Was America truly founded as a Christian nation? According to Dr. Gerald Dirks, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, the answer is a definitive no — and the evidence is overwhelming. During the colonial period, the most optimistic estimates show that only 15% of the white adult population held membership in any Christian church. In the Middle Colonies, that number dropped to 7%, and in the South it was even lower.
What Most Americans Actually Believed
The typical belief system of colonial Americans was not Christianity but a primitive form of animism — a mixture of superstition, divination, fortune telling, astrology, and belief in spirits guarding hidden treasures. Among the intellectual elite, the dominant philosophy was deism: belief in an impersonal Creator God who established a rational universe and then left it alone. The founding fathers — including those who drafted the Constitution — denied the Trinity, denied the divinity of Jesus, and typically rejected any concept of divine revelation.
“Only 15% of the majority white population had membership in a Christian church during the colonial period. If we include African-American slaves and American Indians, those percentages drop even further.”
Separation of Church and State Was Intentional
- The founding fathers deliberately designed a secular government, not a theocracy — many had fled religious persecution by other Christians in Europe
- Deists among the founders — including key framers of the Constitution — rejected the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus
- Even Christians among the founders wanted strict separation of church and state to prevent the religious tyranny they had escaped
- History shows that when Muslims ruled, Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived together in peace — Muslim Andalusia being the shining example
“Muslims were not persecuting Christians in Europe — other Christians were. Those who fled to America wanted to make sure they were not setting up any kind of theocracy in this country.”
