Tim Wildmon, president of American Family Association, had this to say yesterday on the Point of View radio program:
“God made a special carve-out, if you will, in the late 1700s to create this new country called the United States of America. It was all birthed out of biblical values or, as my dad calls it, the mind of Christ [for the purpose of spreading] the Christian Gospel all over North America and then we spread the Christian Gospel all over the world. And by ‘we,’ I mean American Christians.” “This is a spiritual war for America and I think Satan hates America because America has spread the Gospel around the world and we still have a majority Christian nation. That’s my view. I can’t prove it but I think that’s why we’re so engaged and we see so much going on for our country’s future.”
First, I find it interesting that Wildmon ignores the first hundred years of American history. Why is that? Perhaps he wants to steer clear of the genocide perpetrated by America’s first settlers on Native Americans. Or perhaps he wants to distance himself from the fact that commerce and trade were the primary reason settlers migrated to America.
Second, there is little to no evidence for the United States being “birthed out of biblical values.” Wildmon is taking his fundamentalist beliefs and attempting to read them back into history. He, like David Barton, scours history for evidence to bolster his claim. So far, the evidence is scant and I don’t expect any to be forthcoming. Certainly, some of the founders of the United States were Christians, but I seriously doubt that any of them were Evangelical. Many of them were deists.
Third, commerce and control of taxation were the primary reasons for the founding of the United States. The tea thrown into Boston Harbor was not tossed overboard because of a lack of religious freedom.
Fourth, America has not spread the gospel all around the world. The vast majority of world citizens are NOT Christian. And those who are belong to sects that Wildmon likely thinks preach a false gospel. (i.e. Roman Catholicism) According to a 2012 Pew Research report:
- There are 2.2 billion Christians in the world (32%)
- About 50% of Christians are Catholic
- About 37% of Christians are Protestant (this includes Evangelicals, Anglicans)
- About 12% of Christians are Greek/Russian Orthodox
There are an estimated 285,480,000 Evangelicals, corresponding to 13.1% of the Christian population and 4.1% of the total world population. The Americas, Africa and Asia are home to the majority of Evangelicals. The United States has the largest concentration of Evangelicals.Evangelicalism is gaining popularity both in and outside the English-speaking world, especially in Latin America and the developing world.
According to Operation World, there are about 550 million Evangelicals in the world. Regardless of which number is used, Evangelicals are 4-8% of the world’s population. So much for “spreading” the good news of the gospel. The true gospel of the United States is capitalism. When IN GOD WE TRUST was put on our money they left a word out. It should have said In THIS God we Trust.
Fifth, the United States is a Christian nation in name only. Surely, Wildmon would agree that one of the marks of being a Christian is regularly attending a Christian church. Yet, the vast majority of Americans never, rarely, or infrequently attend church. 63% of Evangelicals attend church weekly, but the same cannot be said for other Christian sects. Like many Evangelical zealots, I suspect Wildmon conflates Evangelical Christianity with generic Christianity. At best, the United States has a cultural form of Christianity, and if we want to see what future awaits us, all we need to do is look at Europe, especially England.
I think that Christians should make up their minds about which supernatural entity hates America. When it suits them it’s Satan because we’re just soooo Christian and then when it suits their purpose it’s God because this nation is going to hell in a handbag. God’s gonna get us because we’re letting gay people get married? Or the devil’s gonna get us because we love God so much? Smh…Do they even listen to themselves?
Ruth,
I do wonder if they listen to themselves. It’s like every day is a new day. No accountability for what was said in the past. I love how Jon Stewart puts clips together showing how what they said on Wednesday contradicts what they said two weeks ago.
What troubles me is that a lot of people don’t seem to pay attention or care.
Perhaps they’re unaware that Satan is simply God turning the other cheek.
O.K. I’m going to say something a little off topic here. Its never been said because there is this fine line drawn somewhere that if an evangelical christian sticks a blade into an atheist, the atheist can’t pull it out and stick it back into the evangelical. Case in point : That little debacle many years ago when George W. Bush and sons publically announced that all atheists (presumably American scientists and their ilk) were regarded as NOT true Americans. It infuriates me that no one from our side countered that. Instead, to this day, we still go around with that blade sticking out of our bellies in full sight of an American audience. We just don’t have the guts to do it. We’re still afraid to stand up to these former presidential RATS and their hordes. Think about it. What’s the real down to earth difference between these 2 types of Americans [atheists and evangelicals] ? Evangelicals believe that real power comes from on top. Dear Leader tells us how to act/ how to dress/ when to bow down to him/ adopt his sociopathic morals/ that we are weak but he is strong/ he will think for us/ we all need to be “saved” from ourselves/ we must obey his direct command without question under threat of death and/or torture [violence/ rath]. The atheist on the other hand believes that real power comes from the bottom, from the people, is a grass roots phenomena/ that those on top must answer to the people NOT the other way around.
What happens if you’re born at the top ? You get to instruct the masses on what to believe. You don’t want to change anything at the top. You begin to usurp power. This is the Bush family of the U.S. They still hold a lot of sway. The difference between these 2 types of Americans ? One believes in socialism as the answer. The other, a grass roots democracy … revolutionaries. The U.S. came into being because it overthrew King George … the head of the Christian Church of England as their master. Now. Here’s where most atheists become fearful. It means that christian evangelicalism is un-american in its support of pure socialism. Religion should be outlawed [not its philosophy but its practise]. If an atheist were ever elected to presidential power … would we have the balls to push such a change in the constitution ? Would we do it ? Would you do it ?