Reclaiming the promise: Why the 250th anniversary belongs to religious freedom, not Christian Nationalism

The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is a chance to reaffirm the values that make our nation thrive. Christian Nationalists and their allies are trying to hijack this occasion to spread a false history and claim that America was founded to be a “Christian nation.”

We can’t let this disinformation go unanswered. To secure another 250 years, we must defend the separation of church and state as the guarantee of everyone’s individual right to decide whether, when, and how to practice a religion.

Cutting through the revisionist myths

The claim that the United States was founded as a Christian nation is not just historically inaccurate; it’s a deliberate attempt to replace our democracy with a theocracy. When we look at the actual text and history of the Declaration, the evidence for a secular foundation is overwhelming:​

• No mention of Christianity: The Declaration of Independence does not mention Jesus, the Bible, or Christianity at all.
• The humanity of the document: The Declaration is focused on human events and “the consent of the governed,” explicitly moving away from the “divine right” of kings.
• Inclusive language: While the document mentions a “Creator” and “Nature’s God,” these phrases were intentionally selected to be inclusive of natural law rather than any specific sectarian belief.
• A critique of religious rule: An early draft of the Declaration even criticized the “CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain” for his role in the slave trade, highlighting the hypocrisy of rulers who claimed religious authority to justify oppression.

Founders as visionaries, not deities

We should properly credit the founders for their work in laying the foundation for this country, but we shouldn’t deify them. They were men of their particular time and place. As history shows, they were far from perfect and did not get everything right.

At its inception, the promise of America belonged only to a select few. The Continental Congress even removed language condemning slavery from the final draft. Leaders like Frederick Douglass and the signers of the Seneca Falls Declaration later highlighted that the Declaration’s ideals remained an unfulfilled “promissory note.”

Our task is not to revert to the limited perspective of 1776. The way forward is to build on the solid foundations they provided while discarding the bad ideas and prejudices of the past. We are not beholden to a stagnant version of history that Christian Nationalists use to justify reversing the progress we have made as a diverse, modern nation.

The foundation of true freedom

What the founders did get right from the very start is the principle that the spheres of government and religion are best when separate. They recognized that:

• Separation is freedom: Church-state separation is the foundation of freedom of thought and true religious freedom.
• Equality for all: It allows all of us to live as we choose, provided we do not harm others or trample on their rights.
• A stronger democracy: Shielding our shared laws from religious influence allows us to come together as equals to build a stronger democracy.

Celebrate 250th anniversary, commit to church-state separation

We cannot have religious freedom if the government favors one faith and oppresses others, and we cannot have an independent government of the people if one religious sect is in charge of it. As we celebrate this 250th anniversary on July 4, let us commit to defending the “wall of separation” that protects us all.