The Faith Of Our (Founding) Fathers (Part 4)

OK - I got distracted yesterday by comments left to previous posts. Today I want to get to what I had intended to close with yesterday.

Just in time for Holy Week, President Obama made remarks that upset many Christians when he said that "we do not consider ourselves to be a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves to be a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values." While many of my friends on the right (and the left) focused on the first 10 words of that remark and missed the larger point that the President was making (which is not a half bad point by the way) the President missed one of the large parts of the ideals and values that founded this nation (as I mentioned in previous posts) - the desire for a country where the citizens can and do worship the God of the Jewish/Christian faith.

Then Newsweek came out with an article proclaiming "The End of Christian America" and we had a well publicized debate between renowned atheist Christopher Hitchens and Ken Blackwell. All signs (if you believed the conventional wisdom) pointed toward the decline of Christianity in America - one that matches the decline of Christianity in Europe. However, someone forgot to tell the American people that Christianity was on the wane....

As Christians gather to celebrate Easter this Sunday, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 88% of adults nationwide think the person known to history as Jesus Christ actually walked the earth 2,000 years ago. That’s up five points from a year ago. Today, 5% disagree and 7% are not sure.

Eighty-two percent (82%) also believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God who came to Earth and died for our sins. Another 10% think otherwise and 8% aren’t sure.

Nearly as many, 79% believe the central claim of the Christian faith--that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Only 10% say they do not believe the first Easter resurrection really happened, while 11% are not sure.

Emphasis mine.

So for those (like Mr. Meecham) who want to declare the end of the Christian era in America I have one thing to say....don't count your chickens before they have hatched. You just might be sorely disappointed to find out that your hypothesis does not match reality - AGAIN....