We often hear that the United States is a Christian nation. Some people insist that when the founding fathers used the word God that it was inferred to be the Christian God. We pick and choose, when we adhere to their directive that there must be a separation of church and state.

However, both Franklin and Jefferson, two of the more involved and recognized architects of the United States, were both seen as Deist. There is much conjecture of how many of the founding fathers would have classified as Deist, but no argument that these two did.[private]

There was no reference to a Christian God, the Bible or Jesus Christ in the documentation, which created the rules for the governing of the United States of America. In fact, a 1796 treaty written during the presidency of George Washington clearly stated that in no sense was our country founded on the Christian religion.

Irrelevant to the facts that the U.S. was not founded as a Christian nation, one can not avoid the truth that there is no such thing as a single Christian religion. Distinct and different Protestant Christian religions currently number about thirty thousand. Then add other Christian-based religions such as Catholicism, Mormonism, the Eastern Orthodox Christian religions, and the list goes on.

Of the 6.7 billion people on the planet, about 1.5 billion of those are Christian, and 880 million of those classify themselves as Protestants.
There are great interpretational differences within these various groups.

There have been times where the theological differences within the Christian community has been as violent and as bloody as the confrontations between the Christian and non-Christian communities.

So whose views can be called the Christian voice? We don’t see enough consistency within the Christian sects. Many of them pick and chose which parts of the Bible they are going to focus on, and which parts they are going to ignore.

For example, both the Old and New Testament list the sins hated by God, sins that keep one from the kingdom of Heaven. Those sins include pride, lust, greed, gluttony, and jealousy. Other notable sins appear in one part of the Bible but not in another.

Yet, to my knowledge, no fundamental Christian faiths have put time, effort, money and their influence towards gettings laws passed against obesity (gluttony), lust (adultery), greed, jealousy or pride.

Many Bible passages condemn murder, judgment and the making of mischief. However, some very vocal “good Christians” seem to support attacks on gay people and anyone involved with abortion.

Sure, certain acts were grievous to God in the Old Testament, depending on interpretation. Some of them may or may not be committed by homosexuals. However, nowhere was the orientation itself condemned.

Jesus said nothing about homosexuality; just love every man. Doesn’t this mean that anything that promotes hate is against Jesus’ teachings?

Since our war on terrorism has heated up, some Christian groups have vilified the Muslims and some of their customs, like the veil for women. Yet those groups seem to ignore the Bible’s book of Corinthians, in which St. Paul calls for women to cover their heads, or their heads should be shaved. In addition, “A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image of glory of God “ .

So where are the millions of dollars spent to make sure that no male in a good Christian country should wear a hat, and that women must wear a veil or shave their heads?

The Old Testament says that it is a sin to touch pigskin. Does that mean no Christian male should play football? What about the minister who, from the pulpit, asks the congregation to pray for the victory of their local football team?

Incongruency, hypocrisy, selective reading, hearing, thinking, and misuse of power; what do you think all of these inconsistencies are about? If we are to bear the weight of being a Christian nation then why would we pay attention to the Old Testament at all? Was it not in Hebrews that Jesus brought us a New Covenant?

I have heard that often enough when some part of the Old Testament is quoted that tells you to kill your mother, brother or wife for some — by today’s standards — common act. But, the Bible is rarely quoted when a case is being made for something that is only in the Old Testament that the church opposes. Go figure.

Before Christianity tells us how to think shouldn’t it at least consistent with its own ranks, and above reproach concerning what its views are based on?

Either you get to kill someone for working on the Sabbath or you don’t.  Let’s get clear about this, shall we?[/private]