Columbus and the Christian saturation of the western hemisphere
robin shepherd
to the founding and the Bill of Rights. "Everyone knows" that America
began as a Christian Nation. To deny such a "known" truth (or
platitude) is like denying that Western Civilization is often defined
as being roughly contiguous, historically, with Christendom.
But nuances abound and they should not be passed over lightly.
Columbus seemed to have a deep sense of the importance, the destiny of
his mission. He regarded himself a knight of the Lord Jesus, of his
mother Mary, and also, be it remembered, of Isabella who believed in
him.
However, there is another side to America’s Christian identity. Even
though I do not deny our roots in Christian England and Europe, and
the roots of our culture in both classical civilization as well as
biblical tradition, I am compelled to recall that America is also the
first modern nation to secularize. With ratification of Amendment One
of the Bill of Rights in 1791, America became the first secular
republic in modern history. Two states, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania,
both under large Quaker influence, had already secularized. Neither,
ironically, could be said to have "disestablished" state religion, per
se, since both had been founded as havens for religious freedom.
What the more zealous and outspoken Christians forget is the saving
grace of those deists, skeptics, doubters, and ‘lukewarm’ believers
have been in balancing out the fanaticism of the righteous. Even in
early America, it was the outsiders who frequently came up with the
perspective and sagacity that guided us through the times of strife
and turmoil.