It’s occurred to me that quit a few people in this country are in need of a history lesson. This will be the first in a series of lessons over many different topics.

I don’t know if it’s because people didn’t pay attention in school or that the school systems didn’t teach accurate history; but it’s clear that for a segment of our population they have no interest in taking it into their own hands and studying a little history.

Now these lessons are short and should be easy to follow and understand. Feel free to raise your hand at the end if you have any questions.

A lot of times with history, the best and most accurate way to learn is to go back to actual documents when possible and see what the people at that point in history were trying to do by reading their own words.

Such is the case with the founding of the United States of America. There are people to this day that believe the country was founded on Christianity. That being said, let’s take a look at what the founding fathers have to say about that.

Articles of Confederation (1777)

In all 13 articles there is no mention of God. What this document did was create a government in the form of a confederation of independent states. We can look at this document as the beginning of the separation of church and state because they give no authority to religion in civil matters it also denies any authority of government in the matters of faith.

U.S. Constitution (1787)

This document makes no reference at all to God or Christianity.

The only reference to religion, found in Article VI, is a negative one: “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” And of course we have the First Amendment, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Federalist Papers (1787-88)

God is never mentioned in the Federalist Papers. At no time is Christianity every mentioned. In fact the only time religion is ever mentioned is in keeping matters of faith separate from concerns of governance, and of keeping religion free from government interference.

The founding fathers could not be any clearer that God has no role in government and that Christianity has no role in government.

Now if that’s not enough for you we can look into some things that the founding fathers said outside of the three documents listed above.

“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise.” James Madison — Letter to Wm. Bradford, April 1, 1774

“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.” Thomas Jefferson — in letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813

“Every new and successful example of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance.” James Madison — letter, 1822

“Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.” Roger Sherman, Congress, August 19, 1789

“We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition? In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.” George Washington — letter to the members of the New Church in Baltimore, January 27, 1793

“This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.” John Adams

“The legislature of the United States shall pass no law on the subject of religion.” Charles Pinckney, Constitutional Convention, 1787

“No religious doctrine shall be established by law.” Elbridge Gerry, Annals of Congress 1:729-731

“Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history.” James Madison; Monopolies, Perpetuities, Corporations, Ecclesiastical Endowments

”I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another.” Founding Father Thomas Jefferson — letter to Elbridge Gerry, January 26, 1799

“The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authority; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion.” Thomas Paine

“Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.” Benjamin Franklin — in Poor Richard’s Almanac

And I’ll give you one more. This last one literally answers the question.

“The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” 1797 Treaty of Tripoli signed by Founding Father John Adams

Now tell me, does that sound like a bunch of guys that wanted this country to be founded on Christianity? Not at all.

Now I know people look to things like our money that has “In God We Trust” and most of them probably think that it’s been on our money since the founding of our country and that it somehow validates their opinion that the country was founded on God. Or they may look to the Pledge of Allegiance and think the phrase “under God” is also some sort of indication that this country was founded on Christianity. Well the truth is that both of those were not around when the founding fathers were alive.

“In God We Trust” was first placed on our money in 1861 due in part to trying to appease the NRA. Now I just want to clarify to all the gun nuts out there that I’m not speaking of the National Rifle Association. A group called the National Reform Association tried to replace the preamble “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…” with “Recognizing Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, and acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ as the governor among the nations, his revealed will as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a Christian government….”

The phrase “under God” didn’t appear in our pledge until 1954. Congress in 1954, after lobbying from the Knights of Columbus and amid a red scare over the threat of the Soviet Union, added the phrase “under God” to the pledge, which even then drew lawsuits over the constitutionality over its inclusion. Congress reaffirmed the use of the phrase “under God” in 2002 after a legal challenge to the verbiage went all the way to the Supreme Court.

It’s not difficult at all to see that this country was not founded on Christianity if we just take the time to listen to the actual people who founded it. It’s also not difficult to see that the type of person that thinks it has have been around for a long time and will do their best to try and change that history to fit their belief.

Oh those pesky facts