To hear the lectern-pounding primitivists of the heartland tell it, this country has fallen from the shining grace of some mythical golden age where we were a devout nation of Bible-reading, God-fearing Christian soldiers.

Now, according to them, we are wallowing in a seething cesspool of moral degeneracy, and if only we had the Ten Commandments posted in every courthouse and every school hall, God’s true kingdom might be restored right here in the U.S.A.

Of course they blithely ignore, and purposely obscure, the historical facts of our country’s slow journey to a more perfect union.

You’d think that Pinkerton’s goons never slaughtered striking Carnegie Steel workers, that the U.S. Department of Justice and murderous lynch mobs never went after the Wobblies, or that church-going Southern families never took a picnic basket to an old-fashioned Sunday afternoon lynching of a black man.

The culture that nurtures the fundamentalists is anti-intellectual, and stands opposed to evolution, humanism, or even textual criticism of the Bible.

We should fear those who read their scripture far too literally– they are malleable and easily exploited by the corporate oligarchs who run the country now.

Let’s just hope all the Jethros and Cletuses aren’t inspired to model their future behavior on the violent temper tantrums of their sky-god hero, the Lord, aka Jesus Christ Rambo.

Unfortunately, these same people care much more about the Second Amendment than the First.

But I still wish that those who would have us believe that we live in a “Christian nation” and who would impose a test of religious faith on candidates for public office would READ THEIR OWN CONSTITUTION!!!

I agree with you 100%.

I was not saying that I think the United States was formed as a religious country but instead providing the “evidence” for those (the advocates I referenced) that do.

The Constitution, rather than the Declaration of Independence, reveals the kind of country our Founders intended. And that document clearly shows an intention to form a secular government, protecting the freedom of any belief or unbelief.

The historian, Robert Middlekauff, observed, “the idea that the Constitution expressed a moral view seems absurd. There were no genuine evangelicals in the Convention, and there were no heated declarations of Christian piety.”

If indeed our Framers had aimed to found a Christian republic, it would seem highly unlikely that they would have forgotten to leave out their Christian intentions in the Supreme law of the land.

In fact, nowhere in the Constitution do we have a single mention of Christianity, God, Jesus, or any Supreme Being. There occur only two references to religion and they both use exclusionary wording. The 1st Amendment’s says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. . .” and in Article VI, Section 3, “. . . no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

Nevertheless, despite the very real presence of Jews, Muslims, Atheists and Agnostics in our midst, we have evolved into a “Christian nation.”

And despite the proscription of Article VI, Secion 3, we continue to unofficially impose a religious test on our presidential candidates, virtually forcing them to affirm their “faith” if they hope to win votes.

What hypocrisy. And what a trashing of our own Constitution!