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Are Christians American? |
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by Dan Barker
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Thomas Martin, in his article, "Are atheists American?," (Nov. 2 Midlands Voices), writes, "America is a nation that is founded upon a creed . . . . The Declaration of Independence condemns atheism, as it names the Creator, and not the government, as the ultimate authority." Does Martin truly mean what he is saying? Millions of good Americans do not believe in a god. Currently 14% of us are nonreligious (according to the definitive "Religious Identification Survey," 2001), and 18.5% of the population is thoroughly unchurched, which is more than many denominations, such as Methodists, and certainly much higher than Jews, a respected minority at 2%. We unbelievers pay taxes, vote, sit on juries, serve in the military, work for police and fire departments, contribute to charity, teach family values to our children, do volunteer work and strive to improve this world, the only world, through education, science, literature, art, politics and social reform. Yet because the Declaration of Independence contains the word "Creator," Martin denies we are Americans! Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration, was a deist. His Creator was the "god of nature," not the personal "God" of Christianity. In his daily life, Jefferson was what we could call a "practical atheist." He was disdainful of Christianity and referred to some of the New Testament words of Jesus as a "dunghill." He recognized that atheists are moral, unlike Martin and many Christians, who uncharitably mischaracterize unbelievers as "evil" or "acting upon their [animal] appetites." When Jefferson said humans are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights," he did not mean "endowed" in the sense of a sovereign granting a privilege. If something can be endowed, it can be un-endowed. If a right is inalienable, it can't be withheld or withdrawn, not even in principle; so, an "inalienable right," if rights are endowed, would be an oxymoron. Jefferson clearly meant that since we are "endowed by nature" with common human needs, we are justified in expecting society to honor our right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." "Endowed by" does not mean "ruled by." My children have been endowed by my genetics, but that does not make me their Master. They are their own masters. The Declaration is a humanistic document, dealing with natural affairs, not religious. Assigning the ultimate power of government to the people themselves, it flatly contradicts the biblical claim that all authority stems from a Sovereign Lord. But even if the Declaration were religious, it is not our governing document--it merely served to sever our ties with Britain. Our nation is founded on the secular, godless Constitution, not the Declaration. The founders had every opportunity to insert God or Christianity into the Constitution, as most European constitutions have done--but wisely, they did not. Turning Christianity on its head, the founders based the United States on the truly revolutionary principle of "We, the people," not on a Master or Lord. Granting humans the freedom to govern according to what seems right to us is manifestly anti-biblical. ("There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. 14:12) We are a proudly rebellious people. We fought a revolutionary war kicking the Sovereign Ruler out of our affairs. Prudently, our founders declined to replace one dictator with another. Since Christianity commands believers to become slaves to a Master, I could ask Martin, "Are Christians Americans?" But I won't stoop to bigotry--we are all Americans--so I withhold the tempting question. The enlightenment concept of human rights is the antithesis of the Judeo-Christian ethic. As an ordained evangelical minister who preached the Gospel for 19 years before becoming an atheist, I know there is no human dignity in the bible, no hint that humans possess an "unalienable right" to happiness, or the inherent right to be treated with fairness or respect, or the ability to think for ourselves to form a government. In scripture, humans are "worms" and "sinners" deserving of eternal torment. Believers must kowtow to a supernatural king, bringing "every thought into captivity," leaning "not on thine own understanding," humbly kneeling before the Lord--as King George demanded of the colonists. In America, we are free to disagree about religious issues; we are not free to ask our government to settle the argument. Some intolerant Christians suggest that freedom of religion is not freedom from religion. But as Freedom From Religion Foundation president Anne Gaylor says, "There can be no religious freedom without the freedom to dissent." Those of us who dissent from the status quo are just as American as those who do not. Dan Barker is Public Relations Director of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wisconsin. Dan Barker PO Box 448 Madison WI 53701 (608) 256-8900 [day] . (608) 233-8223 [night] (608) 256-8954 [FAX, until December 31] (608) 256-1116 [FAX after January 1] dbarker@mailbag.com www.ffrf.org |