Should America Be A Christian Nation?

In America theres always a debate especially among some evangelical christians about making the US a christian nation. The following letter to one of the workers in the office of the Sentinel, an American religious liberty magazine that is no longer publishing, shows that thinking people realize thab the work of the then National Reform party seriously threatened the liberty of  the US:—

LOUISVILLE, KY., Jan, 21, 1887.

Dear Editor: 

I have carefully read and considered both, and would say that I fully indorse the sentiments of the SENTINEL, as being the only safe doctrine for the people of this nation and the only safeguard for religious liberty.

" Our fathers wisely provided in the Constitution that: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exorcise thereof.' They were quickened in their wisdom by the times in which they lived (a fact which their children seem to have forgotten), and this with the knowledge of tho certain fact that history will repeat itself. If tho National Reform party could but substitute their proposed amendment for this wise and beneficent provision, the end of the present century would find religious persecution substituted for religious freedom.

"A State which prescribes religion, prescribes conscience, or a moral sense of duty to (rod, and here is the end of practical piety, the country's peace, and the people's freedom. If the omnipotence of God is not sufficient to demand acknowledgment of himself, as the author of the nation's existence, and of Jesus 'Christ as its ruler,' 'and the Bible as the supreme rule of its conduct,' then that religion is a mockery, which proposes a constitutional amendment to supply the imperfections of Deity.

"It is suggested by the amendment to make this ' a Christian nation.' It would hardly be adopted before the question would arise as to who are Christians—and this would result in a fight more bitter than will ever be made to secure the adoption of the proposed amendment—if it ever should be adopted. There is but one conclusion to the National Reform party. They seem to have forgotten the history of every country in the world, and they also seem to have forgotten the causes that lead to the enactment of the constitutional provision before quoted. No king, prince, or potentate ever committed as many depredations upon human rights as have professed Christians under the guise of saving souls. To escape such, our ancestors came to this land of freedom.

Yours respectfully,

JAMES T. MILBUKN.