Christian Influences

As a conservative evangelical Christian and a minister of the Gospel myself, let me say, in response to Prof. Steven Morris’ Aug. 3 Op-Ed page article, “America’s Unchristian Beginnings,” that he’s correct in his assessment of the historical origins of the U.S. In fact, I’ll add to his list:

* Thomas Jefferson edited his own version of the New Testament, in which he omitted any references to miracles, including the bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Further, language in the Declaration of Independence referring to “nature” and “nature’s God,” which also probably originated with Jefferson as that document’s principal author, is deist language, not Christian.

* Gordon S. Wood, in his 1992 book, “The Radicalism of the American Revolution,” states that, by the 1790s, only about 10% of the American population regularly attended religious services--to quote just one statistic. Not exactly an indication of a wholehearted national commitment to Christianity!

It is a matter of simple historical fact that the United States was not founded as, nor was it ever intended to be, a Christian nation. That there were strong, long-lasting Christian influences involved in the nation’s earliest history, due to the Puritan settlements and those of other religious persons escaping European persecution, cannot be denied. But that is a long way from saying that colonial leaders, by the time of the Revolution, were intending to form a nation founded on specifically Christian principles and doctrine.

We Christians do ourselves no favor by bending history to suit our prejudices or to accommodate wishful thinking. Rather than continue to cling to a “Moral Majority”-style fantasy that says America is a Christian nation that needs to be “taken back” from secular unbelief (we can’t “take back” what we never had), it would be much healthier for us Christians to face reality, holding to what Jesus himself said in the Gospels: that Christians should never be surprised at the hostility with which the gospel would be greeted by the world, because most people would fail to believe in him, thereby strongly implying that, in every age and country, Christianity would always be a minority faith.

THE REV. RICHARD T. ZUELCH

Minister, Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, Long Beach

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* Morris is absolutely right that the Founding Fathers were not necessarily Christian. But they certainly were not atheists. The Christian right may be wrong in thinking that America was founded by Christians, but who would disagree that if people actually followed the teachings of Jesus and his church the world would be better off? What is wrong with “You shall not kill? You shall not steal?” What is wrong with love, peace, gentleness, kindness, self-control? What is wrong with forgiveness and reconciliation? What is wrong with honoring your father and mother? What is wrong with giving thanks?

SAMUEL G. PLATTS

Sylmar