In light of the Public Polling Institute survey indicating that 57% of Republicans would like to see Christianity established as the national religion of the United States, Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig asks what particular kind of Christianity might be selected as the national religion if that 57% had its way–which denomination, which doctrines? Or, she continues, would we get a big-tent Christianity that amounts to a national profession of faith? Bruenig wisely points out that nationalization of Christian denominations always ends up diluting the denomination. But the latter option is much closer to what these Republicans actually want: an explicit, public proclamation of America as a Christian nation, without any of that sectarian stuff tacked on. Because they imagine Christianity to be set apart from denominational differences.
This desire has a long history. For a century after the Civil War, the National Reform Association (NRA) campaigned to have a “Christian Amendment” added to the Constitution. They saw the lack of a reference to the deity in the Constitution as either a mistake or the result of the influence of atheistic French philosophy on the framers. Initially, the NRA wanted to add language to the preamble:
“We, the People of the United States [recognizing the being and attributes of Almighty God, the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures, the law of God as the paramount rule, and Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior and Lord of all], in order to form a more perfect union…”
The NRA managed to get this proposed amendment before Congress on numerous occasions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, although it seldom got far in the legislative process. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on it in 1879, but then it stayed out of debate until 1954, when Vermont senator Ralph Flanders introduced the following as a joint resolution:
Section 1: This nation devoutly recognizes the authority and law of Jesus Christ, Savior and Ruler of nations, through whom are bestowed the blessings of Almighty God.
Section 2: This amendment shall not be interpreted so as to result in the establishment of any particular ecclesiastical organization, or in the abridgment of the rights of religious freedom, or freedom of speech and press, or of peaceful assemblage.
Section 3: Congress shall have power, in such cases as it may deem proper, to provide a suitable oath or affirmation for citizens whose religious scruples prevent them from giving unqualified allegiance to the Constitution as herein amended.