christians honor the Old Testament as a still relevant inclusion in the Holy Bible. Most of the writers of the Bible (both Old Testament and New Testament) were Jews, middle eastern, brown skinned people, and spoke different languages (Hebrew, Latin, Greek . . . ) from us Americans. English did not exist as a language in Jesus' time.

The continent on which America is now established was unknown to the people in the middle east during Jesus' time. The Europeans and others who discovered and settled the geographic land mass now known as America (beginning in the 1500's) did not do so until around 1,100 years after the New Testament was completed and adopted by the early Church establishment.

The Roman Empire did not become the Holy Roman Empire with Christianity as its official religion until the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius signed a decree in the presence of the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian II about 350 years (2/27/380) after Jesus' crucifixion (at the hands of some of our ancestors) and Resurrection. It's clearly relevant to this paper to mention that so-called 'pagans' (most of whom were simply people of other religions) were punished or executed, following this decree, if they did not accept the state religion of Christianity and continued practicing their own instead.

No Europeans would be in the New World (that would become America, Canada, & South America) until almost 1,500 years after Jesus' was revealing his Gospel to the Jews . . . Yet, some Americans seem to believe that America owns Christianity, and some actually think only 'Whites' (caucasians) deserve to be called Christians. This not only defies historical knowledge, it doesn't even meet the standards of what some call "common sense." And most ironically, goes against the true 'evangelism' defined in the New Testament, which commands Christians to go out into all the world and tell others about the miraculous Good News (Gospel) that Jesus revealed, teaching and baptizing all who are interested and willing to accept him as God's prophesied Messiah; the Gospel is that Christ came to save the whole world . . . not only middle eastern, Jews . . . but everyone of every color, background, race, culture, language, creed . . . everyone.

The old advice, "Be careful what you wish for; you may get it." clearly applies here. America is a democratic republic. We are all free to choose our religion. Mine is Christianity, but I am proud to live in a country where all religions, philosophies, opinions, and votes count. Confusing our chosen (or God-given) Faith with mere, nationalistic patriotism or any government or any country is a deadly mistake. God could not care less which country you belong to, what language you speak, what color you are, or any other human defined factor or human made institution or what ignorant prejudice you've decided is all important for dividing people into categories of genetic worth. God cares about you, the human being, and all the rest of us human beings.

If you truly desire that America be changed from a democracy to a theocracy, then please carefully read your Bible from front to back, and when you're done, ask yourself whether you could live under a government that was based on every literal rule in the Bible.

One last word about this: America is a democracy. If we set rules that say Americans can only be Christians, are we still a democracy? If a new majority arises, after we change the rules in this way, and they change the rule so that you must worship through a different religion, say Islam, or Confucianism won't we have set the precedent that enables them to more easily accomplish that. The true greatness of America is that we are free to choose for ourselves as long as our choices don't infringe on the rights of our fellow citizens. Let's keep it that way.

Robert Clemons, February 13, 2022 (Copyrighted)

If you enjoyed this article and you are interested in the published novels of Robert Clemons, I recommend you read The Four Rivers of Eden (a Christian Fantasy), which can be ordered by clicking www.amazon.com/dp/B07YGQHNK7 and The Hiroshima Agenda (Science Fiction) available by clicking www.amazon.com/dp/1520113501 Both novels are available in paperback and E-Book.