Yes to the freedom of religion; Not on Christian nationalism – San Bernardino County Sun

If you are for religious freedom, you must be against Christian nationalism (the belief that the United States is a Christian nation and that the government should support Christianity and apply its doctrines). I support religious freedom and oppose Christian nationalism because I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus.

For many years, Christians have claimed that faith was expelled from the public square, as secular elites have dominated institutions such as public schools, universities and government. Sometimes the exclusion of religious prospects from public square is a legal anxiety that affects both Christians and Americans from other religion.

Many Christians, believing that faith has been marginalized in secular society, now see Christian nationalism as a way of promoting the Christian prospects on the public square. Christians are the greater part of the American population. Why should Christians not perform leading decision -making and ensure that US laws and schools reflect this superiority? Recently confirmed Minister of Defense Pete Heget, who wrote a book entitled The American Crusade, is among a number of public figures who made statements in accordance with Christian nationalism.

Here’s the problem. The American founders, most of whom were Christians, could easily declare in the constitution that the United States would be a Christian nation. They didn’t. Why not?

The founders realized that every time governments support and apply a certain religion, bad things happen to both the government and the faith. The founders knew and lived a European history in which governments pursued Christians who did not belong to the church supported by the state. The Puritans were persecuted in England and had to flee because they did not belong to the Church of England, supported by the state.

When the opposite nations approve of different versions of Christianity, say one approved Catholicism, and the other some form of Protestantism, the conflict between them often escalates in a “holy war” in which each country claims that God is on their side, which facilitates demonization and Kill the heretics on the other side. And if the other side was not Christian, it was easy to obtain religious conquest approval. The Christian Holy Wars began after Emperor Constantine’s approval of Christianity in the fourth century and continued until this day. Consider the blessing of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.

The founders understood this story. That is why they accepted the first amendment, the basis of BIP for rights, saying that “Congress does not make a law of observance of religion” (not Christian nationalism), “or prohibit free exercise” (yes for religious freedom),