So, to begin with: An article was posted on WND yesterday, which one of my cousins posted the link to on Facebook. I then posted it to my page. In the article, some people claiming to be Democrats, who obviously don't hold to the tenets of their party, told a group of children, their parents, and their teachers that they will all "burn in hell" for having the children sing "God Bless the USA". They said, "The kids don't know what they're singing!" "You Republicans come go to a Republican area and do that, we don’t do that here!" The protestors were bordering on religious and political bigotry, promoting segregation, and inferring that parents and teachers have no right to teach children about the roots of their country, religion, or religious tolerance.
What I posted was, "Yes, the kids DO know what they're singing. No, they don't have to go somewhere else to sing that song, it's a free country, we have freedom of religion and politics - not freedom from! Telling kids, parents, and teachers that they're going to burn in hell for singing a song about blessing our country is seriously un-American. Less than 10 years ago, everyone was singing this song. Suddenly it's damnable to do so? What changed? I'm sure some schools still sing this song, along with God Bless America, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, America the Beautiful, We Shall Overcome, etc."
One friend of mine posted something about this being a Christian nation, and another posted a link to this CNN opinion piece stating that we are not so.
Here is my rebuttal:
There is no official religion, and the United States was not founded upon the Christian religion, or, rather, no specific Christian religion, but we were founded upon the principles of many different Christian religions, and our country has Christianity in her roots. I believe Zorach v. Clauson and Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, both Supreme Court cases, establish as much.
If you read the letter by the Danbury Baptists, which Thomas Jefferson was responding to when he wrote of it, the Wall of Separation is about keeping the State out of the Church, not the Church out of the State. The law keeping the Church out of the State, didn't come into play until 1954, when the Johnson Amendment was added to the federal tax code by then-Senator, later-President Lyndon B. Johnson to keep a couple of non-profit groups in Texas from talking about the fact that he had dealings with the Communist Party. The Johnson Amendment actually restricts the political speech of both churches and non-profits, which includes Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood just paid $1.4 million to aid in Obama's campaign, and no one is saying anything - not even the right-wingers.
The Treaty of Tripoli was signed to convince the Barbary pirates to release the American sailors they were holding hostage and selling into slavery, and to keep from going to war with them. The pirates then broke that treaty a few years later, and we descended into war with them (although that's not one that gets covered by high school history classes). There were several treaties, and all were broken. Therefore, it really doesn't actually have much to do with whether we're a Christian nation or not.
President George Washington stated in his Farewell Address, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens." On June 14, 1973, he wrote to the Governers of every state, "I now make it my earnest prayer that God...would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of Whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation."
President John Adams, our second president (the one before Thomas Jefferson), was the one who established the National Day of Prayer. He also wrote to Thomas Jefferson, "The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence, were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty, in which all those young Men United, and which had United all Parties in America, in Majorities sufficient to assert and maintain her Independence.
"Now I will avow, that I then believe, and now believe, that those general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as the Existence and Attributes of God; and that those Principles of Liberty, are as unalterable as human Nature and our terrestrial, mundane System."
Even the Library of Congress states that this is a religious nation, that we were founded upon the principles of non-denominational, non-polemic Christianity, even establishing days of prayer, sponsoring the publication of a Bible, and imposing Christian morals on the armed forces.
Given all of this, the word of the L of C, the words of our founders, and the rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States, it seems evident that we are a religious nation founded upon Christian principles.
As for the song, it does not say "Christ bless the USA" but "God bless the USA". Being that we are obviously a religious nation, the song should be allowed, because it just says "God", and doesn't specify any term other than that. Meaning, it doesn't specify a religion, and, therefore, Separation of Church and State does not apply, because it doesn't make mention of any specific religion, and the title God can be a general term for any deity.
