Recommended

Coral Ridge Hour Examines Nation's Christian Founding

New Special Offers Evidence for America’s Christian Founding

Not all agree that America was founded upon Christian principles.

Which is why Coral Ridge Ministries is planning to air a new one-hour documentary, One Nation Under God, that features experts discussing America’s Christian origin.

“No matter what some judges may declare,” said Dr. D. James Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge, “historically, America was, and always will be, ‘one nation under God.’”

Get Our Latest News for FREE

Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

The documentary takes the viewer through Yorktown, Mount Vernon, and the Library of Congress, and addresses the faith of America's founders - beginning with the Pilgrims.

Farrell Till, the Editor of The Skeptical Review, said recently “the primary leaders of the so-called Founding Fathers of our nation were not Bible-believing Christians; they were deists.”

On the opposing side, the documentary features Dr. James H. Hutson, head of the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., who says America's first president regularly attended Christian services.

“We have records of his attendance at vestry meetings,” Hutson said.

Another specialist featured is Mary Thompson, a researcher at Mount Vernon, who investigates whether Washington was really a deist.

“What I found very early on was that this was a man who believed that God took an active part in the founding of the United States," she said. "... a man who believed that God took an active interest in people’s lives, and that the way a person behaved in reference to God could, [and] would influence how God related to him.

"And that’s not the belief of a deist.”

The documentary tackles the heated question of America's religious identity.

Most Americans believe the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian values.

"I think that the record concludes that America did start as a Christian nation," said John Aman, spokesperson for Coral Ridge Ministries, to the Christian Post.

"I mean if you look at the Puritans and Pilgrims - they were Christians and brought Biblical principles and used them to found the political order," he explained.

However, some distinguish "founded on Christian principles" from being "a Christian nation."

"The United States does not support any one religion, or persecute any either," stated Brandon D. Hill, popular writer of youth ministry. "While the majority of religious people in the USA are Christian, and they are protected, the laws of the country cannot be called Christian and neither can the Constitution. If the USA were truly a Christian nation, we would not need the Constitution, only the Bible."

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and States, said "the United States was never designed to be literally or legally a Christian nation.”

The television program hopes to counter such statements by examining the intent and purpose of America's founding documents, including the Constitution.

The program is available to in 25,000 cities and towns - 90 percent of the nation's television households - through The Coral Ridge Hour on July 30 and 31.

Was this article helpful?

Help keep The Christian Post free for everyone.

By making a recurring donation or a one-time donation of any amount, you're helping to keep CP's articles free and accessible for everyone.

We’re sorry to hear that.

Hope you’ll give us another try and check out some other articles. Return to homepage.

Most Popular

More Articles