We have a lot of educating to do: Countering the un-American lies of Christian Nationalists

Editor’s note: This blog post by AU President and CEO Rachel Laser originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of AU’s Church & State magazine. 

The other day I sat down with a reporter from a Jewish publication for an interview, and he asked me if America is a Christian nation. “No,” I said, reminding him of the religious freedom protections in the First Amendment of our Constitution. To punctuate the point, I recited one of my favorite Thomas Jefferson quotes about religious freedom protecting the “Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.”

The reporter, who was Israeli, told me that most Israelis would say that America is a Christian nation. I doubted that, so I decided to conduct my own personal experiment and wrote to one of my relatives on my husband’s side who is Israeli but has been living in America for decades. “My opinion: Of course it is,” he responded.

Two meanings of ‘Christian nation’ claims

When people talk about America being a “Christian nation,” there are two meanings. The first is my in-law’s interpretation. He clarified that he didn’t mean that America should be a legally Christian nation. Instead, he explained that “[s]ocially — it certainly feels Christian. Less in certain areas but the presumption is that everyone does or should believe in Jesus and his message. If you don’t believe or follow ‘church’ beliefs or teachings, you are an outsider.”

The second meaning of “America is a Christian nation” is prescriptive, instead of descriptive. Unfortunately, I have a personal example of this perspective too.

Recently, after one of my appearances on CNN where I invited parents to contact AU if their children’s religious freedom was being violated in school, a man wrote the email below to AU’s general inbox. (Keep in mind that neither I nor the television host identified me as being Jewish.)

Antisemitic rant in response to CNN appearance

“Rachel, I was told on CNN just now to file a complaint here. Here is my complaint! Was our nation founded by Jews? Shinto’s? Buddhists? Muslims? Atheists? Sikhs? Satan worshipers? Here’s the deal Rachie, Christians have no problems with Jews in america [sic], worshiping in their synagogues and being good citizens. What we will not tolerate is 2% of the population telling 80% of the population that they are not welcome in the town square. This nation was founded by christians…

“Here’s the deal little lady, stop attacking christians, they are your best friends! … We’re kind to you, we give you a wonderful country to flourish and then you turn around and slap Us in the face? Stop it! Knock it off! … Stop abusing the people that treat you kindly because, eventually, the patients [sic] will run out. You are an ungrateful anti-christian bigot going into the Public Square attacking christians. You don’t realize how tenuous your position is and how silly it looks to others. …  America was founded by Christians and Christians alone! You are welcome to live in that reality peacefully. Capiche?”

No — not capiche. If only this guy had done an internet search for “Is America a Christian Nation,” he would have found first on the list Americans United’s explanation that it’s not. America was founded on the promise of church-state separation and equal religious freedom for all. This promise is embedded in the Constitution and documented by historians. The vast majority of Americans want to keep it that way. Though church-state separation may feel to some like an attack on Christians, AU’s many Christian allies, plaintiffs and supporters know (and our Christian founders knew) that AU’s work in fact protects Christians from the government co-opting and interfering with their religion.

Education key to countering Christian Nationalist lies

What is true is that we have a lot of educating to do. Christian Nationalists are making progress in normalizing what used to be fringe or unacceptable positions about Christian supremacy in America. We cannot accurately educate a new generation when our public schools are forced to indoctrinate and lie about our history — which is a priority of Christian Nationalists. Protecting secular public education, like we are doing in our Louisiana and two Oklahoma lawsuits, will remain a priority for AU.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said: “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” I’m with Dr. King. I’m not going to let emails like the one above rob me of how honored I am to get to fight every day for a country that embodies love by allowing people to live as themselves and believe as they choose.