David Barton

As established by the U. S. Constitution’s 20^th Amendment (adopted in 1933), yesterday was Inauguration Day. Numerous religious activities and references were part of the ceremonies, just like they have been in every previous inauguration.

Yet just a week ago, it was questioned whether those traditional activities would occur, for atheist Michael Newdow (on behalf of 28 other individuals and 11 organizations such as the American Humanist Association, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers) filed suit to prevent President Obama from saying “So help me God!” in his oath or including prayers in his inauguration.

National papers such as USA Today claimed that the addition of “So help me God” to the presidential oath was of recent origin and that even George Washington did not use the phrase. The lawsuit filed by Newdow presented the same arguments.

Fortunately, Federal District Judge Reggie B. Walton (appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2001) ruled in favor of historical precedent and tradition, permitting the prayers and the traditional oath to continue. Walton correctly noted that the Supreme Court had already upheld legislative prayers and that there was very little difference between legislative and inaugural prayers.

This seems an appropriate time to recall the lessons of history and to remember the seven separate religious activities that George Washington included in his inauguration – activities that have been repeated in whole or in part in every subsequent inauguration.

What can Christians do to return the U.S. to a “Christian nation?’

As a final thought in response to your question, why would America not be considered a Christian nation today? After all, of the four most recent national surveys on religion, Americans, when given the option to identify with which (if any) of the 1700 religions in America they affiliated, from 82 to 88 percent affixed the name “Christian” to themselves. In any other part of the world, if a nation were composed of from 82-88 percent of self-described Christians, it would be considered a Christian nation; and if 82-88 percent were self-described Muslims, it would be considered a Muslim nation – or Buddhist, or Jewish, or whatever. Significantly, I hear from nations across the world that most other countries teach students in their world history courses that America is a Christian nation; this fact is borne out by surveys of immigrants arriving in America who frequently declare that they believed that they were arriving in a Christian nation and were surprised to find it considered otherwise by Americans.

What keeps America from being a “Christian nation” today is perception more than reality. First, national pundits and mouthpieces, including professors and teachers, regularly reject any claim that America every was (or is, or will be) a Christian nation; thus, most citizens believe that we are not, for thus they have regularly been told. Second, judicial policy portrays the nation as being too pluralistic to be a Christian nation – especially since 1992 in the Lee v. Weisman decision when the Court erected a “classes of religion” policy, a policy criticizingly described by Justice Scalia:

[T]he Supreme Court of the United States has concluded that the First Amendment creates classes of religions based on the relative numbers of their adherents. Those religions enjoying the largest following must be consigned to the status of least-favored faiths so as to avoid any possible risk of offending members of minority religions.

This “classes of religion” judicial policy is why the Koran can be passed out in New York City schools but the Bible cannot; this is why a Jewish Menorah can be displayed in public parks in December while nativity scenes cannot; this is why Milwaukee can teach training courses to its city officials on Buddhism but not on Christianity; this is why school libraries in Colorado can retain books on Native American and eastern oriental religions but must remove the Bible and books on Christianity; this is why military chaplains of other faiths can pray according to the articles of their faith but Christian chaplains are instructed to pray “non-sectarian (i.e., non-Christian)” prayers at public gatherings; and there are dozens of other examples.