In America after the Civil War, the emancipation of four million slaves and the explosion of Chinese immigration fundamentally challenged traditional ideas about who belonged in the national polity. As Americans struggled to redefine citizenship in the United States, the "Negro Problem" and the "Chinese Question" dominated the debate. During this turbulent period, which witnessed the Supreme Court's Plessy v. Ferguson decision and passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, among other restrictive measures, American Baptists promoted religion instead of race as the primary marker of citizenship. Through its domestic missionary wing, the American Baptist Home Missionary Society, Baptists ministered to former slaves in the South and Chinese immigrants on the Pacific coast. Espousing an ideology of evangelical nationalism, in which the country would be united around Christianity rather than a particular race or creed, Baptists advocated inclusion of Chinese and African Americans in the national polity. Their hope for a Christian nation hinged on the social transformation of these two groups through spiritual and educational uplift. By 1900, the Society had helped establish important institutions that are still active today, including the Chinese Baptist Church and many historically black colleges and universities. Citizens of a Christian Nation chronicles the intertwined lives of African Americans, Chinese Americans, and the white missionaries who ministered to them. It traces the radical, religious, and nationalist ideology of the domestic mission movement, examining both the opportunities provided by the egalitarian tradition of evangelical Christianity and the limits imposed by its assumptions of cultural difference. The book further explores how blacks and Chinese reimagined the evangelical nationalist project to suit their own needs and hopes. Historian Derek Chang brings together for the first time African American and Chinese American religious histories through a multitiered local, regional, national, and even transnational analysis of race, nationalism, and evangelical thought and practice.

The church was established to serve the world with Christ-like love, not to rule the world. It is called to look like a corporate Jesus, dying on the cross for those who crucified him, not a religious version of Caesar. It is called to manifest the kingdom of the cross in contrast to the kingdom of the sword. Whenever the church has succeeded in gaining what most American evangelicals are now trying to get – political power – it has been disastrous both for the church and the culture. Whenever the church picks up the sword, it lays down the cross. The present activity of the religious right is destroying the heart and soul of the evangelical church and destroying its unique witness to the world. The church is to have a political voice, but we are to have it the way Jesus had it: by manifesting an alternative to the political, “power over,” way of doing life. We are to transform the world by being willing to suffer for others – exercising “power under,” not by getting our way in society – exercising “power over.”

This fascinating study examines America's complex and confusing history of arguing with itself over religion and secularism, God and politics, church and state. Hundreds of books are devoted to the ever-timely subject of the separation of church and state in America, but none does exactly what Christian Nation?: The United States in Popular Perception and Historical Reality does. Unlike other studies, this intriguing examination asks the right questions, defines the terms of the debate, explores the widely diverging points of view with equal respect for all sides, and provides insightful commentary and factual conclusions that cut through the clutter. The book begins with several questions: Is the United States a "Christian Nation?" Has it ever been? Was it ever meant to be? What did the Founding Fathers say? How has this issue been interpreted by various individuals and factions over the centuries? The author then surveys the vast literature on this topic, including the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence and the competing and/or complimentary views of various Founding Fathers to arrive at the answers—and, at long last, the truth.

Presents a historical overview of the relationship between the United States and Christianity and an analysis of the beliefs of such figures as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington.

This fast paced and well documented analysis of the government's steady march away from God will either thrill or anger you - depending on your worldview. For those of us who acknowledge the Creator of the Universe as our God, Savior, and Lord, this document tends to stir up both the sadness at the exponential slippage from our foundations as a Country, and a challenge to stand strongly and openly against the growing intensity of those who would remove "religion" from America. The "nations rage" sometimes and "imagine a vain thing," but "he who sits in the heavens shall laugh." Mr. Frater has done a wonderful job of tracing the Humanist movement from its early inception and its subtle and damaging impact on our nation over the decades. All serious students of history and those of Kingdom concern should avail themselves of his work. Henry M. Morris III Chief Executive Officer Institute for Creation Research George Frater, B.S., M.S., M.A., Ed.S., retired Quality Assurance/Quality Control Coordinator, Air Monitoring Department, Environmental Protection Commission, Hillsborough County, Florida. Education: Wisconsin State, B.S./Agriculture, Biology and Chemistry minors; Iowa State, M.S./Poultry Nutrition; and Vanderbilt, M.A. and Ed.S., Biology. Taught science in Brandon High School in Hillsborough County, and in Pillsbury Baptist Bible College, Minnesota. Ran the Cancer Research Center Tissue Culture Lab at Vanderbilt Hospital, Nashville. Served: Bible-Science Association on the National Board of Directors. B-SA Middle Tennessee Chapter as President. Floridians for the Accurate, Complete Teaching of Science as President. Current membership: Creation Research Society, an organization of scientists. Creation Studies Institute, contributing writer. Frater became alarmed at the number of Christian students lured into believing the Humanistic teaching in public schools and decided to arm them with facts from the past that would help them remain steadfast in their faith.

The Covenanters, now mostly forgotten, were America's first Christian nationalists. For two centuries they decried the fact that, in their view, the United States was not a Christian nation because slavery was in the Constitution but Jesus was not. Having once ruled Scotland as a part of a Presbyterian coalition, they longed to convert America to a holy Calvinist vision in which church and state united to form a godly body politic. Their unique story has largely been submerged beneath the histories of the events in which they participated and the famous figures with whom they interacted, making them the most important religious movement in American history that no one remembers. Despite being one of North America's smallest religious sects, the Covenanters found their way into every major revolt. They were God's rebels--just as likely to be Patriots against Britain as they were to be Whiskey Rebels against the federal government. As the nation's earliest and most avowed abolitionists, they had a significant influence on the fight for emancipation. In Founding Sins, Joseph S. Moore examines this forgotten history, and explores how Covenanters profoundly shaped American's understandings of the separation of church and state. While modern arguments about America's Christian founding usually come from the right, the Covenanters have a more complicated legacy. They fought for an explicitly Christian America in the midst of what they saw as a secular state that failed the test of Christian nationhood. But they did so on behalf of a cause--abolition--that is traditionally associated with the left. Though their attempts to insert God into the Constitution ultimately failed, Covenanters set the acceptable limits for religion in politics for generations to come.

Europe is a continent of ironies. There are beautiful, historic church buildings, but they are empty on Sunday mornings. Europeans have been surrounded by Christianity for centuries, but Christ is not in them. Is this the future of Christianity in Europe? May it never be! The author combines cultural analysis with a prophetic insight to propose a new direction for the European churches. The decline of Christianity in Europe has been necessary to shed excess baggage. The beautiful heritage of Christianity in Europe is truly wonderful, but that is not the essence of Christianity. Churches must return to the original priorities of the faith. Be a fisher of men. Do not assume that people already know about Christianity but are not interested. People may not be interested in religion, but Jesus has an irresistible appeal. Christianity cannot be reinvented, but churches can. If churches stop presuming that Europeans are already Christians and instead compete in the marketplace of ideas, they will be able to win back the hearts of the post-Christian Europeans. Europe is the most important mission field of the twenty-first century and the fiercest spiritual contest will take place in Europe. If you desire to be a servant of the Lord, ask him to send you into the harvest field of Europe. Exciting days are ahead of us.

Today, the United States stands as the most religiously diverse country in the world. This diversity poses great challenges as well as opportunities. Christian denominations and their cultural manifestations, however, often function to marginalize, exclude, and deny members and institutions of other religions and non-believers the privileges and access that accompany a Christian affiliation.

In today’s political climate, where most American Christians feel increasingly excluded, this book provides a step-by-step guide on how to apply historical references—as well as the words of past American leaders—as an avenue to reintroducing Christian principles into the political discussions of contemporary America. American history is full of demonstrations of faith and references to Christian principles. The very foundation of our nation rests upon ideas that were greatly influenced by the teachings of the Bible. In today’s America, there is a growing movement to silence Christianity from the public square. Many in our society today preach that Christianity has no place in the political structure of our nation. An increasingly vocal assembly of secular Americans wishes to restrict the principles of Christian faith entirely from our government. More and more, believers of the Bible are told to keep silent and not to interfere with the progress of America. Fortunately for religious Americans, there is an ample amount of our nation’s history that supports the right of Bible-believers to participate in politics. The purpose of this book is to reassure American Christians of their rightful place in our republic. More than ever before, American Christians need to be active in politics.