Every time someone brings up the fact that America was founded on religious principles, liberals inevitably reply “well yes, but what uniquely Christian values played into it?”

Well my answer is this: if you are talking about modern religions, then no, none of the principles guiding the Framers, otherwise known as the “founding fathers”, are really unique to Christianity. But if you consider what the world was like back then it becomes clear that yes, Christianity had something to do with it.

The idea of “separation of church and state”, while by no means unique to Christianity today, pretty much was in the 18th century, or at least to Protestantism. If you think about it, it really is a unique principle of Christianity or at least “Abrahamism” – The idea that God is supreme, untouchable, sovereign, and therefor man-made governments should not presume to directly represent him as all kingdoms will be abolished at the end of days. Martin Luther even started the whole “kingdom of the right vs kingdom of the left” doctrine.

The idea that “all men are created equal” was also for the most part, unique to Christianity at the time. Part of the reason the Protestant Reformation even happened was when the New World was discovered, and new populations of humans were discovered living there; some of the Catholic church leaders just couldn’t accept that God was going to send them all to hell just for not being members of the Church. In addition, Christianity was one of the first (and at that time one of the only religions outside of Islam) that was tailored not for a specific ethnic group but for anyone who was willing to participate. This also is Biblical: “There is neither Jew nor Greek .. for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). In his vision in Revelation, John mentioned seeing people from “all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne” in heaven (Revelation 7:9)

Never Forget – 911 Cross …

The idea of a government that tolerates different religions was also distinctly Protestant. The first immigrants to America were largely people seeking profit, indentured servants, and people fleeing religious persecution. You may think the idea of religious tolerance is antithetical to the Old Testament in which people were stoned for cursing God in public, but actually as far as the New Testament is concerned, it fits right in. Jesus and his disciples made it clear that since we have the Holy Spirit, we no longer need a state-sponsored priesthood to govern our lives, that we are called to live IN this world but not be part OF it, live among the unbelievers but not join them in their unbelief.

The idea that the law should be king and not an actual monarch was also mostly unique to Judeo-Christian ethics at the time of our founding. God warned the Israelites that a monarchy was a bad idea, that no matter how benevolent the first one was, inevitably for every good king there would be ten bad ones to screw things up, and he only agreed to let them have a monarchy when they agreed that it would be instituted on his terms.

Private property and state autonomy, while not quite unique to Christianity even then, was certainly shaped in America by the Bible. In the Old Testament God took great care to impose provisions to prevent one Jewish tribe from dominating and monopolizing the land of all the others.

The idea of a concept of due process was also a distinguishing characteristic of Judaism. The Old Testament wasn’t the first or only ancient document to contain due process clauses (The Code of Hammurabi for instance) but it certainly was one of the most comprehensive. It doesn’t nearly resemble our Constitutional due process protections, but just forget your religious biases and look at all the protections. The idea that every capital crime must be certified by two or three witnesses, the whole system of cities of refuge, the idea that if you commit perjury and wrongfully accuse someone then you should be penalized as if you had committed the act you were accusing them of, all that is basic due process. You may think it’s primitive now, and one could argue and debate about how just or effective those specific provisions were, but where else in the old world before America would you find such an extensive list of legal rights and protections?

The idea of “equal protection under the law” I believe was also inspired by the Bible even before it was explicitly mentioned in the 14th Amendment. In the Torah for most laws it says “it shall be the same for the Jew and the Gentile” and instructs the Jews to apply the same standards to “strangers in their borders” while also warning them not to mistreat them.

So yes, while it is obvious that these values are not at all unique to Christianity today, I sincerely believe that had it not been for Christianity, the United States as we know it would never have become the entity is still is (for the time being, anyway!) – a Constitutional Republic based upon Judeo-Christian principles.

Now to the second clip – In praise of Christian white men, Bill Whittle and his latest “Afterburner” which he calls “A Brief History of Mental Illness” …