The idea of a Christian America means different things to different people. Pollsters have found a wide circle of Americans who hold general God-and-country sentiments.

But within that is a smaller, hardcore group who also check other boxes in surveys — such as that the U.S. Constitution was inspired by God and that the federal government should declare the U.S. a Christian nation, advocate Christian values or stop enforcing the separation of church and state.

For those embracing that package of beliefs, it’s more likely they’ll have unfavorable views toward immigrants, dismiss or downplay the impact of anti-Black discrimination and believe Trump was a good or great president, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey.

  • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
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    7 months ago

    They LITERALLY WROTE DOWN that they did not want this. WTAF?

    1. The Establishment Clause: Found in the First Amendment, it states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” This clause prohibits the federal government from establishing a state religion or favoring one religion over another. It has been interpreted to mean that there should be a separation of church and state, preventing the government from promoting or endorsing religious beliefs or practices. 2. The Free Exercise Clause: Also in the First Amendment, this clause says, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This means that the government cannot pass laws that target specific religious practices or beliefs and cannot hinder individuals from practicing their religion freely.
      • pythonoob@programming.dev
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        7 months ago

        I always heard the argument that the founders did not want a Christian based nation because they saw the chaos in the UK with Catholics fighting Protestants, vice versa and every time a monarch ascended from the opposite side it was the axe for you all of a sudden.

        They were probably mostly Christian though, at least outwardly, and so wrote the constitution with Christianity informs ideals and morals.

        That said, separation of church and state is a good thing. Anyone arguing they actually wanted a Christian nation is intentionally ignorant (or a fucking idiot).

        So idk if “we the people” is intentionally rejecting God as much as it’s rejecting the king.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          They were probably mostly Christian though

          Most of them, at least the ones most responsible for drafting the Constitution, were deists, as was common for intellectuals during the Enlightenment. Jefferson, Madison, Franklin and Monroe were all deists. They generally accepted that Jesus existed and he brought great wisdom of the world but they also questioned his divinity. And even the professed Christians, like Adams, were heavily influenced by progressive Unitarian principles, which did not believe in religious supremacy over government.

          Jefferson was so unconvinced of Christ’s divinity that he edited the New Testament down to what he considered to be the wisdom and took out all of the supernatural elements.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible

        • GladiusB@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I mean just look at early politics. There were many factions that went to other parts of the colonies to establish their own religious center. But others wanted to keep it separate. This is well documented in so many colonies.

    • vortic@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I’m not defending the argument below. It is patently stupid.

      I have heard people make the argument that the founders didn’t expect non-christian religions to become prominent in the US. That they thought they were only protecting the right of people to practice any kind of christianity they want to practice.

      They think that the founders didn’t have enough forethought to realize that people of other faiths might migrate to the US or even the presence to realize that there were already non-christian faiths being practiced in the colonies.

      • Kitty Jynx@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        The Treaty of Tripoli signed in 1796 by President John Adams:

        Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

    • Seraph@kbin.social
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      7 months ago

      They clearly can’t read the Bible, what makes you think they can read anything else?

  • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    Many incorrectly believe the founders wanted a Christian America. AP should know better than to make it seem like that is an opinion.

  • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Please watch God Forbid the sex scandal that shocked America (hulu)

    Shiny happy people (prime)

    The family (netflix)

    Even if the “smaller hard-core group” sounds inconsequential, a lot of those people are the ones with power and/or influence.

    I think there is a fourth I’ve seen that covers similar grounds and forget atm, plus I’m sure many more that I don’t know so please respond if you know others. As you may notice all mine are drastically different subjects on the surface. They have the common thread though of fundamental religious men in power AND the institutions being involved in American politics.

    There’s no gay agenda. There is ABSOLUTELY a Christian agenda.

  • unreasonabro@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    meanwhile the white people who aren’t retarded are all facepalming and going “look around, you stupid fuck”. It’s been an overtly christian nation for fucking ever now and that you don’t have your sharia law equivalent here is a testament to the structure imposed by the founding fathers, and not the diarrhea you’ve covered it in. I wonder if they realize there are liberals just about as ready to kill them as they are to kill us. Probably not, “realization” is a magic word to the see no evil crowd.

  • Renfrew@lemmy.ca
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    7 months ago

    Donald Trump and his g̵o̵o̵n̵s̵ ̵loons stechschritting toward Gilead. smh

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    I’m a Republican and I need someone to shoot up an Elementary School QUICK so I can pretend to care about the Constitution again!

  • BeautifulMind ♾️@lemmy.world
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    Yeah these are the same folks arguing that if the authors of sec 3 of the 14th amendment wanted to specifically prevent a former president that engaged in insurrection they would have, so we can conclude they didn’t want that. So, if they had every opportunity to write religion into the constitution and didn’t do it, what now?

    Then when you notice that they specifically wrote in the first amendment the establishment clause- and then you realize that Jefferson explained its purpose to be creating a wall of separation between church and state, what now again?

    • Soggy@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      They don’t care about internally consistent logic. If they did they wouldn’t be religious.

  • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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    7 months ago

    Which flavor of Christianity?

    There’s like 12 churches within a mile radius of my house, each a different denomination. They all seem to hate each other.

    It’s not that I don’t fear an attempt to institute a national theocracy (I do), I just think (and hope) that the infighting on what brand will keep them fighting among themselves before they can do any real damage.

  • DogPeePoo@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    This article reads like Fox News click bait unsourced trash.

    “Some are saying…”

    “Many…”

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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      7 months ago

      Loud and powerful, with a shit ton of money behind them.

      Oh, and private jets. Lots of private jets.

  • skydivekingair@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    So every church and its earnings go to the State… And Social Welfare programs become more widespread… And housing the homeless is now law… Lying during your campaign is an immediate expulsion from public office…

    What else would make these fascists turn tail and reconsider?