What does the Supreme Court think about whether or not we are a Christian nation?

In Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306, 313, 72 S.Ct. 679, 684, 96 L.Ed. 954 (1952), we gave specific recognition to the proposition that "[w]e are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being." The fact that the Founding Fathers believed devotedly that there was a God and that the unalienable rights of man were rooted in Him is clearly evidenced in their writings, from the Mayflower Compact to the Constitution itself. This background is evidenced today in our public life through the continuance in our oaths of office from the Presidency to the Alderman of the final supplication, "So help me God." Likewise each House of the Congress provides through its Chaplain an opening prayer, and the sessions of this Court are declared open by the crier in a short ceremony, the final phrase of which invokes the grace of God. Again, there are such manifestations in our military forces, where those of our citizens who are under the restrictions of military service wish to engage in voluntary worship. Indeed, only last year an official survey of the country indicated that 64% of our people have church membership, Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States (83d ed. 1962), 48, while less than 3% profess no religion whatever. Id., at p. 46. It can be truly said, therefore, that today, as in the beginning, our national life reflects a religious people who, in the words of Madison, are "earnestly praying, as . . . in duty bound, that the Supreme Lawgiver of the Universe . . . guide them into every measure which may be worthy of his [blessing . . .]" Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, quoted in Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 71-72, 67 S.Ct. 504, 538-539, 91 L.Ed. 711 (1947) (Appendix to dissenting opinion of Rutledge, J.)

What does the Supreme Court think about whether or not we are a Christian nation?
Intriguing. They say we're not a Christian nation, but instead recognize the USA's Deistic origins.



Very interesting.
Reply:The Deist concept of deity is that the deity started the universe and then walked away. Deists hold no holy book, no messiah, no savior. The idea is that deity never showed itself to the universe and does not provide an afterlife. Report It
Reply:I think that as the culture changes, so will the law. There are significantly more people claimint no religion in 2007 as opposed to 1947, when this opinion was given. As the nation grows, so will its religious views.



Or are non-christians not welcome anymore? Must one profess a love of Christ in order to be American? Is it love it or leave it?



I think that applying past morality to today is only a method of holding on, tooth and claw, to an anachronism.
Reply:Belief in God does not equate belief in Christianity. Many of the Founding Fathers were Deists. They believed in God, but, as Benjamin Franklin put it, "about his Divinity, I have my doubts."
Reply:To A Dane's Girlfriend...consider this problem of "disease, cancer": HPV causes cervical cancer (why do we call it a pap smear? Human Papiloma Virus, see the connection?) We have a vaccine for that virus. And yet because people cling to this outdated notion that their children are good Christians and would never have premarital sex they (parents) fight to keep their kid from taking a vaccine that could save them from a preventable form of cancer. That's where religion and "more important things to worry about" meet and you can't just ignore it. Abstinence only programs have the same issues.
Reply:The Constitution is a flexible doctrine that is now interpreted through the lens of judicial activism. During the Earl Warren Court, the Constitution took ahold of new meaning as it guaranteed civil liberties to those who were believed to be infringed by contradictory federal or state law. Under the Establishment Clause, the federal government cannot promote or inhibit the practice of a religion.
Reply:Well, ****. If a couple of guys got together in a circle and decided it, then it must be true!
Reply:No contest... my Supreme Court knows we are *not* a Xian Nation.
Reply:I prefer to have a more practical view on such things.



Around, what? 75%? Ok, around 75% of the Americans is Christian. So, the USA is a Christian nation.



I'm Dutch, according to the latest research 7% of the Dutch people regularly visit a church, and 43% says to believe in some form of God. They can be catholics, protestants, muslims or whatever. So, Holland is an atheistic country.



That doesn't take away the fact that both countries have freedom of religion. Freedom of religion automatically means that one god can't be made more important in any law than other gods. It also means that every religion (or lack thereof)has equal rights.
Reply:I seriously think we have more important things to worry about than silly things like religion. What about global warming, education, civil rights, poverty, hunger, disease, cancer, the high divorce rate, international relations????
Reply:Thomas Jefferson has been quoted as saying science and knowledge are truth religion is tyranny.Buy saying this he is not denying a god but saying organized religion is dangerous go with what you can reason or prove or has been prooven.The constitution says congress shall pass no law baring respect to an organization of religion or barring the free practice thereof.It seems to me they are saying congress or the president have no right to support or deny religion (tax breaks,faith based initiatives and churches lobbying congress killing mormons, denying immigration based on non christain status )I believe the forfathers had a much more private and sincere vue of god then the mindless lead the sheep to slaughter of todays science denying conservatives.May I also point out they do not reference a specific god.I believe it was with great inteligence they did so because if they had referenced a christain god it would have been difficult to do trade with non christain countrys just as it would be today and it also allows you to choose the god when you take an oath or say the pledge thats freedom of religion.
Reply:The founding fathers were deists. They believed in God - just not the Christian one.
Reply:Never specifies which god.
Reply:The foundation of America was freedom of religion in that time it has become more of a Christian based nation, but it shouldn't be
Reply:God Bless America...
Reply:"Not the xian god" is not a dodge, brainiac - it's a fact.

addis