Post-Christian America?

Date Published: 04/20/2009

Any number of commentators, Christian and secular, have weighed in on the observation of the 2009 American Religious Identification Survey that the decline in those in the U.S. who identify themselves as “Christians” marks the end of “Christian America.” Through U.S. history the tension between the Puritan vision of a Christian commonwealth and the Deist vision of a free secular society has played out in uneasy rhythms. In the colonial era, most of the colonies had established churches. When devout Baptist Roger Williams founded Rhode Island as totally secular with complete individual religious freedom, the Massachusetts’ Puritans ridiculed it as the “insane asylum” of the colonies. But when the time came to write the U.S. Constitution, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania (with William Penn’s Quaker respect for religious freedom and individual conscience) became the model, not the colonies with established state churches.

However, Roger Williams’ motive was to provide an environment for the nourishment of healthy Christian faith. He believed that faith was most authentic and strongest when it was freely adopted and not artificially propped up by government or society. Before Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire, the Christian Church was on the fringes of society, if not regarded as dangerous to the dominant culture. I am convinced by church history that is when the Church is strongest and healthiest.

I certainly care about the welfare and practice of justice in the nation in which I live. But I recognize that I am here by a quirk of birth, thanks to the opportunity my grandparents had to immigrate, for which I am thankful. I also recognize that the U.S. is not the Kingdom of God and stands under God’s judgment and blessing as a temporary human institution. As a Christian, however, my ultimate concern and hope is the eternal Kingdom of God. I believe that the health of the Church is better served by a totally secular government, society and culture. Then identifying one’s self as a Christian is much more likely to reflect a live, personal faith lived in a community of others who share the same covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. So rather than bemoan the loss of “Christian America,” I see it as an opportunity for the reinvigorated and authentic faith of Christians.