we are a christian nation? no.

I saw someone on social media arguing that Pete Hegseth's remarks to the military generals were all cool because we are "a Christian Nation". This is a really important claim to dissect for a number of reasons, the top two maybe being:

• Nothing good ever comes from theocracy (outside of raging violence and harm to out groups). We shouldn't want to be a Christian nation.
• This claim is at the very heart of what Christian Nationalists are trying to do. Dismantling it neuters their ability to engage in full-throated in debate to win over people that might blindly believe.

I don't have time or space here to address everything but I will make something of a primer. First of all, if you are a person of faith reading this go and pick up Greg Boyd's Myth of a Christian Nation. He is a pastor and writes extensively on this myth, particularly for people that claim Christianity or Jesus.

The second pointer I'll give is that a lot of the modern "Christian Nation" myth making comes from David Barton. Check out his wikipedia page which includes words like "pseudoscholarship" and "outright falsehoods" (a wild example is in 2013 him claiming that abortion causes climate change). This NPR article from 2012 calls him "the most influential evangelical you've never heard of". And unfortunately they are right and it's because of his "Christian Nation" myth-making. For more on why he is so problematic, you can start with the work of Warren Throckmorton (or search engine search).

Anyways - I'm not going to be able to hit everything but I want to highlight some common claims I routinely hear and immediate easy answers rooted in real history (rather than pseudoscholarship and make believe).

some common claims

There is no such thing as Separation of Church and State in the Constitution. They'll point to Thomas Jefferson initially coining this phrase glossing over what it actually means and refers to. The separation of church and state is actually in the constitution unless you don't think the amendments are constitutional (unfortunately you'll find people that double down and claim that they aren't). In the first amendment are two relevant clauses that form the foundation of the separation of church and state: the establishment clause and the free exercise clause. The first says that congress is prohibited from founding any sort of religion and the second that it is prohibited from interfering with the free exercise of religion unless their is some moral or public imperative (like human sacrifice...aka murder...religions can't do that in the US). The separation is there, it's very real and in its very nature keeps us from being a Christian nation.

The Founders were all Christians so it doesn't matter what was written as much as what was intended. The founder's weren't all Christian though. Sure a majority might have been (although you can't necessarily infer that from what is known and not known). Even if a majority might have been it doesn't a Christian nation make though. And many definitely weren't (especially from an orthodox belief perspective). Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Ethan Allen, James Monroe are all widely considered to be Deists from their own writings. Jefferson even made his own Bible, cutting and pasting the parts he liked together. And to be clear - deism is not considered orthodox (unless they are intentionally lying to try and make the US what it isn't: some sort of Christian nation). Learn more in the encyclopedia!

The US has always claimed to be a Christian Nation. It hasn't though. It never has actually. US law makes this clear constitutionally and we also see it in one of the earliest treaties (The Treaty of Tripoli)

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. (emphasis added)

This was a treaty ratified by congress and signed by then-president John Adams.

don't stay silent

Don't let people get away with these claims. It is a lynchpin for Christian Nationalism. They have to have this be true for their initial claims to have weight in the minds of normal people attending churches and going through the motions. Calling out the lies can help wake people up. Do it where you hear them being told.