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"In God We Trust" was adopted as the US motto in 1956. It's been on and off some denominations of our money only since 1863. That's a long time after the founding.
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The fact the President swears by the Bible?
The Bible is not part of the Constitutional oath. It was adopted by George Washington because he always used a Bible when taking his obligations (oaths) in Masonic Lodges. Other Presidents do it as a matter of tradition. That also includes the phrase "so help me God" at the end, which was also added by Washington.
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God Bless America?
A song written by a Russian Jewish immigrant.
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It is secular in the sense all religions are equal.
All religions, and no religion, are treated equally by the government.
"In God We Trust" was adopted as the US motto in 1956. It's been on and off some denominations of our money only since 1863. That's a long time after the founding.
The Bible is not part of the Constitutional oath. It was adopted by George Washington because he always used a Bible when taking his obligations (oaths) in Masonic Lodges. Other Presidents do it as a matter of tradition. That also includes the phrase "so help me God" at the end, which was also added by Washington.
A song written by a Russian Jewish immigrant.
All religions, and no religion, are treated equally by the government.
Yet, in response to OP, Christianity is primary. The founders probably did not consider other religions, only the various divisions of Christianity as religion. The oath of allegiance mentions God.
Yet, in response to OP, Christianity is primary. The founders probably did not consider other religions, only the various divisions of Christianity as religion. The oath of allegiance mentions God.
Well, they did know other religions existed in the country. If I remember correctly, Franklin had donated to a Jewish synagogue in Philadelphia. There were a small number of Jews and Muslims in the colonies. Muslims were specifically mentioned in the Treaty of Tripoli.
If you mean the "Pledge Of Allegiance," the phrase "under God" was added by an act of Congress in 1954. The original Pledge, written by Francis Bellamy (a Baptist minister) in 1892, did not mention religion.
Yet, in response to OP, Christianity is primary. The founders probably did not consider other religions, only the various divisions of Christianity as religion. The oath of allegiance mentions God.
"So help my God" Is a fairly vague phrase. To which god is it referring?
Does it imply a Monotheist Jewish or Islamic god?
Or a Polytheist 'trinity' of god heads?
Or is it referring to teachings that god is everywhere and in everything?
Would you rather the US went by Islamic principles ?
The US was founded on principles of the "Enlightenment," with some organization principles from the Freemason Constitutions, and a legal system based on English common law and the Magna Carta.
I don't know what "Christian Principles" you think were used to found the country.
The US was founded on principles of the "Enlightenment," with some organization principles from the Freemason Constitutions, and a legal system based on English common law and the Magna Carta.
I don't know what "Christian Principles" you think were used to found the country.
Exactly. And many (most of the most influential) founders were Deists, which is about as far away from fundamentalist Christian as you can get and still be at least nominally Christian (although it flirts with a sort of non-creedal Christian-influenced religion not unlike modern Unitarian-Universalism). This "we were a Christian nation and need to return to our roots" tends to come from Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals who either are ignorant of, or gloss over, the rather egalitarian / liberal-ish leanings of most of the founders.
It is fair to say that the US was founded in an environment that sort of assumed Christian ideals to varying degrees but was explicitly secular nonetheless and at least in theory tolerant of all religions. As others have mentioned, the Treaty of Tripoli explicitly accepted Islam, there has always been a Jewish presence in the US, and eventually as we benefited from immigrants coming in from other parts of the world, person of Hindu and Buddhist and Confucian and other backgrounds came into the mix. Even indigenous beliefs were eventually protected in practice and not just in theory, though there's still work to do there.
There is NOTHING in the Constitution that does or should have prohibited or discouraged or disadvantaged those other belief systems. There was also nothing that explicitly prohibited or discouraged or disadvantaged the un-religious / un-believing, nor should there have been. Of course there's always some daylight between theory and practice. That doesn't mean it was either intended, or that it's a good thing, that Christianity (and often an increasingly authoritarian flavor thereof) should be the default, or emphasized over other beliefs.
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