Inventing a Christian America: The Myth of the Religious Founding

311 Pages·2015·2.07 MB·English

by  Steven K. Green

Inventing a Christian America

Inventing a
Christian America
The Myth of the Religious Founding
z
STEVEN K. GREEN
1
1
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Contents
Preface vii
Introduction: The Christian Nation Debate,
Methodological Fallacies, and the Role of Myths 1
1. A Haven for Religious Freedom 20
2. A Model for Christian and Civil Government 59
3. The Revolutionary and Constitutional Impulse 101
4. A Government of Men 154
5. The Birth of a Myth 199
Conclusion 242
Notes 245
Index 289

Preface
One Of the more enduring themes in United States history is that of its
religious founding. This narrative is pervasive in school textbooks, politi-
cal lore, and the popular consciousness. In its simplest form, this account
chronicles the convictions of the Pilgrim and Puritan settlers of New Eng-
land, the actions of the Lords Baltimore in founding a religiously tolerant
Maryland, the aspirations of Quakers, Moravians, and other religious dis-
senters who sought refuge in the mid-Atlantic colonies, and the beliefs of
political leaders like George Washington who identified the providential
hand of God in the nation’s founding. People from all stations and walks
of life—educators, schoolchildren, clergy, business leaders, and members
of patriotic groups—embrace and perpetuate this narrative. Yet claims of
America’s religious heritage—and here, one must qualify that heritage as
being Christian, or more accurately, Protestant—are not immune from
controversy. The 2010 proceedings of the Texas State Board of Education
highlighted the popularity, and contention, surrounding this narrative as
board members rewrote the state’s social science curriculum standards
to emphasize Christian influences on the nation’s founding. Still, this
accounting is widely accepted, and it is particularly evident in the rheto-
ric of elected officials, including past and aspiring presidents. It has even
made its way into a handful of Supreme Court opinions. It is also largely
a myth.1
This book sets out to unravel the myth of America’s religious found-
ings. To be more precise, this book examines how the idea of America’s
Christian origins became a central part of the nation’s founding narra-
tive. To do so, it explores the history behind the popular belief about the
nation’s religious origins—of Christian impulses behind America’s set-
tlement and in the creation of its public institutions, particularly its gov-
ernment and authorizing documents: the Declaration of Independence
and Constitution, among others. To a degree, the idea that religion played
viii Preface
a role in the settlement of what became the United States has a strong
pedigree. Various peoples and communities immigrated to colonial
America in search of the freedom to practice their religion unmolested.
Religious diversity and experimentalism flourished in early America at
levels unmatched throughout the rest of the world. The popular belief
that settlers came to America to establish a regime of religious liberty, how-
ever, has less foundation. While this latter idea stands on its own, it also
informs the second, related myth that this book seeks to unravel: that the
political values and governing structures that emerged during the found-
ing period owe their lineage particularly to Christian influences.2
The word “myth” has been chosen carefully and is used intention-
ally. “Myth,” as appears throughout this book, is not used to represent its
popular definition of a fable or imaginary notion. The word is intended
to be neither pejorative nor marginalizing. While those understandings
can never be isolated from the word “myth,” as used here, myth means an
explanation of events that assists in the development of a cultural and na-
tional identity. Drawing from Webster’s Dictionary, a myth is a “traditional
story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world
view of a people.” (Ironically, later in life Noah Webster became one of the
leading purveyors of the myth of America’s Christian origins.) In provid-
ing explanations of events not personally remembered, myths legitimize
the past while they provide a unifying narrative for a distinct people. His-
torical myths “are needful in establishing national identity and stimu-
lating patriotic pride.” Accordingly, the purpose of this book is not to
engage in the irresolvable debate over whether the Founders were devout
Christians or atheistical deists, of whether the people of the founding
generation believed chiefly in divine providence and the role of religion in
public life, or in separation of church and state. (However, no discussion
about the development and role of national myths can occur without some
amount of debunking.) Rather, the book seeks to explain how the ideas of
America’s religious founding and its status as a Christian nation became
a leading narrative about the nation’s collective identity.3
Unraveling this myth is crucial if our nation is to come to grips with its
religious past and its pluralistic future. A lack of historical knowledge—
and of the appropriate role of history in directing current legal and policy
debates—invites supplementation by mythical ideas. Historical miscon-
ceptions endanger our ability to work through ongoing issues about re-
ligious hegemony and equality, and of the appropriate role of religion in
public life. Conflicts have frequently arisen due to misunderstandings
Preface ix
about the significance of religion in the nation’s founding. While, on one
hand, the myth of America’s Christian founding reminds us of the ongo-
ing importance of religion in the culture, it has had its dark side. The close
association of American government with a Christian mission legitimized
the forced “christianization” of American Natives and the destruction of
their cultures and homelands; the identification of Protestant Christianity
with republican values led to the marginalization of Catholic immigrants
during the nineteenth century; and belief in America’s manifest destiny
justified American imperialism throughout that century and into the
next. Today, it encourages a form of American exceptionalism that justi-
fies the exportation of “American values” while it reinforces suspicions
about the compatibility of non-Christian faiths, such as fundamentalist
Islam, with the American democratic experiment. As historian Martin
Marty writes, “the privileging by law or naming rights for one religion . . .
lead[s] to more intersectarian rivalry, discrimination against the practices
of some full citizens, . . . and increasing resentments that unnecessarily
upset neighborly and community life” in a religiously pluralistic nation.4
Historical misconceptions also make people susceptible to the power
of political rhetoric. Conceptions of America’s Christian past (and pres-
ent) legitimize the government’s use of religion to further its policies.
They invite politicians to expropriate religion for political ends—what
James Madison decried as an “arrogant pretention” and an “unhallowed
perversion of the means of salvation.”5 Finally, myths about the role of
Christianity in creating the nation’s governing institutions fuel the jur-
isprudential debate over interpreting the Constitution consistently with
the “original intent” of the framers. Because the motives and intentions
of historical figures are never pellucid, myths fill the gaps in historical
knowledge. Neither jurists nor elected officials are immune from this ten-
dency to rely on myths in formulating law or public policy. To give these
popular conceptions their appropriate due, however, it is important to un-
derstand their origins, their purposeful creations, and their limited value
as authority in the modern battles over the nation’s cultural identity. In
essence, we need to understand these founding myths for what they are,
along with their limitations, and not allow them to control policy-making
in the world’s most religiously pluralistic nation. This is one area where
getting history right matters.6
My scholarly interest in the ongoing debate about America’s Chris-
tian origins extends back almost three decades to graduate school, where