During many high school classes, I remember lectures on how the nation was founded. More specifically, I remember a couple lectures that taught that the founding fathers created this nation on Christian principles. That when drafting the Constitution, the founding fathers all used the Bible as a moral code, and they intended for the nation to be a “Christian Nation” in spirit, if not in name. They argued that even though many of the founding fathers were not Christian, they grew up in a Christian society with Christian values. They grew up reading the bible, and that even if it was not direct, the elements of Christianity were an inspiration for the framing of the Nation.

However, this is not true. Under President John Adams, the Treaty of Tripoli was signed, and under Article 11, the following was written:

“As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”

The underlying sentiment behind this specific paragraph was to assure Tripoli that no religious conflict would arise between us because the United States is a secular nation, not a religious one.

It may seem that this belief is harmless, or at the very least, a small distinction in the great history of our nation’s beginnings. But this belief is not harmless. This type of wrong thinking has the potential to damage our institutions and the citizenry.

Today, many people believe that the U.S. is a Christian Nation; they also believe that the President should be Christian. I was surprised to find out that one of my teachers believed that Christianity was the national religion, and that many would support establishing Christianity as the national religion. Such legislation would violate the first amendment of the constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion. Freedom of Religion was established to protect people of all faiths from the government. If a national religion was named, by its very nature, other religions would suffer, and our government’s democratic system would fail.

These beliefs also have the power to harm others. According to social psychology, we tend to have an “us vs them” group mentality. If we believe that U.S. is a Christian nation, then we’ll start to believe that this country belongs to us as Christian Americans, rather than us as Americans. Religious xenophobia as well as doubt and distrust of other non-Christian Americans will increase. What happens when a Muslim runs for President? Or when others of a different religious background want to come to our country? Fear and Suspicion will win.

All peoples of all backgrounds and beliefs are welcomed here now. We are not a Christian Nation, and that’s good thing.