Taking America Back

The other day a Facebook friend had a status update wondering about people who want to ‘take America back.’ He was wondering where they wanted to take America back to.

Sometimes I hear people speak about taking America back to when it was a Christian nation. I have often wondered when exactly that was.

Often people refer to the Founding Fathers and their Christianity. If one looks at the first four Presidents it is nebulous. George Washington worshiped in Anglican/Episcopal Churches, also known as the Church of England of that era. He was very quiet about his religious faith.

John Adams was probably the most religious having been raised a Calvinist Congregationalist (when Congregationalists were Calvinists) but rejected Calvinism, the Trinity, and the Divinity of Christ and became a Unitarian.

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were both Deists who were avid supporters of separating church and state. The Colonial Era was many things religiously, but actually the vast minority of people attended church. It was like that through the 19th century as well.

The high point of church going in the United States was post-World War II, and through the 1950's. Again, the majority of people didn’t go to church but churches were at their largest.

So I’m not sure when we were a Christian nation. There have been Christian principles in much of our history, but we have never really been a Christian nation. And, unless George Washington’s letter to the Tauro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island was a forgery, Washington encouraged that congregation and promised it religious freedom to practice Judaism without interference.

So, where are we going back to?

Through much of the 19th century life was hard and there was slavery through the first half, a brutal war, and reconstruction. The latter part of the 19th century was great if you were rich and terrible if you were poor, and women had no rights or right to vote.

The first half of the 20th century had two World Wars, prohibition, the rise of organized crime, and a difficult fight for women to gain the right to vote. The second half of the 20th century had Korea and Vietnam, racial riots, and a war with Iraq-----as well as many other things.

So, what are people looking to go back to? Or when?

Makes me think we ought to learn with the world we live in right now. Right now doesn’t seem to bad...