With the Houston Chronicle publishing an article on 5/7 on a bi-partisan House Concurrent Resolution declaring April as “Promise Month”, I need to dig into a few things with you all.
HCR59, filed by Republican Carrie Isaac, has 48 co-sponsors: 37 Republicans, 11 Democrats.
Directly copied from the HCR mentioned above:
WHEREAS, God keeps His promises, and the Lord your God is God and is faithful to keep His promises for all time to come; and
WHEREAS, The promises of God are stated thusly in the Gospel of John: "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand"; and
WHEREAS, God has given to us His great and precious promises of love, hope, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, wisdom, and strength to sustain us through the life He has given us; and
WHEREAS, God gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, He increases strength; and
WHEREAS, Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you; and
WHEREAS, The promise of God is His word, which is revelation from Him, showing the way of Salvation, through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Truth and Life, and encouraging the lives of many;
Um, first, this is our government, not a church sermon. I mean, wow.
And then it continues to make some statements about our government:
WHEREAS, The Declaration of Independence clearly reveals the fact that America was founded upon Biblical principles and Christian values; the Bible had great influence on the founding of our great nation;
This is a core talking point of Christian nationalism, and it just isn’t true. Let me arm you with a few things to remember when you hear people say the United States has always been a “Christian Nation”, which is what Carrie Isaac, 37 other Republicans, and I guess 11 Democrats are trying to tell us with HCR59. These hit not only our founding, but moments through our history as a country that show how religion has been a tool used by some to influence, control, and inspire, for both good and bad.
The original 13 colonies were all over the map with no singular vision of “Christianity”:
Massachusetts
Massachusetts Bay (Official Religion: Congregationalism (Puritan))
Plymouth Colony (Official Religion: Separatist Puritans (more radical than Massachusetts Bay))
Connecticut (Official Religion: Congregationalism (Puritan))
New Hampshire (Official Religion: Congregationalism (Puritan-leaning))
Rhode Island (No state church – First colony with complete religious freedom) Quakers, Jews, and Baptists fled persecution here.
New York (Dutch Reformed Church under Dutch rule, but diverse (Jews, Lutherans, Quakers), Under England, Anglican Church gained influence, but never fully established)
New Jersey (No official religion – Quakers, Presbyterians, and Dutch Reformed coexisted)
Pennsylvania (Quaker-founded but open to all (except Catholics in early years), serving as a religious haven, as Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, Jews, and German Pietists settled there)
Delaware (No state church, influenced by Quaker tolerance but later Anglican presence)
Virginia (Official Religion: Anglican (Church of England), with strict enforcement as Non-Anglicans (Baptists, Quakers) faced fines and imprisonment)
Maryland (Founded as Catholic refuge but Protestants soon outnumbered Catholics)
North Carolina (No official church, but Anglican influence grew)
South Carolina (Anglican Church officially, but diverse with French Huguenots, Jews, and Baptists present.
Georgia (Founded as a debtor’s colony with Anglican influence), but initially banned Catholics (due to Spanish Florida nearby).
The Declaration of Independence (1776) mentions "Nature's God," "Creator," and "Divine Providence"—terms compatible with Deism, not exclusively Christian theology.
James Madison in his Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments (1785) said:"Religion is not helped by establishment, but is corrupted by it."
The Constitution (1787) is a secular document that never mentions Christianity or God (except in the date).
The Constitution’s ban on religious tests (Art. VI) is a direct rejection of colonial religious oppression.
The First Amendment explicitly prohibits Congress from establishing a religion, ensuring government neutrality.
Washington’s Farewell Address (1796) warned against the decline of religion’s influence on morality but didn’t advocate for Christian governance.
The Treaty of Tripoli (1797), signed by John Adams and ratified unanimously by the Senate, stated: "The Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
In an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the First Amendment built: "a wall of separation between Church & State."
The phrase “In God We Trust” was first added to the 2 cent coin during the Civil War in 1864, to boost morale in the North, as both North and South claimed “God’s favor”. It wasn’t added to paper bills until Congress passed a law on July 30, 1956 making "In God We Trust" the official U.S. motto (replacing "E Pluribus Unum") and requiring it on all currency.
The “National Day of Prayer” was signed into law by Harry Truman in 1952, to counter Soviet atheism and unify Americans during the Cold War. Early proclamations used generic religious language to include all faiths and were not explicitly Christian.
The phrase “Under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, under the direction of Dwight Eisenhower. This was about Cold War politics, anti-communist sentiment, and a campaign by religious groups to frame the U.S. as a godly nation opposing "atheistic communism." For Eisenhower, this was a “civil religion”, as he made the statement: "Our form of government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith, and I don’t care what it is."
The push for “vouchers” for Private Schools, which see around 76% with a religious affiliation when looking across the United States:
The modern voucher concept was first promoted in the South as a response to school desegregation after Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
Southern states like Virginia and Louisiana experimented with "tuition grants" (vouchers) to allow white students to flee newly integrated public schools and attend segregated private "segregation academies" (often Christian schools) that popped up all across the South.
The rise of the Christian school movement (accelerated after Engel v. Vitale and bans on school prayer [next bullet]) made vouchers attractive to conservatives who wanted public funds for religious education.
In Engel v. Vitale (1962) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled state-sponsored prayer in public schools (even if nondenominational) violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which prohibits government endorsement of religion. The decision didn’t ban voluntary prayer but struck down organized, school-led prayer.
In Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) the Court ruled mandatory Bible readings and recitations of the Lord’s Prayer in public schools were unconstitutional. Again, this applied only to state-sponsored religious activities, not private religious expression.
These are just a few examples that help illustrate that our founders and leaders since may have been people of faith, with varying degrees of belief, from none to devout, they never wanted the country itself to be beholden to a single version of religion.
We have people holding levers of power, or backing up those who hold the levers, who want to impose their version of religion upon everyone else, and it you don’t conform to it, you will not have the same ability to raise your voice in this country. That is what we are fighting. It’s Christian nationalism.
We also have leaders who are supposed to be “on our side” who have no clue that is what we are fighting, which is pretty damn scary.
If you see it, don’t be afraid to name it, and get ready to fight it, because it’s here, and we need your voice to push back.
See It. Name It. Fight It.
*If you’d like to read a whole lot more about the false narrative about the United States always being a “Christian nation”, please check out The Founding Myth by Andrew Seidel (or watch this conversation from a few years back) and One Nation Under God by Kevin Kruse (again, a conversation with the author for a quick look). Both were essential in helping me understand what the heck was happening.
The state of Georgia was left off of the list. I'm not criticizing you, just pointing that out.
Thanks, Chris!