America's Founding: Secular Government, Religious Freedom

Bonus episode of podcast series Telling Jefferson Lies

I believe the historical evidence shows that the founders crafted a bold experiment in religious freedom and secular government. Instead of founding a Christian nation, the delegates of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 were careful to prevent that outcome. That fact was recognized at the time. It was only later that people, influenced by Christian nationalism, reframed founding events and documents to reflect a Christian origin. This podcast episode is a short summary of reasons why America was founded as a secular government which assures freedom of religious expression.

I don’t go into this topic in this segment but here are some extra observations.

Currently, Donald Trump rules as if American Christian nationalism is the established religion. His advisors are nearly all Christian nationalists (as far as I can determine, there is one Rabbi). Their agenda is elevating the status of Christian nationalism. Trump’s advisors are basically silent when immigrant Christians are persecuted by his administration. The nationalism wins out in the Christian nationalism they live. This is not how it is supposed to be.

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