People who do not know or acknowledge God often benefit from the stability of the nation they live in—stability that exists because of God’s blessing—even as they try to deny His existence, His sovereignty over the nations, and the very blessings they freely consume. They attempt to remove the knowledge of God from their nation, even as they live under the grace He provides.
📖 “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” – Matthew 5:45
📖 “The Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He chooses.” – Daniel 4:17
The Argument Against a Christian America
It’s no different today. When a young man argues to Charlie Kirk that America is based on common law and therefore is not a Christian nation, Charlie not only does an excellent job breaking down the foundational truths of America’s Christian roots, but he also provides answers we can all learn from. His response reminds us to seek a return to God’s original intent for this nation.
📖 “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” – Psalm 11:3
The Christian Foundation of the Original States
Charlie begins by explaining that we were originally a collection of states and colonies. To understand the foundation of our government, you need to read the original state constitutions. Out of the original 13 states, 9 required you to be a Bible-believing Christian to serve in government. All 13 required some form of declaration of faith. Most also required you to be Protestant—except Maryland, which was Catholic—but even Maryland still required a religious declaration.
📖 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” – Psalm 33:12
In fact, nearly every one of the original state constitutions, including Pennsylvania’s, included statements like: “I profess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.” That was the standard. Again, we were a collection of states before becoming one nation.
The Christian Character of the Founding Fathers
It’s also important to note: 55 out of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Bible-believing, church-attending Christians.
📖 “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established.” – Proverbs 24:3
Blackstone and the Biblical Roots of Common Law
Our legal system—common law—is inherited from Sir William Blackstone, who wrote from a Christian perspective. A core question he asked was: Is common law an outgrowth of the Scriptures? The answer is yes.
Biblical Principles Behind American Jurisprudence
Let’s consider three foundational principles of common law:
- Presumption of innocence
- Due process
- Trial by a jury of your peers
All three are biblical principles, rooted in Scripture and wrapped in a larger biblical command:
📖 “You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.” – Leviticus 19:15
Just before the famous verse:
📖 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Leviticus 19:18
This standard of blind justice—not favoring anyone based on wealth or status—became central to the Western legal tradition. And it’s echoed again in the New Testament:
📖 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” – Galatians 3:28
These ideas of human equality and dignity are biblical, not Enlightenment ideas—though they often get conflated.
God in the Declaration of Independence
People sometimes downplay America’s Christian roots by noting that God is only mentioned four times in the Declaration of Independence. But each reference is significant:
- “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”
- “Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world…”
Who is the Judge of the world?
📖 “He has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.” – John 5:27
📖 “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God… and the dead were judged according to their works.” – Revelation 20:12
They were praying directly to Christ in that moment.
Deuteronomy: The Founders’ Most Quoted Source
Interestingly, the book most quoted during the founding era wasn’t Locke, Montesquieu, or even Blackstone—it was Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy lays out laws, customs, and governance, essentially Moses’ farewell address to Israel, saying: “Here’s how you should govern yourselves in the Promised Land.”
📖 “Choose for yourselves wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.” – Deuteronomy 1:13
The Constitution Was Meant for a Christian People
Let’s not forget what the Founders themselves explicitly said.
John Adams wrote: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
📖 “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” – Proverbs 14:34
The early American body politic was so thoroughly Christian—especially Protestant—that the structure of our government was designed for a people who believed in Christ as Lord.
A Constitutional Crisis Rooted in Spiritual Decline
One reason we’re experiencing a constitutional crisis today is because we no longer live in a Christian nation, yet we are still trying to operate under a Christian form of government. The two are incompatible.
📖 “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” – Amos 3:3
📖 “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17
You cannot have liberty without a Christian population.