Our Founders a Variety  

by Michael Horton

     "Some Christians are confusing America with Israel under the old covenant. Christian nationalism violates the doctrine of 'one holy apostolic church.' Salvation does not come to nations that rededicate themselves to the law. 

     "Even if it did, we have broken it, even while we sing about God having 'crowned our good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea,' or 'a shining city on a hill.' Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. He was referring to his own flock, gathered from the world, not a geopolitical entity.

     "Christ, not America, is the last great hope for mankind.

     "History does not support the idea of Christian nationalism. This was the mistake of the Holy Roman Empire. Nationalism was the talk of Holy Russia, Germanic Fatherhood and England's green and pleasant land. 

     "America's founders were a mixed bag. Jefferson, Adams, Paine and Franklin regularly visited salons. Washington was baptized Episcopalian, but not a regular church goer. 

     "There were orthodox Christians like Jay, Henry and many others. Overall, the setting of the founders seems quite similar to our own day. George Washington believed that a self-governing people could not last long without generic religion, but for him as with the likes of Franklin and Jefferson, this could best be preserved by a competition of sects rather than privileging one." 

Monday: Christ by intention not written into our Constitution.