Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American

SCIENCE SALON # 73

Michael Shermer with Andrew Seidel — The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American

In this important new book, The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American, constitutional attorney and scholar at the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), Andrew L. Seidel, begins by explaining what apparently religious language is doing in the Declaration of Independence. Does this prove that America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles? Are the Ten Commandments the basis for American law? What, exactly, was the role of religion in America’s founding? Christian nationalists assert that our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and advocate an agenda based on this popular historical claim. But is this belief true? The Founding Myth answers the question once and for all. Seidel builds his case point by point, comparing the Ten Commandments to the Constitution and contrasting biblical doctrine with America’s founding philosophy, showing that the Bible contradicts the Declaration of Independence’s central tenets. Thoroughly researched, this persuasively argued and fascinating book proves that America was not built on the Bible and that Christian nationalism is, in fact, un-American.

Seidel and Shermer also discuss:

• the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade and he explains how this could happen in the next 3–5 years
• new laws being passed in many southern states enacting the teaching of Christianity and the bible in public schools
• the thousands of letters that the FFRF receives every year from both secularists and members of minority religions who feel and believe that their rights are being threatened and even violated by Christian nationalists
• the “religious exemption” for vaccinations and why it’s nonsense
• why Christianity was not responsible for the abolition of slavery
• how the South justified slavery in the Civil War
• how Christian nationalists cherry pick biblical passages to fit current secular moral trends
• the historical treatment of women in Christianity
• the historical treatment of homosexuals in Christianity, and
• why moral progress must come from the bottom up from cultural change as well as top down from changing laws.

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