A Christian Nation

Statistics say America is not only a religious nation but also a Christian one. Up to 85% of Americans identify themselves as Christians. Brian Cronin, who litigated against a cross on public land in Boise, Idaho, complained, "For Buddhists, Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians in Boise, the cross only drives home the point that they are strangers in a strange land." yep, that is correct for they are.

America is a predominantly Christian nation with a secular government. Non-Christians may legitimately see themselves as strangers because they or their ancestors moved to this "strange land" founded and peopled by Christians -- even as Christians become strangers by moving to Israel, India, Thailand or Morocco, when I am visiting Buddhist Thailand I do not expect that they will deny their religion.

It is said that India is the most religious nation on earth and Sweden the least. The American population is like India and the government is like Sweden. This causes deep conflict.

Today, overwhelming majorities of Americans affirm religious beliefs. When asked in 2003 simply whether they believed in God or not, 92% said yes.

In a series of 2002-03 polls, 65% said religion was very important in their lives, 27% said fairly important, and 18% said not very important.

Large proportions are active in the practice of their religion. In 2002 and 2003, an average of 65% claimed membership in a church or synagogue. About 40% said they had attended church or synagogue in the previous seven days, and roughly 33% said they went to church at least once a week.

In the same period, about 60% of Americans said they prayed one or more times a day, more than 20% once or more a week, about 10% less than once a week, and 10% never.

Only about 10% of Americans espouse atheism, and most Americans do not approve of it.

Although the willingness of Americans to vote for a presidential candidate from a minority group has increased dramatically -- over 90% of those polled in 1999 said they would vote for a black, Jewish or female presidential candidate, while 59% were willing to vote for a homosexual -- only 49% were willing to vote for an atheist.

Americans seem to agree with the Founding Fathers that their republican government requires a religious base, and hence find it difficult to accept the explicit rejection of God.