If we pass beyond these matters to a view of American life, as expressed by its laws, its business, its customs, and its society, we find every where a clear recognition of the same truth.
We also need to ask "to what end" or "to what effect". i.e. how does the character of the nation thus defined have a material impact on people.
So for example we may ask the same sort of questions about "Is America a Football Nation"? "Is America a Baseball Nation" and so on. 40% of people claim football as their favorite sport. If we were to have a war of footballing countries versus soccer countries, we would be in camp football. The Puritans played tennis, soccer, bowling, among other sports.
There is a different set of sports that qualify for scholarships in Division 1 colleges.
The national pass time of a nation's people contributes to it's character.
All this is to say, then what?
What if a citizen has no interest at all in football, or in any sport.
What organs of state should uphold footballing virtues.
Should school children in Philadelphia be required to sing "Fly Eagles Fly" before class each morning.
Or should people be left free to pursue whatever sport they like, and the community and the state supports life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The differences between Football and Cricket, while important, are not nearly as important as that between, say, Christianity and Islam, or Christianity and Moloch. Or even Christianity and wokeness.
The ends and effects of those differences are so different that they conflict. A society which has a lot of people working toward Chritian ends will find itself in conflict if a large number of people are working for Muslim ends.
(I'd quibble about wokeness belonging to a different category, but it's not important)
I suppose the naive plea was these factions to not try to work towards "ends", much like football fans don't try to work towards ends. Practice to your hearts content, congregate, support and offer consolations, be part of a brotherhood. And let laws governing society come from the Enlightenment ideas.
Of course that's easy for someone who doesn't like any sport to say. The rules dictate how life be lived, how society organized, how virtue and sin be defined.
All things considered the United States gets a lot of this right, and I am constantly astounded at the deep wisdom and foresight of the founding generation.
Yeah... no.. don't think that works. Whatever 'Enlightenment Ideas' are, I believe they are a halfway house between Christian ideas and wokeness. They are not a place that one can stay. They are fundamentally flawed and lack depth. They haven't held back wokeness, they won't hold back Isalm.
I found your article somewhat puzzling. As far as I can understand the Bible, salvation through faith in Christ is an individual thing. I see nothing anywhere in the Bible about any Christian nation. Psalm 2 shows the nations and kings of the earth rising up in rebellion against God. All of the instructions in the New Testament are for the behavior of individuals and individuals within the churches.
You started out with a Supreme Court decision of 1892 affirming that America was a Christian country. To me, that is completely irrelevant to the question of whether America is or is not Christian nation today. America is a radically different country now from what it was then, when Christian influence was unquestionably much stronger than it is now.
The Supreme Court in our own day legitimized abortion and also gay marriage, which – to my mind at least – have nothing whatever to do with Scriptural Christianity. Also, in the Dred Scott case of 1857 the Supreme Court decreed that Blacks were property and strengthened the institution of slavery.
Referring to Romans 13: to argue that every nation is Christian, because they are all under the authority of Christ, could also be used to argue that every individual on the planet is Christian, because we are all under the authority of Christ. But some are under his authority to salvation, others to eternal damnation.
About God ordaining the powers, we read in the prophets that God also ordained the Assyrians and the Babylonians and raised them up as instruments of wrath and destruction . Because they were under the authority of God does not mean they were Jewish.
There was a strong Christian viewpoint prevalent in America's founding, but that was a long time ago and America has changed in many ways since Alexis de Tocqueville - but we will be held accountable as individuals and Christ said, "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way and few there be that find it."
What evidence do you see in America today that the government, academia, the entertainment industries, and many people in their ordinary lives have any regard for Christ? Whatever America used to be is now irrelevant.
I found your article somewhat puzzling. As far as I can understand the Bible, salvation through faith in Christ is an individual thing. I see nothing anywhere in the Bible about any Christian nation. Psalm 2 shows the nations and kings of the earth rising up in rebellion against God. All of the instructions in the New Testament are for the behavior of individuals and individuals within the churches.
You started out with a Supreme Court decision of 1892 affirming that America was a Christian country. To me, that is completely irrelevant to the question of whether America is or is not Christian nation today. America is a radically different country now from what it was then, when Christian influence was unquestionably much stronger than it is now.
The Supreme Court in our own day legitimized abortion and also gay marriage, which – to my mind at least – have nothing whatever to do with Scriptural Christianity. Also, in the Dred Scott case of 1857 the Supreme Court decreed that Blacks were property and strengthened the institution of slavery.
Referring to Romans 13: to argue that every nation is Christian, because they are all under the authority of Christ, could also be used to argue that every individual on the planet is Christian, because we are all under the authority of Christ. But some are under his authority to salvation, others to eternal damnation.
About God ordaining the powers, we read in the prophets that God also ordained the Assyrians and the Babylonians and raised them up as instruments of wrath and destruction . Because they were under the authority of God does not mean they were Jewish.
There was a strong Christian viewpoint prevalent in America's founding, but that was a long time ago and America has changed in many ways since Alexis de Tocqueville - but we will be held accountable as individuals and Christ said, "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way and few there be that find it."
What evidence do you see in America today that the government, academia, the entertainment industries, and many people in their ordinary lives have any regard for Christ? Whatever America used to be is now irrelevant.
I'm sorry you found it puzzling. I think perhaps you are laboring under a false idea. My article was not meant to make a point about the definition of a 'Christian Nation', either now or in the past... but to point out that problems that question poses.
All of the points that you make here fit under one or another (or perhaps some that I didn't mention) of the various definitions and ideas of a 'Christian Nation'.
Do you point out various possibilities without any regard to which ones are true or false?
Do you say maybe America is a Christian nation, because all nations are under the authority of God, and maybe America is not a Christian nation, because not everyone in it follows Christ, and then make no determination?
What is the benefit of that? That is what I am confused by.
Moreover, all statements about how godly America used to be are completely irrelevant to what we are today. Israel under David and Solomon was more godly than America ever was, yet God later destroyed the country because of its evil.
You see problems with saying America is a godly nation, and problems with saying it is not a godly nation, but what is your conclusion? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't?
My own belief is that America is not now and has never been a Christian nation - though there was a strong Christian influence in its founding - because Jesus said the way to hell is broad and easy and many go in by it, and the way to heaven is strait and narrow and few find it. Christianity is a personal matter, not a national one.
Thomas Jefferson even brought out his own edition of the Bible, with references to sin, judgment and hell censored out of it because he did not like them. You can still buy a Jefferson Bible today. https://www.amazon.com/Jefferson-Bible-Thomas/dp/1503032051
"Jefferson's condensed composition is especially notable for its exclusion of all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural, including sections of the four gospels which contain the Resurrection and most other miracles, and passages indicating Jesus was divine."
The various ideas and definitions of a Christian nation people many present have zero biblical basis because there is no way into the kingdom of heaven except through individual faith, and where has there ever been a nation where 100%, or 90%, or 75%, or 51% of the people were all serious believers in Christ?
You say at the end,
"Practically each person who asks the question is coming at it from a different perspective and direction. Much of the point of the question will be found in the answer desired. Which will be the start, not the end, of the conversation."
So, if you want to make my answer the start, not the end of the conversation - which is up to you of course - my answer is that there has not been, can not be, and will never be a Christian nation. The attempt to set up a Christian nation under Cromwell collapsed in bloody failure and tyranny. Calvin's Geneva and Puritan New England were attempts to establish a biblical society, but they were never nations.
The attempt to reintroduce Christian values politically through the Moral Majority under Jerry Falwell was also a complete failure.
You show convincingly that there were strong Christian influences at work in America in the past, influences which have since largely vanished and say nothing about where we are today spiritually as a nation.
>>Do you point out various possibilities without any regard to which ones are true or false?
Except for the ones that are true by definition, or false by definition...yes. This was meant to be an introductory post, with a great deal of supporting and denying evidence to come along the way.
Indeed your comments seem like they could become posts in the series all by themselves.
According to which definition of a Christian nation?
You gave a number of different standards according to which the USA could be determined to be a Christian nation.
(1) The Supreme Court’s definition of 1892, which says not one word about Christ, his deity, his sacrifice or his resurrection, not one word about salvation, sin, or the day of judgment: just a general statement of deep cultural influence.
(2) Your statement that all nations are Christian, because all are under the authority of God – but in the verses you give we see in Romans 13:1 that the purpose of the authorities is to keep the peace, not to spread or enforce Christian doctrines of salvation and eternal life. This is why the spread of Christianity in the first few centuries was in no sense dependent upon government support. Nowhere in the New Testament is there a particle of evidence showing that a Christian nation with a Christian government was one of their goals.
In this context you also mentioned the second psalm, which plainly shows ungodly nations rising up in rebellion against God, and it says God will break them in his wrath. This has nothing to do with Christian nations, it has to do with God’s judgment on ungodly and wicked nations.
You also mentioned I Corinthians 15:23-28. This expressly refers to Christ at his coming, the end of the present age when Christ openly rules over the world, when death is destroyed and then all things are put under Christ’s feet. Then we will have a Christian planet, directly ruled by Christ himself. That has nothing to do with the world as it has existed since the fall and will exist before the return of Christ. This verse says nothing whatever about Christian nations in our present context.
You also point out a problem with this definition in that it makes every nation on earth a Christian nation, including Communist China and North Korea. What is the benefit of these speculations that have nothing to do with the real world we inhabit?
(3) Then you refer to the “No nations are Christian position” because no nation follows Christ perfectly. But no Christian in this life follows Christ perfectly. No Christian is flawless, no Christian shows perfect obedience and perfect love at all time – so by this standard there are no individual Christians at all either. But this is not the biblical standard. Individual Christians can be imperfect but still be Christian. So if there were a strongly Christian nation the fact that it was not perfect would not mean it could not be Christian.
So as far as I can see your first three definitions of what a Christian nation might be have no biblical basis.
(4) Then you give the “Which team” definition, which is also in my opinion completely meaningless. The fact that the USA has a vague reputation, based largely on the past, as being “not Muslim, hence Christian” is only judgment by outward appearance. But while man looks on the outward appearance, God looks for something more.
(5) The same goes for your 5th point about sheer numbers. I have quoted Christ’s statement two or three times that many people follow the broad and easy road to hell and few people follow the straight and narrow way to heaven. I get the distinct impression that what Christ teaches here is of no relevance or importance to your argument.
(6) About founding documents and laws I don’t think any reasonable person can deny that Christianity had a huge influence on America’s origins – an influence that has been declining for the past hundred years and more. What evidence do you have of Christian laws today? Yes, we have laws against murder, theft, and other things but so do Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu countries. That is part of the government’s duty to keep the peace, and says nothing about Christian morality of the heart, which is impossible without the new birth.
So, if you would like to continue, I would like to know exactly what you think Christianity is. What does it take to be a Christian, and can you point to one country anywhere on earth today where the branches of government and the universities and the news media and the society as a whole are dominated by the belief that Christ was God come in the flesh who lived, died and rose according to the divinely inspired and inerrant New Testament and sincerely if imperfectly attempt to live by those truths?
That, to me, would be a Christian country.
I venture to assert that in American culture today, secular beliefs that deny God altogether or present him as a misty pink glow who loves and accepts everyone are far more dominant than the way of Christ – and even many nominally Christian churches have subtly altered the message of Crist beyond recognition..
So, what do you think Christianity is, on an individual personal level – since Christ spoke of no other kind?
>>where the branches of government and the universities and the news media and the society as a whole are dominated by the belief that Christ was God come in the flesh who lived, died and rose according to the divinely inspired and inerrant New Testament and sincerely if imperfectly attempt to live by those truths?
That, to me, would be a Christian country.
Well, it took awhile but we get to your definition. I think we would all agree that, by this definition, there is no Christian country.
>>(1) The Supreme Court’s definition of 1892, which says not one word about Christ, his deity, his sacrifice or his resurrection, not one word about salvation, sin, or the day of judgment: just a general statement of deep cultural influence.
Yup. But when many people say 'The US is a Christian Nation', this is the kind of thing they mean.
>>I would like to know exactly what you think Christianity is.
I hold to the LBC 1689 in broad strokes, so feel free to reference that document.
But I am also a linguist. And when using language we always have to remember that our words mean different things to different people. So if I say, "Joe isn't a Christian' in some circles, they will hear me as calling Joe a Budhist or an atheist... which might also not be true.
So we need to look at what definitions are in use, and be ready to give a long form explanation for what we are talking about.
Saying you hold to the LBC "in broad strokes" is not exactly a ringing affirmation of faith. Jesus did not say "Blessed are those who assent to sound doctrinal statements." It is possible for people to give assent to doctrines yet not to know Christ - and what does "in broad strokes" mean? That there are certain parts which you do not adhere to, and of course I have no way of knowing what those are.
About linguists, long form explanations, words meaning different things to different people etc., there is also such a thing as the simplicity of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3).
I gave specific reasons why I thought none of your definitions of a Christian country were valid - for example, a Supreme Court definition that does not even mention the word Christ and says nothing about any Christian distinctives.
A somewhat whimsical take on this, if you will.
We also need to ask "to what end" or "to what effect". i.e. how does the character of the nation thus defined have a material impact on people.
So for example we may ask the same sort of questions about "Is America a Football Nation"? "Is America a Baseball Nation" and so on. 40% of people claim football as their favorite sport. If we were to have a war of footballing countries versus soccer countries, we would be in camp football. The Puritans played tennis, soccer, bowling, among other sports.
There is a different set of sports that qualify for scholarships in Division 1 colleges.
The national pass time of a nation's people contributes to it's character.
All this is to say, then what?
What if a citizen has no interest at all in football, or in any sport.
What organs of state should uphold footballing virtues.
Should school children in Philadelphia be required to sing "Fly Eagles Fly" before class each morning.
Or should people be left free to pursue whatever sport they like, and the community and the state supports life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Yes... but :)
The differences between Football and Cricket, while important, are not nearly as important as that between, say, Christianity and Islam, or Christianity and Moloch. Or even Christianity and wokeness.
The ends and effects of those differences are so different that they conflict. A society which has a lot of people working toward Chritian ends will find itself in conflict if a large number of people are working for Muslim ends.
That's true!
(I'd quibble about wokeness belonging to a different category, but it's not important)
I suppose the naive plea was these factions to not try to work towards "ends", much like football fans don't try to work towards ends. Practice to your hearts content, congregate, support and offer consolations, be part of a brotherhood. And let laws governing society come from the Enlightenment ideas.
Of course that's easy for someone who doesn't like any sport to say. The rules dictate how life be lived, how society organized, how virtue and sin be defined.
All things considered the United States gets a lot of this right, and I am constantly astounded at the deep wisdom and foresight of the founding generation.
Yeah... no.. don't think that works. Whatever 'Enlightenment Ideas' are, I believe they are a halfway house between Christian ideas and wokeness. They are not a place that one can stay. They are fundamentally flawed and lack depth. They haven't held back wokeness, they won't hold back Isalm.
I found your article somewhat puzzling. As far as I can understand the Bible, salvation through faith in Christ is an individual thing. I see nothing anywhere in the Bible about any Christian nation. Psalm 2 shows the nations and kings of the earth rising up in rebellion against God. All of the instructions in the New Testament are for the behavior of individuals and individuals within the churches.
You started out with a Supreme Court decision of 1892 affirming that America was a Christian country. To me, that is completely irrelevant to the question of whether America is or is not Christian nation today. America is a radically different country now from what it was then, when Christian influence was unquestionably much stronger than it is now.
The Supreme Court in our own day legitimized abortion and also gay marriage, which – to my mind at least – have nothing whatever to do with Scriptural Christianity. Also, in the Dred Scott case of 1857 the Supreme Court decreed that Blacks were property and strengthened the institution of slavery.
Referring to Romans 13: to argue that every nation is Christian, because they are all under the authority of Christ, could also be used to argue that every individual on the planet is Christian, because we are all under the authority of Christ. But some are under his authority to salvation, others to eternal damnation.
About God ordaining the powers, we read in the prophets that God also ordained the Assyrians and the Babylonians and raised them up as instruments of wrath and destruction . Because they were under the authority of God does not mean they were Jewish.
There was a strong Christian viewpoint prevalent in America's founding, but that was a long time ago and America has changed in many ways since Alexis de Tocqueville - but we will be held accountable as individuals and Christ said, "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way and few there be that find it."
What evidence do you see in America today that the government, academia, the entertainment industries, and many people in their ordinary lives have any regard for Christ? Whatever America used to be is now irrelevant.
I found your article somewhat puzzling. As far as I can understand the Bible, salvation through faith in Christ is an individual thing. I see nothing anywhere in the Bible about any Christian nation. Psalm 2 shows the nations and kings of the earth rising up in rebellion against God. All of the instructions in the New Testament are for the behavior of individuals and individuals within the churches.
You started out with a Supreme Court decision of 1892 affirming that America was a Christian country. To me, that is completely irrelevant to the question of whether America is or is not Christian nation today. America is a radically different country now from what it was then, when Christian influence was unquestionably much stronger than it is now.
The Supreme Court in our own day legitimized abortion and also gay marriage, which – to my mind at least – have nothing whatever to do with Scriptural Christianity. Also, in the Dred Scott case of 1857 the Supreme Court decreed that Blacks were property and strengthened the institution of slavery.
Referring to Romans 13: to argue that every nation is Christian, because they are all under the authority of Christ, could also be used to argue that every individual on the planet is Christian, because we are all under the authority of Christ. But some are under his authority to salvation, others to eternal damnation.
About God ordaining the powers, we read in the prophets that God also ordained the Assyrians and the Babylonians and raised them up as instruments of wrath and destruction . Because they were under the authority of God does not mean they were Jewish.
There was a strong Christian viewpoint prevalent in America's founding, but that was a long time ago and America has changed in many ways since Alexis de Tocqueville - but we will be held accountable as individuals and Christ said, "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way and few there be that find it."
What evidence do you see in America today that the government, academia, the entertainment industries, and many people in their ordinary lives have any regard for Christ? Whatever America used to be is now irrelevant.
I'm sorry you found it puzzling. I think perhaps you are laboring under a false idea. My article was not meant to make a point about the definition of a 'Christian Nation', either now or in the past... but to point out that problems that question poses.
All of the points that you make here fit under one or another (or perhaps some that I didn't mention) of the various definitions and ideas of a 'Christian Nation'.
Do you point out various possibilities without any regard to which ones are true or false?
Do you say maybe America is a Christian nation, because all nations are under the authority of God, and maybe America is not a Christian nation, because not everyone in it follows Christ, and then make no determination?
What is the benefit of that? That is what I am confused by.
Moreover, all statements about how godly America used to be are completely irrelevant to what we are today. Israel under David and Solomon was more godly than America ever was, yet God later destroyed the country because of its evil.
You see problems with saying America is a godly nation, and problems with saying it is not a godly nation, but what is your conclusion? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't?
My own belief is that America is not now and has never been a Christian nation - though there was a strong Christian influence in its founding - because Jesus said the way to hell is broad and easy and many go in by it, and the way to heaven is strait and narrow and few find it. Christianity is a personal matter, not a national one.
Thomas Jefferson even brought out his own edition of the Bible, with references to sin, judgment and hell censored out of it because he did not like them. You can still buy a Jefferson Bible today. https://www.amazon.com/Jefferson-Bible-Thomas/dp/1503032051
"Jefferson's condensed composition is especially notable for its exclusion of all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural, including sections of the four gospels which contain the Resurrection and most other miracles, and passages indicating Jesus was divine."
The various ideas and definitions of a Christian nation people many present have zero biblical basis because there is no way into the kingdom of heaven except through individual faith, and where has there ever been a nation where 100%, or 90%, or 75%, or 51% of the people were all serious believers in Christ?
You say at the end,
"Practically each person who asks the question is coming at it from a different perspective and direction. Much of the point of the question will be found in the answer desired. Which will be the start, not the end, of the conversation."
So, if you want to make my answer the start, not the end of the conversation - which is up to you of course - my answer is that there has not been, can not be, and will never be a Christian nation. The attempt to set up a Christian nation under Cromwell collapsed in bloody failure and tyranny. Calvin's Geneva and Puritan New England were attempts to establish a biblical society, but they were never nations.
The attempt to reintroduce Christian values politically through the Moral Majority under Jerry Falwell was also a complete failure.
You show convincingly that there were strong Christian influences at work in America in the past, influences which have since largely vanished and say nothing about where we are today spiritually as a nation.
>>Do you point out various possibilities without any regard to which ones are true or false?
Except for the ones that are true by definition, or false by definition...yes. This was meant to be an introductory post, with a great deal of supporting and denying evidence to come along the way.
Indeed your comments seem like they could become posts in the series all by themselves.
>>What is the benefit of that? That is what I am confused by.
The benefit is this: For each definition there are a variety of ways in which it is useful. Or, for some, perhaps none :)
So if we outline the definition, and then support it, whatever value that definition has will come out.
>>my answer is that there has not been, can not be, and will never be a Christian nation
According to which definition of 'Christian Nation'?
According to which definition of a Christian nation?
You gave a number of different standards according to which the USA could be determined to be a Christian nation.
(1) The Supreme Court’s definition of 1892, which says not one word about Christ, his deity, his sacrifice or his resurrection, not one word about salvation, sin, or the day of judgment: just a general statement of deep cultural influence.
(2) Your statement that all nations are Christian, because all are under the authority of God – but in the verses you give we see in Romans 13:1 that the purpose of the authorities is to keep the peace, not to spread or enforce Christian doctrines of salvation and eternal life. This is why the spread of Christianity in the first few centuries was in no sense dependent upon government support. Nowhere in the New Testament is there a particle of evidence showing that a Christian nation with a Christian government was one of their goals.
In this context you also mentioned the second psalm, which plainly shows ungodly nations rising up in rebellion against God, and it says God will break them in his wrath. This has nothing to do with Christian nations, it has to do with God’s judgment on ungodly and wicked nations.
You also mentioned I Corinthians 15:23-28. This expressly refers to Christ at his coming, the end of the present age when Christ openly rules over the world, when death is destroyed and then all things are put under Christ’s feet. Then we will have a Christian planet, directly ruled by Christ himself. That has nothing to do with the world as it has existed since the fall and will exist before the return of Christ. This verse says nothing whatever about Christian nations in our present context.
You also point out a problem with this definition in that it makes every nation on earth a Christian nation, including Communist China and North Korea. What is the benefit of these speculations that have nothing to do with the real world we inhabit?
(3) Then you refer to the “No nations are Christian position” because no nation follows Christ perfectly. But no Christian in this life follows Christ perfectly. No Christian is flawless, no Christian shows perfect obedience and perfect love at all time – so by this standard there are no individual Christians at all either. But this is not the biblical standard. Individual Christians can be imperfect but still be Christian. So if there were a strongly Christian nation the fact that it was not perfect would not mean it could not be Christian.
So as far as I can see your first three definitions of what a Christian nation might be have no biblical basis.
(4) Then you give the “Which team” definition, which is also in my opinion completely meaningless. The fact that the USA has a vague reputation, based largely on the past, as being “not Muslim, hence Christian” is only judgment by outward appearance. But while man looks on the outward appearance, God looks for something more.
(5) The same goes for your 5th point about sheer numbers. I have quoted Christ’s statement two or three times that many people follow the broad and easy road to hell and few people follow the straight and narrow way to heaven. I get the distinct impression that what Christ teaches here is of no relevance or importance to your argument.
(6) About founding documents and laws I don’t think any reasonable person can deny that Christianity had a huge influence on America’s origins – an influence that has been declining for the past hundred years and more. What evidence do you have of Christian laws today? Yes, we have laws against murder, theft, and other things but so do Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu countries. That is part of the government’s duty to keep the peace, and says nothing about Christian morality of the heart, which is impossible without the new birth.
So, if you would like to continue, I would like to know exactly what you think Christianity is. What does it take to be a Christian, and can you point to one country anywhere on earth today where the branches of government and the universities and the news media and the society as a whole are dominated by the belief that Christ was God come in the flesh who lived, died and rose according to the divinely inspired and inerrant New Testament and sincerely if imperfectly attempt to live by those truths?
That, to me, would be a Christian country.
I venture to assert that in American culture today, secular beliefs that deny God altogether or present him as a misty pink glow who loves and accepts everyone are far more dominant than the way of Christ – and even many nominally Christian churches have subtly altered the message of Crist beyond recognition..
So, what do you think Christianity is, on an individual personal level – since Christ spoke of no other kind?
>>where the branches of government and the universities and the news media and the society as a whole are dominated by the belief that Christ was God come in the flesh who lived, died and rose according to the divinely inspired and inerrant New Testament and sincerely if imperfectly attempt to live by those truths?
That, to me, would be a Christian country.
Well, it took awhile but we get to your definition. I think we would all agree that, by this definition, there is no Christian country.
>>(1) The Supreme Court’s definition of 1892, which says not one word about Christ, his deity, his sacrifice or his resurrection, not one word about salvation, sin, or the day of judgment: just a general statement of deep cultural influence.
Yup. But when many people say 'The US is a Christian Nation', this is the kind of thing they mean.
Yes, that is what many people mean and many people are also wrong.
>>I would like to know exactly what you think Christianity is.
I hold to the LBC 1689 in broad strokes, so feel free to reference that document.
But I am also a linguist. And when using language we always have to remember that our words mean different things to different people. So if I say, "Joe isn't a Christian' in some circles, they will hear me as calling Joe a Budhist or an atheist... which might also not be true.
So we need to look at what definitions are in use, and be ready to give a long form explanation for what we are talking about.
Saying you hold to the LBC "in broad strokes" is not exactly a ringing affirmation of faith. Jesus did not say "Blessed are those who assent to sound doctrinal statements." It is possible for people to give assent to doctrines yet not to know Christ - and what does "in broad strokes" mean? That there are certain parts which you do not adhere to, and of course I have no way of knowing what those are.
About linguists, long form explanations, words meaning different things to different people etc., there is also such a thing as the simplicity of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3).
I gave specific reasons why I thought none of your definitions of a Christian country were valid - for example, a Supreme Court definition that does not even mention the word Christ and says nothing about any Christian distinctives.