Baptizing America

The design of the Christian flag occurred in 1897. As the story goes, when a guest speaker failed to show up for Sunday School at the Coney Island Congregational Church (also known as Brighton Chapel) in Brooklyn, New York, a local leader gave an impromptu speech. Noticing an American flag draped over the corner of the pulpit, Charles Overton used

Consider the shift in religious demographics since the publication of Bellah’s piece on civil religion in 1967. According to Gallup, 92% of Americans identified as Christian in 1967.15 That left 3% as Jewish, 3% as another faith, and only 2% claiming no faith. In terms of demographics, the U.S. was basically a nation of Christians. And it was parti

That means they aren’t just offering a kind of two kingdoms theology, acknowledging citizenship obligations to both an early and heavenly realm. Rather, the congregations symbolically say which kingdom they really follow, and which they find subservient or secondary at best.

Later, a historian on the faculty of the Catholic University in America telephoned me to say that the baptism of the president must be the first baptism of a chief of state since Clovis I, king of the Franks in the sixth century.”

Rev. Hermann Morse, a Presbyterian minister who was elected as one of the first NCC vice presidents and who would shortly thereafter serve as moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), spoke about the mission “to make this a Christian nation.”23 He argued the NCC could play a critical role in this development: “We dare to believe that a Christi

A common definition of mainline Protestants focuses on the historic denominations sometimes called the “Seven Sisters”: American Baptist Churches USA, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church.

Republicanism is the religion, and they’ve been fighting for that for at least 25 years—just to turn it into a religion. So that it doesn’t matter what they do—and let’s be honest, Trump is probably one of the worst humans in the whole universe—my dad will never be able to do anything other than be on this “religion team” because he’s told that it’

Christian ethicist David Gushee warns that when reactionary “Christians believe themselves to be losing significant cultural influence, facing moral or political threats to their families or institutions, and being offered the opportunity to (re)gain cultural and political power, they can prove susceptible to authoritarian, antidemocratic, Christia

A preacher stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and prayed aloud for America to be “one nation under God.” Those nearby him sang Christian hymns as they suggested God supported them against their political opponents. But this wasn’t during the insurrection of 2021.