Is America a Secular Nation?

No. 

The term “secular,” in terms of a public realm absent all religion or reference to transcendent values didn’t exist in the time of the founding of the United States. The founders of the United States were careful to exclude both religion generally, and distinctly Christian expressions specifically, from the constituting of the US as a nation. And of course the First Amendment forbids the government from establishing a religion. 

Yet references to transcendent values that are assumed to guide the public are foundational to the beginnings of the United States. Take the Declaration of Independence:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Here "Nature's God" is given equal place to the "Laws of Nature" in entitling people to their political rights, as it is their Creator who endows them with unalienable rights including Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. 

Since that time the public practice of religion by politicians and even political bodies has never been forbidden by the courts so long as it does not “establish” religion or deny anyone’s religious freedom. Legislatures have chaplains and open with prayer, so long as they are non-sectarian and non-exclusive. And however relatively new and controversial we have the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” on our currency. 

So religion is neither excluded from the public realm or even from the specifically political realm. Indeed religion is a critical player in public discourse as the founding fathers no doubt anticipated.  

As I noted in the last blog this doesn’t mean the United States is a Christian, or even religious nation. 

The United States is rather a nation with no established religion but which in offering freedom of religion makes room for religion in the public and political realm. This creates an intentionally religiously plural public environment. 

The birth of the United States would eventually give birth to what has become the most difficult problem for contemporary Christian life: sharing the public space as a realm of religious witness. 

As the United States has become more complex, and as it is now in the midst of de-Christianization, we find ourselves in an environment in which the claims of the gospel must be heard amidst other, and sometimes contradictory claims about God, God’s self-revelation, and God’s love. More can be said of this evangelistic context, but I’ll assert here that to be taken seriously in our cultural context our witness to Christ must explicitly recognize the right of other religions to the public space. In this cultural space we can neither ignore them nor deny them them a place without denying the basis of our own religious freedom of witness. And it seems to me that we both assert our right and theirs best by engaging in dialogue over matters of mutual interest. 

Secondly, all political theology in the public space must become inter-religious theology. We cannot separate out what it means to be a faithful Christians in our political actions from what it means to be joined in the common democratic work with people of other religions.

And finally, as our public space has become more religiously complex, and thus not dominated by a single religion, it has left room for those who are not religious or who are even anti-religious. And that has been affirmed by the Supreme Court as a natural result of the establishment clause of the constitution. This forces us to consider a public political theology that recognizes and cooperates with committed political engagement not based on religious principles. 

This challenges us in a good way, for it forces us to ask with renewed clarity about how God's providence is alive beyond the boundaries of not only our religion, but all religions, and thus to proclaim a God whose engagement with our social world is comprehensive enough to be worthy of worship.