Former President Obama has said that America is not a Christian nation.  Was that far left atheism, pro-Islamic proselytizing, or just wishful thinking? 

A few months ago a young second generation Iranian woman came to my office.  I asked if she had Assyrian (a persecuted Christian group) heritage.  She said that her parents were secular if not atheistic Muslims and made no effort to enforce any belief system on her.  She said that she had decided to become a Christian.  She answered my unspoken question by stating that she wanted and needed a personal God.  Has she converted because of American values or Christian values?  Are they the same?

Christian teaching is that God is Love and he is good all of the time.  We are told that God hears everyone’s prayers and gives us what we need even if we cannot yet appreciate it.  We have a very personal relationship with God.  If we truly love God in return, we will want to follow his commandments to please him.  We will not do it because we are forced to.  And in Matthew 22:21 we are told that God considers the church and state to be separate.  We also are reminded that man is by nature sinful, and if left without direction will tend toward evil. 

Our Founders were well aware of this when they conceived of our American vision of sound government.  You can see that the Bill of Rights has a Christian provenance.  Our Bill of Rights actually forces the government to respect the rights of each individual.  If our God sees us as individuals, then our government sure as hell had better.  Our Constitution also codifies the separation of church and state.  And because of the sinful nature of men, our Founders felt it necessary to deny the use of absolute power by government.  Our executive, legislative, and judicial branches create checks and balances and are meant to render attempted tyranny impotent.  Americanism has a very definite Christian fingerprint.

This is in contradistinction to Islam.  Allah is described as all powerful, but not defined as love.  Muslim scholars are also offended if you say that Allah is good all of the time. If Allah chooses to be cruel, that is his choice.  He will not be confined to being just good.  Allah has many rules to follow and they must be adhered to precisely to have any chance of going to Paradise.  But if Allah chooses to send you to Hell (just for the hell of it), then so be it.  You are required to pray five times per day, but it is not universally accepted that Allah always hears your prayers.  Allah comes across as being capricious.  But Allah, it is said, will send you directly to Paradise if you die for Islam, hence the suicide bombers killing ‘the infidel’.  Islam means ‘to submit’.  Your will, your body and your entire future are not yours.  You must submit your entire being to Allah. 

But Islam is more than religion in the American sense.   There is no separation of mosque and state.  Islam is the government and the religion.  You are not allowed to question authority.  You do not have a voice in changing Sharia law or what is said in the Quran or the Hadith.  Islam is the original totalitarian regime. 

A curious sidebar is the current cozy relationship between the radical left and the radical Islamists.  They both desire all controlling totalitarian government and hate the precepts of freedom in America.  Their difference is that the radical left does not believe in Allah.  Their Allah is big government.  They erroneously think that humans can be forced into becoming perfect (in their vision).

Now back to the original question.  Is America a Christian nation?  Overwhelmingly the answer is yes—for now.  For more than two hundred years immigrants of many nations, ethnicities, and religions have come and assimilated quite nicely into American culture.  They have not been offended by the Christian nature of our founding.  I am very fond of many secular Muslim friends who enjoy the fruits of our liberty.  But for fundamentalist Muslims, there is a great chasm between their culture and ours.  There is total disagreement about the nature of God and government.  Indeed, our way of life is anathema to them. 

Many people believe that we should open our borders to anyone to come here.  They say that American ideals of fairness and religious tolerance dictate the need to do this.  And it is tempting to say yes, because we are a giving and generous people.  But it begs the question.  Should we open the floodgates to people who will not assimilate, and whose goal is to fundamentally change America (sound familiar) to a system that does not respect individual freedom, and to force Sharia law upon us.  Let us hope for wisdom in Washington.  It will not happen, but if the radical left were to fully embrace Allah, then God help us.