America was not founded as a Christian nation as stated in the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary written in 1796. In Article 11 it states: "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…"

"When people say that America was founded as a Christian nation, they're really referring to the colonial periods where in places like Massachusetts they executed Quakers and whipped Baptists. Their idea was that they wanted to create an example of a true Christian nation. If you're going to have a true Christian nation then you've got to do something to those other people," says Dr. Pettibone. This was the case in colonial doctrines, but America the Nation was never established under such stipulations.

Now, America is a country where the majority of people would consider themselves Christians, even if they don't have a specific denomination that they follow. According to the adherents.com website, in 2007 Christianity claimed 2.1 billion people in its numbers with Islam following behind at 1.5 billion. "Europeans who visit America are amazed, either positively or negatively, by how religious we are. We have the largest percentage of the population who attend church of any industrialized nation and a number of historians have clearly indicated that it is the separation of church and state that's made this possible by creating a free market in religion. The logical explanation for this is that the free competition of ideas keeps religion alive," comments Professor Pettibone.

Even though the Founding Fathers' references to a Creator this is a reference to something different. It is not a reference to the Christian God or the Muslim God, or even Abraham's God. It's just something greater, something that surpasses these titles. These men had different sets of beliefs and different ideas about what "God" is yet they still managed to put together this country and have managed to keep it together since.

However, the fight continues with having the Ten Commandments in courthouses and prayers in public schools. Here's my problem with this; when it comes to the 10 Commandments, the argument for this is that they are a continuous moral code to go by. However, this is a strictly Christian-Judaic set of rules. And though I can agree with most of them, a couple of them I believe are unnecessary and in my mind there can be arguments and exceptions made for all of them. Though I find this is favoritism towards the Christian-Judeo religion, it is not a law, and neither is prayer in public schools. These aren't necessarily encroachments on my own rights. But then again if things like this are going to be allowed and kept in public places, who gets to decide? Who gets to pray? Can we have Muslim, Buddhist, Pagan or Jewish prayers too? I have no doubt that any of you reading this would find it unfair if your own faith (or even lack thereof) was dismissed for another or even thought of as silly or unimportant. How would it feel to not be represented or be treated unfairly? To be ignored? I know I don't like it, I imagine you wouldn't like it either. None of us would.


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