U. S. Constitution
Oboedire | Aug. 12, 2025
The first amendment of the Constitution answered a question that quickly arose in the new nation, is Christianity the official national religion? The amendment stated, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The first interpretation of the Constitution is that there must be no commendation of or movement for a national religion.
But a number of people today ignore this and are hell-bent on making the United States of America something that it was never meant to be: a Christian nation, and more, the kind of Christianity they espouse. In fact, the “Christian nation” proponents go on to allege that the only option is (their kind of) Christianity or paganism.
But that is a false dichotomy. There is another option, one that does not require any one religion to validate it. It’s the Perennial Tradition—a pre-religions (not anti-religion) set of values that creates civil society. It was to this, not Christianity, that Thomas Jefferson drew from in naming “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as the aims of government in the Declaration of Independence.
harper ident 2024
It was this, not Christianity, that the drafters of the Constitution and the first amendment to it were envisioning. The Perennial Tradition was (and still is) in place to create and sustain a society that is human and humane. No single religion is required. There are values and virtues inherent in the imago dei, which predate any world religion. It was this tradition which wove itself into the tapestry of our nation from the beginning.
But of course, the “Christian nation” advocates go ballistic when this fact is brought up, complete with their declarations that those who disagree are headed for eternal damnation which may very well include unending burning in a lake of fire. Intimidation and fear are the last resort of falsehood.
But we know better. So, we do better. And that includes the advocacy of the common good and the resistance of lies and the damage they do. The first amendment of the Constitution is our friend here too.
Knowing there were (and would continue to be) those who would bypass the legislative process but nevertheless work to Christianize the nation, the first amendment went on to prohibit any “establishment” of a national religion.
And it is here that we take our stand against the falsehood that the USA is God-ordained to be a ‘Christian nation” with a particular interpretation of what Christian means. We are watching the establishment of a national religion (MAGA Christianity) through the enactment of policies written into Project 2025 and condoned by the false prophets of Dominionism with its Seven Mountain Mandate—a bogus interpretation of Revelation 17:9.
The ‘Christian nation” zealots are violaing the Constitution even without passing a law to make Christianity the national religion. They are violating the Constitution by their establishment of Christianity as the national religion through their policies which include prohibited versions of Christianity they allege to be false, to say nothing of other world religions.
We resist. We do not wait to resist until there is a proposed law to make Christianity the national religion. We act now to resist the establishment of Christianity as the national religion through playbooks and policies. We do this standing on the foundation of the Constitution itself, and because we know there is a moral base for civil society that does not require any single religion to be official.