It has been always been a common topic of discussion whether United States of America is a Christian country or not. People consider America as a Christian country because a large of Americans believes in Christianity. This paper intends to discuss and examine whether United States of America is a Christian country.
Christianity is the largest followed religion in the United States of America. Almost 70 people believe in Christianity but there is no any discrimination in the society on the basis of religion. Nobody bothers about who is Christian and who is Jews. Everyone is free to believe and practice his own religion unless he disturbs others with any ill intention. America is a mixed society and has sheltered people from different parts of the world. America is a land of opportunity and people here believes in brotherhood and making money.
Even people who believe in Christianity are not stanch and believe in development and humanity first. Religion is matter of choice and convenience and not of compulsion. Radicalism is not visible in American society and religion has never been found a reason of disputes in any case. Religion connects and not divides, is what American society believes in. people have tried to divide the society in name of religion but they could not succeed in their mission and American people rejected them out rightly.
American constitution removes all the confusion about its religious belief and suggests that American constitution does not promote any particular religion but believes in equality and allows ever citizen to believe in the faith that he thinks appropriate. Article VI reads as, “No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States” (Temperman).
United States of America recognizes the rights of its citizens to follow religion of their own choice and further believes in secular ideas and this is how constitution makers of United States of America had imagined this nation. One of very famous American presidents, Thomas Jefferson had once said, “All men are created equal" and are "endowed by their Creator" with certain unalienable right” (Krannawitter and Palm 84).
America always believes in secular values and allows its citizens to practice their religion or faith according to their own ideas of the same. The opinion of American statesmen is not changed even today and current president Obama says, “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values” (Corsi 1).
America is one of most flourishing democracies of the world and recognizes rights of individuals. America does not believe in discriminating on the basis of religion, region, sex or race. American constitution has made it clear that nobody would be deprived of their rights because he or she belongs to any particular religion. The same trend has been in practice since the emergence of American constitution and even political leaders practice and act as per the intention of American constitution.
There are people who say that United States of America is a Christian nation because it has the largest number of Christian followers. These people forget that America does not recognize people as per their religion so being Christian or not being Christian does not matter to America as a state. There are several others who believe that Christians dominate in every institutions and government of America and there is no scope for others in America to gain power or to achieve something bigger.
These people see things in a negative manner and keep their eyes closed towards positive things. Nobody should forget that people from several parts of the world reside in United States of America and they do not complain about any discrimination that is based on the religious ideas of individuals. It has been observed that American people have always believed in the ideas of secularism and religion is a matter of faith and not of discrimination for maximum number of Americans.
After having observed a succinct view and analyzing the above mentioned subject, it can be concluded that United States of America is not a Christian nation and believes in all religions. People are given all liberty of following one or more religions and even if they do not follow any religion, it is their own privilege and as a state America does not interfere in their rights. America does not differentiate between people who do not follow any religion or those who follow Christianity but have never been to a church. Everybody is given equal rights by the state in terms of religion.
Works Cited
Corsi, Jerome R. Bad Samaritans: The ACLU's Relentless Campaign to Erase Faith from the Public Square. USA: Thomas Nelson Inc., 2013.
T. L. Krannawitter and D. C. Palm. A Nation Under God?: The ACLU and Religion in American Politics. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.
Temperman, Jeroen. State-Religion Relationships and Human Rights Law. The Netherlands: BRILL, 2010.
