In Jesus Name

The argument over religion goes deep into American history, right back to the founding and the Bill of Rights. "Everyone knows" that America began as a Christian Nation. To deny such a "known" truth (or platitude) is like denying that Western Civilization is often defined as being roughly contiguous, historically, with Christendom. But nuances abound and they should not be passed over lightly. Columbus seemed to have a deep sense of the importance, the destiny of his mission.

The great Admiral regarded himself a knight of the Lord Jesus, of his mother Mary, and also, be it remembered, of Isabella who believed in him. Ironically, Columbus himself may have been of Genovese Jewish ancestry, by blood. Article. If so, his people were almost certainly Sephardic (Ladino), expelled like the Moors from Spain. The famous Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal was also a scholar of Columbus, and lays out a compelling case along these lines. Here is a review of his stunning book, Sails of Hope.

He also at least suspected the existence of the American continent. He appears to have owned the 1472 edition of Bibliothecae Historicae, written by Diodorus Siculus, a first century BC Greek historian who spoke of "a very great island many day's sailing from Africa." See Salvatore Michael Trento's compilation of classical references to an "Atlantis" or unknown land beyond the Pillars of Hercules. New Atlantis? ancient prophecies website

Columbus believed that his accomplishment in 1492 was a God-thing, calling it [after the fact] a clear "fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied." He was quite certain that God had guided him. "With a hand that could be felt, the Lord opened my mind to the fact that it would be possible to sail from her to the Indies." [Steven Waldman quoting Columbus in Founding Faith]

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The world's first secular republic
However, there is another side to America’s Christian identity. Even though I do not deny our roots in Christian England and Europe, and the roots of our culture in both classical civilization as well as biblical tradition, I am compelled to recall that America is also the first modern nation to secularize. With ratification of Amendment One of the Bill of Rights in 1791, America became the first secular republic in modern history. Two states, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, both under large Quaker influence, had already secularized. Neither, ironically, could be said to have "disestablished" state religion, per se, since both had been founded as havens for religious freedom.

What the more zealous and outspoken Christians forget is the saving grace of those deists, skeptics, doubters, and ‘lukewarm’ believers have been in balancing out the fanaticism of the righteous. Even in early America, it was the outsiders who frequently came up with the perspective and sagacity that guided us through the times of strife and turmoil. Tocqueville was lavish in his praise of New England, with its strong religious roots, its beginnings in Puritanism, its emphasis on universal literacy, its elevation of woman (and the “virtue” of its women), its hustle and bustle economically, its middle class orientation with hardly any poverty (compared to Europe), and virtually no great wealth or aristocratic heritage.

But Tocqueville seems to have missed something that many Americans of the day spotted. The Puritans, who had known persecution in England, were prone to wax over-zealous themselves, once in power. They tended to run roughshod over the sensitivities of others, like Quakers, the Pilgrims (Brownists) of southern Massachusetts, even Baptists, another "Puritan" sect. That is, there were numerous flavors of Puritanism, that arose during the same period of time, and ranging across a spectrum of theological hues. The common ingredients were a desire to return to a purer gospel, a stress on simplifying worship as well as (usually) doctrine as well. Many of the “puritan” groups could be characterized as somewhat anti-authoritarian, most all tended to be biblical and evangelical, although the Calvinist side sometimes veered toward a doctrinal rigidity in its excess Augustinianism.

Many of the emergent puritan groups showed a radical commitment to the common man. Many verged on a kind of biblical Socialism or Communism. There were Fifth Monarchy men, Levellers, Diggers, Ranters, Barrowists, Adamites, and others. Most all could be called Non-Conformists, or dissenting groups, but there were also "Separatists" (like the first Baptists of Scrooby and Gainsborough), and then there were Independents and Presbyterians standing somewhat apart – becoming the state religion of Scotland. Christians are right to declare that most of our American Presidents have been believers in God and in a generally mainstream, orthodox Christianity. I believe that, stated thus, it is overwhelmingly true. But what is also true is that our greatest presidents, our greatest statesmen and leaders – have also been the boldest questioners as well. Consider Jefferson. Consider Lincoln. Both were known to be somewhat heterodox. Both were accused of atheism, both were accused of infidelity. Yet be it known that many historians have also affirmed the strong spirituality, even the faith, of these two. Jefferson called himself a Christian though he also said his “religion” had a membership enrollment of one – himself only. Lincoln admitted he had never joined a Christian Church, but he added that “I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or any denomination of Christians in particular.”

Others of our great men also were questioners, “outsiders” to more conventional orthodoxy. Ben Franklin, such a giant in the story of our early nation, is hard to pin down, but he clearly was not a conventional Christian. Probably influenced by Philadelphia Quakers, he has been called a Deist. His sense of humor, his wit and irony, no doubt helped save him from the violent verbal attacks and the widespread personal rejection suffered by his friend Tom Paine.

Of Paine, John Adams said, “Without the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.” Adams also doubted, in 1805, whether “any man in the world has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Tom Paine.”

Paine denied that he was a Christian, and denied the truth of the Bible, a book of the Jews. Yet in Common Sense, the spark that lit the American Revolution, he quoted from the Bible liberally (favorably), while denouncing his own former faith, Quakerism, for its pacifism and frequent acquiescence to monarchial authority.

In later years, Paine’s mention of Quakers in his writings changed from attack to outright praise, of sorts. He praised their refusal to persecute others, seemed to take pride in their courage in stand up against prejudice. And even though he blasted Christianity throughout Age of Reason, he qualified his attacks on Christianity by declaring:

Nothing that is here said can apply, even with the most distant disrespect, to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous and an amiable man. The morality that he preached and practised was of the most benevolent kind; and though similar systems of morality had been preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers, many years before; by the Quakers since; and by many good men in all ages, it has not been exceeded by any.

Lincoln once told Billy Herndon, “You know, Billy. I never tire of reading Tom Paine.” Lincoln, throughout his life, seemed embarrassed by his Quaker heritage, something he, nor his father either, had ever practiced. He was even somewhat embarrassed by his name Abraham, which had been the name of his Quaker grandfather, Abraham Lincoln. Yet it is interesting to note that after his election as President, he grew a beard “after the Quaker manner.” That is, he wore a Quaker beard (no cuttings in the beard, but a clean-shaven upper lip.)

The religious faith of Washington is unique. Far more than Jefferson or Paine, who wrote in some length regarding their beliefs, Washington’s Christianity seems shrouded with questions. During his civilian life, he was an outwardly observant Anglican, but his letters make clear that part of that faithfulness of observance was out of law-abiding duty. The Anglican faith was still the Established Church in Virginia, and weekly attendance was required by law.

On the other hand, Washington maintained cordial friendship with a large number of more philosophically inclined men of his era, many of them Deists and many of them members of “outsider” denominations, including Quakers and Presbyterians and Baptists (at the time Baptists were liberals and in the forefront in the battle for religious freedom. John Leland's activism was notable.) Washington did indeed invoke the Deity in many of his speeches and public pronouncements, but it is interesting that he frequently availed himself of Deist phraseology. Deists loved certain formulations for God’s name, such as Providence, the Almighty, the Great Mover, the Great Mechanic, Nature’s God, the Creator.

These formulations tended to meet the approval of the Biblical types, even though they came short of the sort of narrow evangelicalism that some of the Biblical types would have used on their own.


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Presidential Prayer Team


A Faith for Common Folk:

Never Give Up. Never, never, never give up. A site about suffering and endurance. This site tells the native American saga of hope and triumph. It was an example of fortitude in the face of mutual antagonisms, a story of persistance in the face of, at times, veritable genocide. In the end, the world cannot help but respect the sacrifices and the qualities of faith (and authentic spirituality) shining through those dark times.

What is religion? - The American conundrum, a people more religious, one might almost say, than any other batch or sampling to be found, yet after a century and one half of colonial experience, a nation which became the first secular experiment in history; established the first official enactment of religious freedom; became the first secular republic in the world. The year was 1791. The event was the ratification of the bill of rights.

The occult beginnings of America - What was the pivotal role played by the Freemasonry of the founders, the crucial role played by the Illuminati, and the powerful characer of George Washington himself?

Here's a site for more on the evangelical side -- the earthy, democratic Bible thumping religion, so popular with the lower classes, so prevalent among the social outcasts. Imbued with a deep religiosity perhaps of African earnestness, this evangelicalist style took hold on the frontier, sometimes raged among the black folk of the South, spread amongst the common folk and touched the elites as well.

The City Set on a Hill - America's possible place in Destiny. The "Prophecy" of the candle on the candlestick. A bride arrayed for the bridegroom. Is America poised to be a light unto the world? Bob Hieronymous weighs on on these predictions.

© 2005 Bob Shepherd
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robtshepherd@hotmail.com

libera me, domine

Martin Luther King began one of his sermons proclaiming: "Every time I look at the cross I am reminded of the greatness of God and the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. I am reminded of the beauty of sacrificial love and the majesty of unswerving devotion to truth. It causes me to say with John Bowring: In the cross of Christ I glory, Towering o'er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime. [FROM A SERMON BY Martin Luther King, Jr .... Quoted in Strength to Love]

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Bob Shepherd