Two dominant faiths stand side-by-side in our nation. Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson originated a public faith our presidents salute in their speeches, imploring God’s blessing on the U.S. Jefferson called this national Deity the “Creator” and “Nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence. Orthodox Christianity ranks as the second popular faith alive nationally. God revealed Himself in Christ Jesus. Jefferson refused to use Christian imagery or language in the Declaration of Independence. He and the majority of Founding Fathers kept separate these two faiths.
Public faith and orthodox Christianity are skillfully woven into the fabric of American patriotism. Citizens meld them together. Seldom do these faiths compete when presidents employ patriotic rhetoric. Since our nation’s founding, some citizens wrongly regard these faiths as indivisible.
National Christian leaders invoke profusely the name of “Jesus.” For instance, six Republican presidential hopefuls gathered in the Des Moines Civic Center in 2000. A reporter asked them to name their favorite “political philosopher or thinker,” the person with whom they “most identified.”
“John Locke” opined financier Steve Forbes. “The founding fathers,” replied Alan Keyes. John McCain’s favorite–Theodore Roosevelt. Orrin Hatch couldn’t decide between Abraham Lincoln or Ronald Reagan, so he saluted both. Governor George W. Bush of Texas stole the show. “Christ,” he testified, “because He changed my heart.”
The reporter asked Bush to comment further on how, “He [Jesus] changed my heart.” On a national stage, Bush without hesitation witnessed how “when you turn your heart and life over to Christ, when you accept Christ as a savior, it changes your heart, and changes your life, and that’s what happened to me.” Gary Bauer, the most overt evangelical candidate of the six presidential campaigners, jumped on Bush’s Christ-driven bandwagon. He gushed how he liked Jesus as much as did Bush.
The New York Times commentator, Maureen Dowd, got it wrong. She accused Bush of playing a religious card just to garner votes from Iowa’s evangelical, church-going bloc. “W. is checking Jesus’ numbers, and Jesus is polling well in Iowa. Christ, the new wedge issue,” Dowd crowed. I believe George W. Bush sincerely testified in Iowa how Christ made a pivotal difference, turning around his life booze had controlled.
No pundit recollected, because their historical knowledge is slim to none, that Bush is not the first president to claim “Jesus as his favorite philosopher.” Thomas Jefferson avowed, sounding like a revivalist, how Jesus ranked as the greatest thinker of all time.
Jefferson espoused our nation’s patriotic public faith. So similar is the language of this faith to biblical Christianity’s piety that Americans assume the two religions are the same. They are not. Orthodox Christianity and Franklin’s “public faith” differ.
For Jefferson and Franklin, the Jesus they adored was different from the Savior George W. Bush worships. For these Founding Fathers, Jesus served as the world’s most eminent moral exemplar. He majored in goodness. Jesus taught values pagan Greeks and believers in Christ share,” wrote the Apostle Paul. He challenged Christians to put their stock in “… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
Jefferson and Franklin endorsed a public faith that rejects Jesus as divine savior. Jesus never ranked higher than a sagacious teacher who makes our nation godly when we follow in his path. Never did Franklin or Jefferson believe Jesus and God are the same.
Jefferson dismissed evangelical Christianity as a hodge-podge of “holy mysticisms.” By this he meant that faith in a divine redeemer signaled an outbreak of superstition. Jefferson detested superstition that he linked with unreasoning faith. He cursed evangelical Christians who rode a long train of fears, horrors, charlatans, injustices, and brutish suffering. He never envisioned our government endorsing Jesus as its favorite philosopher.
Jefferson would have shuddered at the “Jesus Day” Texas Governor George W. Bush officially designated on June 10, 2000. “People of all religions recognize Jesus Christ as an example of love, compassion, sacrifice and service,” the official document coming from Austin declared. “Jesus Day challenges people to follow Christ’s example by performing good works in their communities and neighborhoods.” Here’s a prime example of Jefferson’s public faith and Bush’s Christian faith merging so that most Americans regard them as the same. Doing good for others on Jesus Day Jefferson would accept, of course.
He vigorously argued that doing this good in the name of Christ, as the Jesus Day announcement proclaims, promotes Christianity as our country’s preferred national religion. “Christ” is a biblical title the Scriptures equate with the Hebrew Messiah. It refers to the divinity Jesus, the Christ, displayed. For Jefferson and the Founding Fathers who fostered public faith, such a reference within a government document is totally out of order. Very undemocratic, also.
What are the distinguishing features of our nation’s public faith? The Age of Reason pushed aside the Age of Faith. The mind ranked higher than the heart. Reason towered over biblical revelation. Morals mattered more than miracles springing from superstition. Practicing public virtue with moral rigor trumped personal salvation Christ achieved on the cross. Public faith and Christian faith co-exist in our nation. Patriotism fosters public faith. Personal allegiance to the divine Christ is Christianity’s focus. These faiths must remain distinctive or democracy perishes.
Jack R. Van Ens is a Presbyterian minister who heads Creative Growth Ministries.
