The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American

by Andrew L. Seidel

The Pilgrims and the Puritans are often conflated into one sect, when in fact they were two distinct groups. The Pilgrims established Plymouth in 1620, having first fled to Holland. John Winthrop and the Puritans established Boston and the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. In 1691, the colonies were combined. As historian Nancy Isenberg has explained,36 our popular conception gives these two colonies disproportionate weight largely because New England historians dominated the nineteenth century and shaped the American myth-making by focusing on their genetic and geographic neighbors. The Christian nationalist claim gives these colonies even more weight and goes something like this: 1. Christian settlers came to North America seeking religious freedom and established Christian governments—Christian nations—to protect that religious freedom; 2. The United States also has religious freedom; 3. Therefore, America is a Christian nation with a Christian government.37