1) Over the past several years, President Barack Obama has
repeatedly claimed that America is not a Christian nation.
2) He asserted that while a member of the U. S. Senate, repeated it
as a presidential candidate.
3) The President repeated this untruth again on a recent presidential trip to Turkey. His statement was delivered in a Muslim nation and a Muslim press, which received little coverage here in America from a liberal press. If his statements had been covered here, Americans would have therefore taken exception with his remarks.
4) But regardless of what Americans might think, it is unquestionable that four previous centuries of American leaders would have definitely taken umbrage with the President's statement. Why did he make that
announcement in Turkey? Because he said it was “a location he said he chose to send a clear message. To whom? Muslims?
5) The following exerps from American leaders tell the truth, that we are indeed a Christian nation and the gates of hades will not prevail, so says The Creator, in Holy Scripture.
Modern declarations that America is not a Christian nation are
rarely noticed or refuted today because of the nation’s
widespread lack of knowledge about America’s history and
foundation. To help provide the missing historical knowledge
necessary to combat today’s post-modern revisionism, presented
below will be some statements by previous presidents,
legislatures, and courts (as well as by current national Jewish
spokesmen) about America being a Christian nation. These
declarations from all three branches of government are
representative of scores of others and are only the proverbial
“tip of the iceberg.”
Defining a Christian Nation
Contemporary post-modern critics (including President Obama)
who assert that America is not a Christian nation always
refrain from offering any definition of what the term
“Christian nation” means. So what is an accurate definition
of that term as demonstrated by the American experience?
Contrary to what critics imply, a Christian nation is not one
in which all citizens are Christians, or the laws require
everyone to adhere to Christian theology, or all leaders are
Christians, or any other such superficial measurement. As
Supreme Court Justice David Brewer (1837-1910) explained:
2
[I]n what sense can [America] be called a Christian nation?
Not in the sense that Christianity is the established
religion or that the people are in any manner compelled to
support it. On the contrary, the Constitution specifically
provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof.” Neither is it Christian in the sense that all its
citizens are either in fact or name Christians. On the
contrary, all religions have free scope within our borders.
Numbers of our people profess other religions, and many
reject all. Nor is it Christian in the sense that a profession
of Christianity is a condition of holding office or otherwise
engaging in public service, or essential to recognition either
politically or socially. In fact, the government as a legal
organization is independent of all religions. Nevertheless,
we constantly speak of this republic as a Christian nation
– in fact, as the leading Christian nation of the world.
6
So, if being a Christian nation is not based on any of the
above criterion, then what makes America a Christian nation?
According to Justice Brewer, America was “of all the nations
in the world . . . most justly called a Christian nation”
because Christianity “has so largely shaped and molded it.”
7
Constitutional law professor Edward Mansfield (1801-1880)
similarly acknowledged:
In every country, the morals of a people – whatever they may
be – take their form and spirit from their religion. For
example, the marriage of brothers and sisters was permitted
among the Egyptians because such had been the precedent set by
their gods, Isis and Osiris. So, too, the classic nations
celebrated the drunken rites of Bacchus. Thus, too, the Turk
has become lazy and inert because dependent upon Fate, as
taught by the Koran. And when in recent times there arose a
nation [i.e., France] whose philosophers [e.g. Voltaire,
Rousseau, Diderot, Helvetius, etc.] discovered there was no
God and no religion, the nation was thrown into that dismal
case in which there was no law and no morals. . . . In the
United States, Christianity is the original, spontaneous,
and national religion.
8
Founding Father and U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John
Marshall agreed:
[W]ith us, Christianity and religion are identified. It would
be strange, indeed, if with such a people our institutions did
not presuppose Christianity and did not often refer to it and
exhibit relations with it.
9
Christianity is the religion that shaped America and made her
what she is today. In fact, historically speaking, it can be
irrefutably demonstrated that Biblical Christianity in America
produced many of the cherished traditions still enjoyed today,
including:
. A republican rather than a theocratic form of government;
. The institutional separation of church and state (as opposed
to today’s enforced institutional secularization of church and
state);
3
. Protection for religious toleration and the rights of
conscience;
. A distinction between theology and behavior, thus allowing
the incorporation into public policy of religious principles
that promote good behavior but which do not enforce theological
tenets (examples of this would include religious teachings such
as the Good Samaritan, The Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments,
the Sermon on the Mount, etc., all of which promote positive
civil behavior but do not impose ecclesiastical rites); and
. A free-market approach to religion, thus ensuring religious
diversity. Consequently, a Christian nation as demonstrated by
the American experience is a nation founded upon Christian and
Biblical principles, whose values, society, and institutions
have largely been shaped by those principles. This definition
was reaffirmed by American legal scholars and historians for
generations
10
but is widely ignored by today’s revisionists.
American Presidents Affirm that America is
a Christian Nation
With his recent statement, President Barack Obama is the first
American president to deny that America is a Christian nation
– a repudiation of what made America great and a refutation of
the declarations of his presidential predecessors. Notice a few
representative statements on this subject by some of the
forty-three previous presidents:
The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence
were. . . . the general principles of Christianity.
11
JOHN ADAMS
[T]he teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with
our whole civic and social life that it would be literally…
impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be
if these teaching were removed.
12
TEDDY ROOSEVELT
America was born a Christian nation – America was born to
exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which
are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.
13
WOODROW WILSON
American life is builded, and can alone survive, upon . . . [the]
fundamental philosophy announced by the Savior nineteen centuries
ago.
14
HERBERT HOOVER
This is a Christian Nation.
15
HARRY TRUMAN
Let us remember that as a Christian nation . . . we have a charge
and a destiny.
16
RICHARD NIXON
There are many additional examples, including even that of Thomas
Jefferson.
Significantly, Jefferson was instrumental in establishing weekly
Sunday worship services at the U. S. Capitol (a practice that
continued through the 19th century) and was himself a regular and
faithful attendant at those church services,
17
not even allowing inclement weather to dissuade his weekly horseback
travel to the Capitol church.
18
(The fact that the U. S. Capitol building was available for church on
Sundays was due to the Art. I, Sec. 7 constitutional requirement that
forbade federal lawmaking on Sundays; and this recognition of a
Christian Sabbath in the U. S. Constitution was cited
4
by federal courts as proof of the Christian nature of America.
19
While not every Christian observes a Sunday Sabbath, no other religion
in the world honors Sunday except Christianity. As one court noted,
the various Sabbaths were “the Friday of the Mohammedan, the Saturday
of the Israelite, or the Sunday of the Christian.”)
20
Why was Jefferson a faithful attendant at the Sunday church at the
Capitol? He once explained to a friend while they were walking to
church together:
No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can
be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given
to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it
the sanction of my example.
21
President Jefferson even closed presidential documents with “In the
year of our Lord Christ”.
Even President Jefferson recognized and treated America as a Christian
nation. Clearly, President Obama’s declaration is refuted both by
history and by his own presidential predecessors.
The U. S. Congress Affirms that America is a
Christian Nation
Declarations from the Legislative Branch affirming America as a
Christian nation are abundant. For example, in 1852-1853 when some
citizens sought a complete secularization of the public square and
a cessation of all religious activities by the government, Congress
responded with unambiguous declarations about America as a Christian
nation:
HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Had the people, during the Revolution,
had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that
Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle. At the time
of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments, the
universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged,
not any one sect [denomination]. Any attempt to level and discard
all religion would have been viewed with universal indignation. . . .
In this age there can be
5
no substitute for Christianity; that, in its general principles,
is the great conservative element on which we must rely for the
purity and permanence of free institutions.
22
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: We are Christians, not because the
law demands it, not to gain exclusive benefits or to avoid legal
disabilities, but from choice and education; and in a land thus
universally Christian, what is to be expected, what desired, but
that we shall pay a due regard to Christianity?
23
In 1856, the House of Representatives also declared:
[T]he great vital and conservative element in our system is
the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine
truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
24
On March 3, 1863 while in the midst of the Civil War, the
U. S. Senate requested President Abraham Lincoln to
“designate and set apart a day for national prayer and
humiliation”
25
because:
[S]incerely believing that no people, however great in numbers
and resources or however strong in the justice of their cause,
can prosper without His favor; and at the same time deploring
the national offences which have provoked His righteous
judgment, yet encouraged in this day of trouble by the
assurances of His word to seek Him for succor according to
His appointed way through Jesus Christ, the Senate of the
United States do hereby request the President of the United
States, by his proclamation, to designate and set apart a day
for national prayer and humiliation.
26
(emphasis added)
President Lincoln quickly complied with that request,
27
and issued what today has become one of the most famous and
quoted proclamations in America’s history.
28
Across the generations, our national reliance on God, the Bible,
and Christianity has been repeatedly reaffirmed. In fact,
consider five representative images produced by the U. S.
Government. The first three are from World War II: one shows the
Nazis as the enemy because they want to attack the Bible, and the
other two encourage Americans to buy War Bonds by pointing to
Christian images. The fourth and fifth images are from the
Department of Agriculture in the 1960s, using the Bible and even
Smokey Bear in prayer as symbols to encourage Americans to be
conscious of fire safety and to help preserve and conserve nature.
6
There are scores of other official actions by the U. S. Congress
over the past two centuries affirming that America is a Christian
nation.
The Judicial Branch Affirms that America is a Christian Nation
From the Judicial Branch, consider first some declarations of prominent
U. S. Supreme Court Justices regarding America as a Christian nation.
Justice Joseph Story (1779-1845) was appointed to the Court by
President James Madison. Story is considered the founder of Harvard
Law School and authored the three volume classic Commentaries on the
Constitution of the United States (1833). In his 34 7 years on the
Court, Story authored opinions in 286 cases, of which 269 were reported
as the majority opinion or the opinion of the Court 29 and his many
contributions to American law have caused him to be called a “Father
of American Jurisprudence.”
Justice Story openly declared:
One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is
that Christianity is a part of the Common Law. . . . There never
has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize
Christianity as lying at its foundations. . . . I verily believe
Christianity necessary to the support of civil society.
30
His conclusion about America and Christianity was straightforward:
In [our] republic, there would seem to be a peculiar propriety in
viewing the Christian religion as the great basis on which it must
rest for its support and permanence.
31
Justice John McLean (1785-1861) was appointed to the Court by
President Andrew Jackson. McLean served in the U. S. Congress, as
a judge on the Ohio Supreme Court, and then held cabinet positions
under two U. S. Presidents. His view on the importance of
Christianity to American government and its institutions was
unambiguous:
For many years, my hope for the perpetuity of our institutions has
rested upon Bible morality and the general dissemination of
Christian principles. This is an element which did not exist in the
ancient republics. It is a basis on which free governments may be
maintained through all time. . . . Free government is not a
self-moving machine. . . . Our mission of freedom is not carried out
by brute force, by canon law, or any other law except the moral law
and those Christian principles which are found in the Scriptures.
32
Justice David Brewer (1837-1910), appointed to the Court by President
Benjamin Harrison, agreed. Brewer held several judgeships in Kansas
and served on a federal circuit court before his appointment to the
Supreme Court. Justice Brewer declared: We constantly speak of this
republic as a Christian nation – in fact, as the leading Christian
nation of the world.
33
Brewer then chronicled the types of descriptions applied to nations:
We classify nations in various ways: as, for instance, by their
form of government. One is a kingdom, another an empire, and
still another a republic. Also by race. Great Britain is an Anglo-
Saxon nation, France a Gallio, Germany a Teutonic, Russia a
Slav. And still again by religion. One is a Mohammedan nation,
others are heathen, and still others are Christian nations. This
republic is classified among the Christian nations of the world.
It was so formally declared by the Supreme Court of the United
8
States. In the case of Holy Trinity Church vs. United States,
143 U.S. 471, that Court, after mentioning various circumstances,
added, “these and many other matters which might be noticed, add
a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic
utterances that this is a Christian nation.”
34
Brewer did not believe that calling America a Christian nation
was a hollow appellation; in fact, he penned an entire book
setting forth the evidence that America was a Christian nation.
He concluded:
[I] have said enough to show that Christianity came to this
country with the first colonists; has been powerfully identified
with its rapid development, colonial and national, and today
exists as a mighty factor in the life of the republic. This is a
Christian nation. . . . [T]he calling of this republic a Christian
nation is not a mere pretence, but a recognition of an historical,
legal, and social truth.
35
Justice Earl Warren (1891-1974) agreed with his predecessors.
Before being appointed as Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court
by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Warren had been the Attorney
General of California. Warren declared:
I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because
of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their
belief in it: freedom of belief, of expression, of assembly,
of petition, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of the
home, equal justice under law, and the reservation of
powers to the people. . . . I like to believe we are living
today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to
believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come
to our country.
36
There are many similar declarations by other Supreme Court
Justices, but in addition to the declarations of individual
judges, the federal courts have repeatedly affirmed America
to be a Christian nation – including the U. S. Supreme Court,
which declared that America was “a Christian country,”
37
filled with “Christian people,”
38
and was indeed “a Christian nation.”
39
Dozens of other courts past and present have repeated these
pronouncements 40 but so, too, have American Presidents –
as in 1947 when President Harry Truman quoted the Supreme
Court, declaring:
This is a Christian Nation. More than a half century ago that
declaration was written into the decrees of the highest court in
this land [in an 1892 decision].
41
In addition to its “Christian nation” declarations, the
Supreme Court also regularly relied on Christian principles
as the basis of its rulings on issues such as marriage,
citizenship, foreign affairs, and domestic treaties.
For example, when some federal territories attempted to introduce
the practice of bigamy and polygamy, the Supreme Court disallowed
those practices because:
9
Bigamy and polygamy are crimes by the laws of all civilized and
Christian countries.
42
In another case, the Court similarly explained:
The organization of a community for the spread and practice of
polygamy is . . . . contrary to the spirit of Christianity and
of the civilization which Christianity has produced in the Western
world.
43
And when the issue arose of whether marriages made in foreign
nations would be recognized in the United States, the federal
court held that foreign marriages would be recognized only if
they were not “contrary to the general view of Christendom.”
44
The Supreme Court also decided military service issues in accord
with Christian principles and standards. For example, in 1931,
when a Canadian immigrant refused to take the oath of allegiance
to the United States, the Supreme Court explained why he was
therefore excluded from citizenship:
We are a Christian people (Holy Trinity Church v. United States.
143 U.S. 457, 470 , 471 S., 12 S. Ct. 511), according to one a
nother the equal right of religious freedom and acknowledging
with reverence the duty of obedience to the will of God. But
also we are a nation with the duty to survive; a nation whose
Constitution contemplates war as well as peace; whose government
must go forward upon the assumption (and safely can proceed upon
no other) that unqualified allegiance to the nation and
submission and obedience to the laws of the land, as well those
made for war as those made for peace, are not inconsistent with
the will of God.
45
The Supreme Court also relied on Christian principles in its
rulings on international policies. For example, if an American
citizen living in a foreign land was accused of a crime under
the laws of a fundamentally different nation (such as in Islamic
nations, secular nations, and most recently in Japan following
World War II), by means of international treaties, the U. S.
citizen would be tried in front of the U. S. Consul in that
nation (in what were called Consular Tribunals) rather than
before the courts of that country. Of this practice, the
Supreme Court explained:
In other than Christian countries, they [the Consuls] were
by treaty stipulations usually clothed with authority to
hear complaints against their countrymen and to sit in
judgment upon them when charged with public offenses. . . .
The intense hostility of the people of Moslem faith to all
other sects, and particularly to Christians, affected all
their intercourse [transactions] and all proceedings had in
their tribunals. Even the rules of evidence adopted by them
[the Muslims] placed those of different faith on unequal
grounds in any controversy with them. For this cause, and
by reason of the barbarous and cruel punishments inflicted
in those countries and the frequent use of torture to
enforce confession from parties accused, it was a matter of
deep interest to Christian governments to withdraw the trial
of their subjects, when charged with the commission of a
public offense, from the arbitrary and despotic action of
the local officials. Treaties conferring
10
such jurisdiction upon these consuls were essential to the
peaceful residence of Christians within those countries.
46
For example, an Islamic nation might charge an American with
the capital-offense crime of blasphemy merely because the
American attended Christian worship or used a Bible in that
country; or a secular nation might accuse an American of
the crime of proselytizing simply for sharing his faith with
another (currently a crime in France,
47
across India,
48
Pakistan,
49
Saudi Arabia,
50
Malaysia,
51
and many other nations). In such cases, the Consul tried the
offense under America’s laws as a Christian nation. However,
if another nation accused an American of a crime such as
murder, the charge would stand since murder was also a crime
in our Christian nation.
52
The Supreme Court commended this position
53
and federal courts observed the policy until deep into the
twentieth century,
54
when many foreign nations finally began to adopt what the
Supreme Court had earlier called “a system of judicial
procedure like that of Christian countries.”
55
Federal domestic treaties were yet another area in which the
federal judiciary relied on Christian principles and standards.
For example, by 1877 a number of disputes had arisen in which
Indian lands were wrongly being taken for timber, minerals,
and other resources. When those cases reached the Supreme
Court, the Court affirmed the occupancy rights of the tribes
to the lands because:
It is to be presumed that in this matter the United States
would be governed by such considerations of justice as would
control a Christian people . . .
56
The Court repeated this position on numerous subsequent
occasions – as in 1903 when it reiterated:
[I]n decisions of this court, the Indian right of occupancy
of tribal lands, whether declared in a treaty or otherwise
created, has been stated to be sacred. . . . Thus. . . . “It
is to be presumed that in this matter the United States would
be governed by such considerations of justice as would control
a Christian people . . . ”
57
The Court’s position was subsequently enacted into federal
statutory law in 1906,
58
and in 1955, the Supreme Court was still praising this position
59
– a position regularly cited by other courts for decades,
60
including in the late 1990s.
61
These are just a few examples of the literally hundreds of
similar cases at both federal and state levels affirming that
America is indeed a Christian nation.
American Jewish Leaders Agree with History
Jewish leaders, although firmly committed to their own faith,
understand that by defending Christianity they are defending what
has provided them their own religious liberty in America. For
example, Jeff Jacoby, a Jewish columnist at the Boston Globe explains:
This is a Christian country – it was founded by Christians and built
on broad Christian principles. Threatening? Far from it. It is in
precisely
11
this Christian country that Jews have known the most peaceful,
prosperous, and successful existence in their long history.
62
Aaron Zelman (a Jewish author and head of a civil rights
organization) similarly declares:
[C]hristian America is the best home our people have found in
2,000 years. . . . [T]his remains the most tolerant, prosperous,
and safest home we could be blessed with.
63
Dennis Prager, a Jewish national columnist and popular talkshow
host, warns:
If America abandons its Judeo-Christian values basis and the
central role of the Jewish and Christian Bibles (its Founders’
guiding text), we are all in big trouble, including, most
especially, America’s non-Christians. Just ask the Jews of
secular Europe.
64
Prager further explained:
I believe that it is good that America is a Christian nation. . . .
I have had the privilege of speaking in nearly every Jewish
community in America over the last 30 years, and I have
frequently argued in favor of this view. Recently, I spoke to
the Jewish community of a small North Carolina city. When
some in the audience mentioned their fear of rising religiosity
among Christians, I asked these audience-members if they
loved living in their city. All of them said they did. Is it a
coincidence, I then asked, that the city you so love (for its
wonderful people, its safety for your children, its fine schools,
and its values that enable you to raise your children with
confidence) is a highly Christian city? Too many Americans do
not appreciate the connection between American greatness and
American Christianity.
65
Don Feder, a Jewish columnist and long time writer for the
Boston Herald, similarly acknowledges:
Clearly this nation was established by Christians. . . . As a
Jew, I’m entirely comfortable with the concept of the Christian
America.
66
The choice isn’t Christian America or nothing, but Christian
America or a neo-pagan, hedonistic,
rights-withoutresponsibilities, anti-family, culture-of-death
America. As an American Jew. . . . [I] feel very much at home
here.
67
In fact, Feder calls on Jews to defend the truth that America is
a Christian Nation:
Jews – as Jews – must oppose revisionist efforts to deny our
nation’s Christian heritage, must stand
12
against the drive to decouple our laws from Judeo-Christian
ethics, and must counter attacks on public expressions of the
religion of most Americans – Christianity. Jews are safer in a
Christian America than in a secular America.
68
Michael Medved, a Jewish national talkshow host and columnist,
agrees that America is indeed a Christian nation:
The framers may not have mentioned Christianity in the Constitution
but they clearly intended that charter of liberty to govern a
society of fervent faith, freely encouraged by government for the
benefit of all. Their noble and unprecedented experiment never
involved a religion-free or faithless state but did indeed
presuppose America’s unequivocal identity as a Christian nation.
69
Burt Prelutsky, a Jewish columnist for the Los Angeles Times
(and a freelance writer for the New York Times, Washington Times,
Sports Illustrated, and other national publications) and a
patriotic Jewish American, gladly embraces America as a Christian
nation and even resents the secularist post-modern attack on
national Christian celebrations such as Christmas:
I never thought I’d live to see the day that Christmas would
become a dirty word. . . .How is it, one well might ask, that
in a Christian nation this is happening? And in case you find
that designation objectionable, would you deny that India is a
Hindu country, that Turkey is Muslim, that Poland is Catholic?
That doesn’t mean those nations are theocracies. But when the
overwhelming majority of a country’s population is of one
religion, and most Americans happen to be one sort of Christian
or another, only a darn fool would deny the obvious. . . . This
is a Christian nation, my friends.
And all of us are fortunate it is one, and that so many millions
of Americans have seen fit to live up to the highest precepts of
their religion. It should never be forgotten that, in the main,
it was Christian soldiers who fought and died to defeat Nazi
Germany and who liberated the concentration camps. Speaking as a
member of a minority group – and one of the smaller ones at that –
I say it behooves those of us who don’t accept Jesus Christ as
our savior to show some gratitude to those who do, and to start
respecting the values and traditions of the overwhelming majority
of our fellow citizens, just as we keep insisting that they
respect ours. Merry Christmas, my friends.
70
Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Lapin of the Jewish Policy Center
unequivocally declares [I] understand that I live . . . in a
Christian nation, albeit one where I can follow my faith as long as
it doesn’t conflict with the nation’s principles. The same
13
option is open to all Americans and will be available only as long
as this nation’s Christian roots are acknowledged and honored.
71
In fact, with foreboding he warns:
Without a vibrant and vital Christianity, America is doomed, and
without America, the west is doomed. Which is why I, an Orthodox
Jewish rabbi, devoted to Jewish survival, the Torah, and Israel
am so terrified of American Christianity caving in.
72
God help Jews if America ever becomes a post-Christian society!
Just think of Europe!
73
President Obama’s declaration that Americans “do not consider
ourselves a Christian nation” is a repudiation of the
declarations of the national leaders before him and is an
unabashed attempt at historical revisionism. Of such efforts,
Chief Justice William Rehnquist wisely observed, “no amount
of repetition of historical errors . . . can make the errors
true.”
74
Americans must now decide whether centuries of presidents,
congresses, and courts are correct or whether President Obama
is, but historical fact does not change merely because the
President declares it. The best antidote to the type of
revisionism embodied by President Obama’s statement is for
citizens
p. 2, “John Marshall,” Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs
Division, Theodor Horydczak Collection, LC-H814-T-C01-518-A; p. 4,
“Thomas Jefferson,” Independence National Historical Park; p. 7,
“Joseph Story,” The Collection of the Supreme Court of the United
States (Artist: George P.A. Healy); “John McLean,” The Collection
of the Supreme Court of the United States (Artist: Charles Bird King);
“David Brewer,” Library of Congress.
1 Aaron Klein, “Obama: America is ‘no longer Christian’,”
June 22, 2008, WorldNetDaily (at:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=67735).
2 David Brody, The Brody File, “Exclusive: Barack Obama E-mails
the Brody File,” CBN News, July
29, 2007 (at: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/204017.aspx).
3 “Obama says U.S., Turkey can be model for world,”
April 6, 2009, CNN (at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/06/obama.turkey/index.html).
4 “Obama says U.S., Turkey can be model for world,”
April 6, 2009, CNN (at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/06/obama.turkey/index.html).
5 “Survey Reports: Beyond Red vs. Blue,” Pew Research Center
for the People and the Press, March 17-27, 2005
(at: http://people-press.org/reports/print.php3?PageID=953),
reports that in 1996, 60% of Americans believed that America
was indeed a Christian nation and that by 2004, the number had
risen to 71%; the 2009 poll showed that the number had dropped
to 69% and then to 62% (see “Newsweek Poll: A Post-Christian
Nation?,” Newsweek, April 3, 2009
(at: http://www.newsweek.com/id/192311), in which
62% answered Yes, 32% answer No, and 6% answered Don’t Know to
the question “Do you consider the United States a Christian
nation, or not?” See also “This Easter, Smaller Percentage of
Americans are Christians,” Gallup, April 10, 2009
(at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/117409/Easter-Smaller-Percentage-
Americans-Christian.aspx), in which this statement appears:
“The United States remains a dominantly
14
Christian nation. More than three-quarters of all Americans
identify as Christian,” according to this poll 77% of Americans
identify themselves as Christians (55% Protestant, 22% Catholic).
6 David J. Brewer, The United States: A Christian Nation
(Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company,
1905), p. 13.
7 David J. Brewer, The United States: A Christian Nation
(Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company,
1905), p. 40.
8 Edward Mansfield, American Education, Its Principle and
Elements (New York: A. S. Barnes & Co.,
1851), p. 43.
9 John Marshall, The Papers of John Marshall, Charles Hobson,
editor (Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 2006), Vol. XII, p. 278, to Rev. Jasper Adams,
May 9, 1833.
10 Stephen Cowell, The Position of Christianity in the United
States in its Relations with our Political Institutions
(Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambio & Co., 1854), pp. 11-12,
Joseph Story, A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the
United States (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1847), p. 260, §442.
11 John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the
United States, Charles Francis
Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1856), Vol. X,
pp. 45-46, to Thomas Jefferson on
June 28, 1813.
12 Ferdinand Cowle Iglehart, D.D., Theodore Roosevelt, The Man
As I Knew Him (New York: The
Christian Herald, 1919), p. 307.
13 Paul M. Pearson and Philip M. Hicks, Extemporaneous Speaking
(New York: Hinds, Noble &
Eldredge, 1912), 177, printing Woodrow Wilson, “The Bible and
Progress;” The Homiletic Review: An International Monthly
Magazine of Current Religious Thought, Sermonic Literature and
Discussion of Practical Issues (New York: Funk and Wagnalls
Company, 1911), Vol. LXII, p. 238, printing WoodrowWilson,
“The Bible and Progress,” May 7, 1911.
14 Herbert Hoover, “Radio Address to the Nation on Unemployment
Relief,” American Presidency Project,
October 18, 1931 (at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=22855).
15 Harry S. Truman, “Exchange of Messages With Pope Pius XII,”
American Presidency Project, August
28, 1947 (at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12746).
16 Richard Nixon, “Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast,”
American Presidency Project, February
1st, 1972 (at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3597).
17 See, for example, Bishop Claggett’s (Episcopal Bishop of
Maryland) letter of February 18, 1801, available in the
Maryland Diocesan Archives; and The First Forty Years of
Washington Society, Galliard Hunt, editor (New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1906), p. 13; and William Parker Cutler and Julia
Perkins Cutler, Life, Journal, and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh
Cutler (Cincinnati: Colin Robert Clarke & Co., 1888), Vol. II,
p. 119, to Joseph Torrey, January 3, 1803, and p. 113, his entry
of December 12, 1802; and James Hutson, Religion and the Founding
of the American Republic (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress,
1998), p. 84.
18 William Parker Cutler and Julia Perkins Cutler, Life, Journal,
and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler (Cincinnati: Colin
Robert Clarke & Co., 1888), Vol. II, p. 119, in a letter to Dr.
Joseph Torrey on January 3, 1803; see also his entry of December
26, 1802 (Vol. II, p. 114).
19 See, for example, Church of the Holy Trinity v. U. S., 143 U.S.
457, 465, 470-471 (1892); City Council of Charleston v. S.A.
Benjamin, 2 Strob. 508, 518-520 (S.C. 1846); State v. Ambs, 20 Mo.
214, 1854 WL 4543 (Mo. 1854); Neal v. Crew, 12 Ga. 93, 1852 WL 1390
(1852); Doremus v. Bd. of Educ., 71 A.2d 732, 7 N.J. Super. 442
(1950); State v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co., 143 S.W. 785, 803
(Mo. 1912); and many others.
20 Ex parte Newman, 9 Cal. 502, 509 (1858).
21 Hutson, Religion, p. 96, quoting from a handwritten history in
possession of the Library of Congress, “Washington Parish,
Washington City,” by Rev. Ethan Allen.
22 Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives Made
During the First Session of the Thirty- Third Congress
(Washington: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1854), pp. 6, 8.
23 The Reports of Committees of the Senate of the United States
for the Second Session of the Thirty- Second Congress, 1852-53
(Washington: Robert Armstrong, 1853), p. 3.
24 Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States:
Being the First Session of the Thirty- Fourth Congress
(Washington: Cornelius Wendell, 1855), p. 354, January 23, 1856.
See also Lorenzo D. Johnson, Chaplains of the General Government
With Objections to their Employment Considered (New York: Sheldon,
Blakeman & Co., 1856), p. 35.
15
25 Journal of the Senate of the United States of America Being
the Third Session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress (Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1863), p. 379, March 2, 1863.
26Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being
the Third Session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress
(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1863), pp. 378-379,
March 2, 1863.
27 Abraham Lincoln, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln,
Roy P. Basler, editor (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1953),
Vol. VI, pp. 155-157, “Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day,”
March 30, 1863.
28 A May 2009 Google search for this proclamation resulted in
18,000+ hits.
29 “United States Founding Fathers,” Party of 1776
(at: http://www.partyof1776.net/p1776/fathers/contents.html)
(accessed on May 1, 2009).
30 Joseph Story, Life and Letters of Joseph Story, William W.
Story, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851),
Vol. II, pp. 8, 92.
31 Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United
States (Boston: Hillard, Gray, and Company, 1833), Vol. III, p.
724, § 1867.
32 B. F. Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil
Institutions of the United States, Developed in the Official and
Historical Annals of the Republic
(Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), p. 639.
33 David J. Brewer, The United States: A Christian Nation
(Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company,
1905), p. 12.
34 David J. Brewer, The United States: A Christian Nation
(Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company,
1905), p. 11.
35 David J. Brewer, The United States: A Christian Nation
(Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company,
1905), pp. 40, 46.
36 “Breakfast in Washington,” Time, February 15, 1954 (at:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936197,00.html).
37 Vidal v. Girard’s Executors, 43 U. S. 126, 198 (1844).
38 U.S. v. Macintosh, 283 U.S. 605, 625 (1931).
39 Church of the Holy Trinity v. U. S., 143 U. S. 457, 465,
470-471 (1892).
40 See for example, Warren v. U.S., 177 F.2d 596
(10th Cir. 1949); U.S. v. Girouard, 149 F.2d 760 (1st Cir.1945);
Steiner v. Darby, Parker v. Los Angeles County, 199 P.2d 429
(Cal. App. 2d Dist 1948); Vogel v. County of Los Angeles, 434
P.2d 961 (1967).
41 Harry S. Truman, “Exchange of Messages with Pope Pius XII,”
American Presidency Project, August 6, 1947
(at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=12746).
42 Davis v. Beason, 133 U. S. 333, 341-344, 348 n. (1890).
43 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United
States 136 U.S. 1, 49 (1890).
44 U.S. ex rel. Modianos v. Tuttle, 12 F.2d 927 (E.D. La. 1925).
45 U.S. v. Macintosh, 283 U.S. 605, 625 (1931)
46 Ross v. McIntyre, 140 U.S. 453, 463 (1891).
47 Patrick Goodenough, “French Anti-Sect Law: Christian Lawyers
Prepare for Action,” Center for Studies on New Religions, June 4,
2001 (at: http://www.cesnur.org/2001/fr_june01.htm).
48 “India ‘Anti-Conversion’ Law Takes Effect in Fifth State,”
WorthyNews, May 2, 2008 (at: http://www.worthynews.com/1641-
india-anti-conversion-law-takes-effect-in-fifth-state). See
also “India ‘Anti-Conversion’ Law Considered in Karnataka,”
Compass Direct News, March 2, 2009
(at: http://www.compassdirect.org/en/
display.php?page=news&lang=en&length=long&idelement=5829).
Seven of India’s 28 states have passed an anti-conversion law
(which has been implemented in 5) and one additional state has
a law in process that has not yet been passed.
49 “Congressional Hearings on Anti-Conversion Laws this Friday,”
Free Copts, April 6, 2006 (at: http://freecopts.net/
english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70).
50 Jerry Dykstra “A Leader in Religious Intolerance: In Saudi
Arabia, conversion to Christianity is punishable by death,”
Today’s Christian, July 1, 2006
(at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2006/004/11.53.html).
51 Jane Perlez “Once Muslim, Now Christian and Caught in the
Courts,” New York Times, August 24, 2006
(at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/world/
asia/24malaysia.html?ex=1157083200&en=48413500adb5079
6&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVERNEWS).
52 Ross v. McIntyre, 140 U.S. 453 (1891).
16
53 See, for example, Kinsella v. Krueger, 351 U.S. 470 (1956);
Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957).
54 See, for example, U.S. v. Best, 76 F. Supp. 857
(D. Mass. 1948); U.S. v. Robertson, Court of Military
Appeals (May 27, 1955); U.S. v. Tiede, 86 F.R.D. 227,
1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13805 (D. Berlin Mar. 14,
1979); and many others.
55 Ross v. McIntyre, 140 U.S. 453, 480 (1891).
56 Beecher v. Wetherby, 95 U.S. 517, 525 (1877).
57 Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, 187 U.S. 553, 565 (1903); see also
the same language in Yankton Sioux Tribe of Indians v. U. S.,
272 US 351 (1926); U. S. v. Choctaw Nation, 179 U.S. 494 (1900);
Atlantic & P R Co v. Mingus, 165 U.S. 413 (1897); Missouri,
Kansas & Texas Railway Company v. Roberts, 152 U.S. 114 (1894);
Buttz v. Northern Pac. R. Co., 119 U.S. 55 (1886).
58 “Act of April 26, 1906, Public Number 129,” Access Genealogy
Indian Tribal Records
(at: http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/laws/
act_april_26_1906.htm) (accessed May 4, 2009).
59 Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States, 348 U.S. 272 (1955).
60 Sioux Tribe of Indians v. U.S., 146 F. Supp. 229
(Ct. Cl. Nov. 7, 1956); Seminole Nation v. White, 224
F.2d 173 (10th Cir. 1955); U.S. v. Drumb, 152 F.2d 821
(10th Cir. 1946); Appeal of Brunt, 5 B.T.A. 134,
1926 WL 47 (October 21, 1926); Parr v. U.S., 153 F. 462
(D. Or. 1907).
61 Cohen v. Little Six, Inc., 543 N.W.2d 376
(Minn. App. 1996).
62 Jeff Jacoby, “The freedom not to say ‘amen’,” Jewish World
Review, February 1, 2001
(at: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby020101.asp).
63 Aaron Zelman, “An open letter to my Christian friends,”
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
(at: http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/christian-selfdefense.htm).
64 Dennis Prager, “America founded to be free, not secular,”
Townhall.com, January 3, 2007
(at: http://townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2007/01/03/
america_founded_to_be_free,_not_secular).
65 Dennis Prager, “Books, Arts & Manners: God & His Enemies –
Revie,” BNet, March 22, 1999
(at: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_5_51/
ai_54022321).
66 Don Feder, A Jewish Conservative Looks at Pagan America
(Lafayette: Huntington House Publishers,
1993), pp. 59-60.
67 Don Feder, “Yes – Once and For All – American is a
Christian Nation,” DonFeder.com, February 16, 2005
(at: www.donfeder.com/articles/0502chrisAmerica.pdf).
68 Don Feder, “The Jewish Case for Merry Christmas,”
DonFeder.com, December 5, 2006
(at: www.donfeder.com/articles/0612jewishCase.pdf).
69 Michael Medved, “The Founders Intended a Christian, not
Secular, Society,” Townhall.com, October 3, 2007
(at: http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/MichaelMedved/
2007/10/03/the_founders_intended_a_christian,_not
_secular,_society).
70 Burt Prelutsky, “The Jewish grinch who stole Christmas,”
Townhall.com, December 11, 2006
(at: http://townhall.com/columnists/BurtPrelutsky/
2006/12/11/the_jewish_grinch_who_stole_christmas).
71 Daniel Lapin, America’s Real War
(Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 1999), p. 116.
72 Rabbi Daniel Lapin, “A Rabbi’s Call to American Christians –
Wake Up! You’re Under Attack,” End
Time Prophetic Division, January 19, 2007
(at: http://www.etpv.org/2007/acwuyua.html).
73 Rabbi Daniel Lapin, “Which Jews does the ADL really represent?”
WorldNetDaily, August 25, 2006
(at: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51671).
74 Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U. S. 38, 106-107 (1984), Rehnquist, J.
(dissenting).