First Place
PENN STATE ESSAY CONTEST
Max Wang
Religion’s Place in American Politics
The influence of religion and religious institutions on the governments of the world and
especially that of the United States has, in this modern age, developed into an intricate and
dynamic balance of power and philosophies. In this nation, religion has always played an
enormous part, from its founding to its ongoing maturation. Many of our Founding Fathers
subscribed to the Christian faith, and almost all were religious in some measure. Christianity,
undeniably the most influential religion through America’s history, was a vital basis for this
ideas of freedom and equality that our forefathers defended. The various progressive reform
movements of the United States have also been deeply rooted in religious movements and
motives. Reforms in welfare, prison quality, and capital punishment all stemmed from the
second Great Awakening of American Protestants, in which both the hellfire-and-brimstone
threats of Calvinism and the personalization of religious conversion took hold of the country.
Even the Civil War was a product of such religious reform; for instance, Harriet Beecher Stove,
whose novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin rocked the North irrevocably towards defiance of proslavery
laws, professed emphatically that her words came from God Himself. Yet, though many modern
Americans may acknowledge that a good and moral national lifeblood called Christianity has
always flowed through America’s rich veins of history, they forgot the complex dance between
religion and secularism – at times, a dance of sabers and swords. Standard “American”
principles were founded not only on Christianity but also on the many secular humanistic
philosophers of Europe, such as the brilliant atheist Voltaire. Among the greatest Founding
Fathers were Deistic defenders of a secular nation. Moderation in national reform is also a
byproduct of a balance between religious and secular influences. So, too, is the modern
American “Melting Pot” a mix of races, ideas, and religious beliefs. That such a blend of peoples
has existed throughout the history of this nation is an indication that America is not a Christian
nation, but a nation meant to embrace all worldviews.
The role that religion has grown to play in the governance of America endangers the
balance of ideas in America. The current federal administration often takes a Christian
perspective towards social policy. A primary argument for such a Christian government is that
America has always been intended as a Christian nation. It is indeed true that the Founding
Fathers were Christian, but Christians often fallaciously apply a sense of absolution to such
statements. In fact, perhaps, the two greatest minds of the founding era were Deists: Thomas
Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. A Deist is the child of Christianity and secular humanism;
Deists believe in the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent Supreme
Creator, but deny that He decides the morals of the world. Jefferson crafted the Constitution and
Franklin shaped much of our national policy as the unshakeable and wise elder who often
presided over policy debates. These two did intend to craft a moral and God-created nation – but
not a Christian one. Both avidly fought for freedom, but more importantly, they fought for
balance. Though America was never meant to be unified by a single religion, it was always
meant to embrace these institutionalized beliefs. By a unanimous vote of the Continental
Congress, our Founding Fathers began each meeting with a prayer from a local minister. They
extolled individualism and freedom from absolute control; thus, although they practiced their
beliefs individually, they denied that it should ever be forced upon anyone.
Modern policies, however, defy our forefathers’ plan for this nation. Many fiats and
dictates from our current President and administration dent the equal rights given to all people
which the Founding Fathers protected above all else. Laws against flag burning, against the
science of stem cell research, or against gay rights are blatant invasions of freedom and equality.
The Founding Fathers believed that Christianity was an enormously strong moral foundation.
Very little can match the prevalence of Christianity in its teaching of almost universally accepted
ethical guidelines, such as those against murder and usury, or of “turning the other cheek.” But
Christians seem to have lost their own way. Proponents of a Christian America cry inaccurately
that there is no doctrine of the separation of church and state in the Constitution, but the
document’s very nature – a promise of freedoms and equal rights, including freedom of religious
practice – is against the Founding Fathers’ intentions. By attempting to force a nation to eschew
its supposedly sinful secularism, Christians have lost their own path. The Bible itself tells of
Jesus asking sinners to join Him, but never of His incessant pursuit or His force towards those
who reject Him. Modern Christians seems much too focused on the nominal aspects of the faith,
and as such the morality which the institution once contributed to national progress is becoming
jaded and prejudiced hindrance. The War on Iraq is a wonderful and hateful example of the
wishy-washiness of modern Christian stances and biases. In reaction to an attack made by a
select few extremists, the tides of the entire nation’s beliefs have turned against the Islam faith.
Such reaction also shows that many Christians of today’s America do not understand the concept
of the line drawn between the individual and his institution. Christianity dictates that only true
repentance will bring salvation, but Christians are so bound to the idea that the Christian label is
an all-access pass to heaven that they are blinded to the individual nature of human beings; the
individual is not a reflection of the whole institution: not all Muslims are extremist terrorists, and
not all Christians – very few, at this point – are bastions of morality. The Christians are not the
only chosen children of God, if one follows the Bible’s argument; all of humanity enjoys His
love, in equal parts.
History has proven that Christianity can have grand and beautiful effects on the nation’s
moral standpoint. However, the modern application of Christianity has experiences a moral
degradation to the extent that it has proven unfit to guide the nation forward. With the religious
zeal of a crusade, America has launched a war against Iraq and has committed many grievous
offenses; religious prejudice has revived an internationally outlawed form of torture called
waterboarding, which simulates the struggle and fear of drowning. The Founding Fathers
intended all Americans to be free of dictatorial power of any kind, whether it be a king or God
Himself. Christianity in its purest form extols and treasures life and love, truth and justice and
freedom and equality, just as the law of our land has long championed. But its modern political
and social applications are broken and dismally poor reflections of this ideological purity.
Protecting the lives of the select few by laying to waste equally valuable lives abroad; denying
love between people -- love that is not necessarily lustful, a love which is condemned by
Christianity, but a love which can be as pure as any between a man and a woman – simply
because of their genders; sacrificing the possibility of physical salvation for millions through
stem cell research of unused embryos for no reason besides conforming behind the nominal
political label of “pro-choice” in order to win an election: this is the modern consequence of
Christianity in politics. Thus, in order to reaffirm its status as a moral guide, the nation must
undo the union between religion and government. The role of American government is to
protect the nation’s secular beliefs, those of freedom and equality as praised by our founders.
The role of religion or religious philosophies, though, is a separate—but still vital – moral
guideline, based on individual beliefs; it is, therefore, never to be confused with any policy
which finds jurisdiction in the entire United States.