The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American

by Andrew L. Seidel

THERE IS A PERVERSE IRONY IN THREE MEN choosing to promote the world’s most divisive force, religion, when fighting a war to preserve a national union. To choose something so quintessentially divisive to replace a unifying sentiment in the middle of a war that actually sundered the nation shows hubris typical of religious privilege. The three imagined that the fate of our nation hinged not on reunification or full equality for black Americans, but on placing a reference to the Christian god on coins, which, luckily, could be done, given the nation’s fear. One would think that this idea would not appeal to those who think highly of their god: “Those great philosophers who formed the Constitution had a higher idea of the perfection of that INFINITE MIND which governs all worlds than to suppose they could add to his honor or glory, or that He would be pleased with such low familiarity or vulgar flattery.”68 That author, writing in 1788, was discussing objections to the godlessness of the American Constitution during the ratification debates, but the point is apt.