Who says the USA is a Christian nation?

Over the past several weeks a number of rather passionate individuals have written letters in response to the publishing of the "Atheist Billboards." The most recent of these was written by Mary Budd and appeared in this morning's edition (Aug. 31). This letter, which is actually more of a mini-sermon, seems to reflect Ms. Budd's limited understanding of certain American English words as well as a considerably inaccurate concept of both ancient and American history; to say nothing of her profound misunderstanding of some of the most basic precepts contained in our Constitution.

To begin where she did, everyone is guaranteed religious freedom and freedom of speech in this country. Her statement: ("Allowing billboards which promote atheism in a Christian nation is just plain wrong!") is an affront to those guarantees. Just who is supposed to 'disallow' such a display? The government? Talk about unconstitutional! And who is it that has declared the USA to be a Christian nation? And, if it is, which of the over 100 competing sects should be in charge of what that means? I don't find anything about that in either the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. There seems to be a lot of interpreting going on here.

As for the Founding Fathers, one is hard put to declare them to be devout Christians. George Washington was an Anglican who rarely attended worship services and, according to his pastor, never took communion. The rest were mainly Deists who confined their concept of God to "Divine Providence" or 'Nature's god.' One, in fact, was completely anti-biblical. Thomas Paine, who might rightly be referred to as the Father of the American Revolution, wrote a very informative treatise on biblical truth entitled: "The Age of Reason." It is not a large volume but church leaders found it so offensive that they denied him burial in consecrated ground.

If Ms. Budd is arguing that the USA is founded on "Christian Principles," there are stronger arguments to support the concept that the Freemasons had far more influence on the founding principles than any religious sect.

My family has been in this country nearly from the beginning - 1638 to be exact. They experienced first-hand the despicable anti-Christian behavior of the dominant sect of the day - the Puritans. Even a casual reading of the history of that period brings into focus the complete lack of any "Christian Attributes" or "Christian Values" that were being exercised by the church leaders. How then do we transition from a period of brutality that was similar to today's Islamic extremism to that which some would like to refer to as a "Christian Nation?" It is indeed a stretch.

A little bit of understanding regarding the history of Europe from the Dark Ages through the Renaissance and Middle Ages up to the Age of Discovery would do a lot to provide a proper explanation for the Founders' attitude regarding the church/state relationship. They feared the church! Many of them had lived with the evils wrought by the too-close entwining of the clergy and the government. (It's not a pretty picture.) Yes - there was a deliberate separating of church and state. (See the First Amendment.)

Regarding Agnostics: An agnostic is one who regards the existence of God as both unknown and unknowable. There is not sufficient room in this venue to present the arguments that support this position. True agnostics are not "sitting on the fence," they simply say with complete conviction: "I don't know" and "I can't know."

Most atheists and agnostics would very likely agree with the moral platitudes expressed by Ms. Budd. Just as there are scoundrels within the church, there are good and moral people outside it. The existence of either of these groups is no guarantee that one belief system is superior to the other, it simply means that people choose to be who they wish to be regardless of what they believe or what others choose to believe about them.

The most offensive part of Ms. Budd's 'sermon' is her well-presented sense of righteousness. She obviously has been well indoctrinated by the leadership of whatever group she is associated with. I have no desire to tamper with either the fact of her faith or the source of it, but it would be helpful if she could realize that there is a lot of very credible evidence that supports the beliefs of those who choose to adopt different views.

In keeping with the spirit of the First Amendment, I would encourage Ms. Budd and all other like-minded individuals to seek out as much factual information as they can find regarding the beliefs that they hold most dear.

Thomas R. Macy is a Post Falls resident.