America Is Not a Christian Nation

Tonight, it was brought to my attention that a Christian blogger made some pretty wild claims.  The claims are that atheists, secularists, etc. change or ignore historical fact to suit our needs, and that the USA was founded on Christianity, and we should apply its laws to our country's laws.  I'm here to defend the position that this country was not founded on Christian ideals, but was rather designed to protect it from Christian ideals.

The author points to the fact that the Puritans are the ones who founded the Colonies, and they wanted the Christian bible to be the law.  Not only did they not enforce their own ideals, but they're laws are completely irrelevant to today.  Their laws, while some might seem Christian, are not remarkably different than any other country's laws.

He then points to the fact that some of our Founding Fathers were Christian, and may have espoused the idea that Christianity was the best moral code.  This, too, is not relevant, because the Constitution that they wrote and signed has exactly one reference to a higher power, and it's the date.  Back then, dates were considered "In the Year of Our Lord."  Thankfully, that's no longer used.  Other than this one reference to any deity, the Constitution only refers to religion one time, which prohibits the government and religion from intermingling.  Moreover, in the Treaty of Tripoli, it is explicitly stated that the United States is not founded on Christian principles.

Furthermore, the author says near the end:

"The morality legislated in the United States of America has been decidedly Christian. Though many people throughout the history of this great nation have not been Christians, the morality that has been legislated from its very beginning has been Christian morality. It is ridiculous to say that Christian morality cannot be legislated, because it already has been."

I'm not entirely sure which laws he thinks are Christian.  We have plenty of laws that are found in Christianity, but they aren't exclusive to that religion.  Do not steal?  That's a common law everywhere.  Do not kill?  Same thing.  Do not rape?  Wait, no.  The Christian bible condones rape. What about when Jesus commands us to pluck out our eyes for looking at someone with lust?  That's not in our laws.

What the author has done is shown that, yes, the United States and Christianity do have laws in common.  The United States also has laws in common with the Koran.  The argument against that would be that the people who founded the colonies and country weren't Muslim so of course we aren't an Islamic country!  Again, their beliefs are not relevant.  The United States is not perfect, but if we were to base our laws strictly on Christianity, which I've shown is immoral by itself here, we would have a country not unlike Iran.

Furthermore, let's entertain the idea that the USA was designed to be a theocracy.  So, what?  We already know that the bible has some good things, but it has plenty of immoral atrocities that are commanded or performed by your god himself.  Christianity is not a good source of morals, nor is it a good thing to base a country on.  America is over 200 years older and wiser.  It no longer needs the morals of an angry, vengeful, sadist father figure.  America grew up.