Is America a Christian Nation? The Hidden Truth About Our Nation

On June 14, I had the privilege to interview my friend Eric Metaxas. We talked about his new book, Revolution—which is now on the New York Times Best Seller list—and America’s spiritual roots that many either deny or just don’t know about. It was a fascinating discussion I think both Christians and non-Christians can learn a lot from.

Below are portions of our conversation:

The American Revolution Is the Only Real Revolution That Ever Took Place

Greg Laurie:

So this new book, Revolution—you didn’t call it American Revolution. You just called it Revolution.  There’s a reason for that?

Eric Metaxas:

Well, I guess I should say first that I wanted to write a definitive book about the American Revolution, about what happened 250 years ago. That was my goal.

And when I say that, I mean not a book about the Christian roots of America, not just a book that tells the story of the run-up to Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill and Washington—just the story of the American Revolution. I said, “This is the 250th anniversary,” which is the supercentennial. That’s the term—supercentennial. It’s on the cover of the book.

And that was all I wanted to do. So I thought, to write a definitive book on the American Revolution, the title should just be The American Revolution.

But as I thought about it, I said, “You know what? The word ‘American’ in this case is redundant.” It’s unnecessary, because there has only been one revolution in the history of the world that ever succeeded. And that was the American Revolution. 

…[The others are] fake revolutions, false revolutions.

The Success of the American Revolution Is Owed to Faith-Informed Beliefs

Eric Metaxas:

…Our revolution is the only revolution in the history of the world that said, “We are going to govern ourselves. We’re going to let the people govern,” and it actually worked.

And the reason for that is super simple—and I didn’t know this until I really wrote the book… In our revolution, the men of the revolution understood “What we’re doing is we’re going back to the Sinai covenant.” 

We’re going back—this hasn’t been done in 3,000 years in history—where, yeah, we’re going to get rid of an earthly king, but we’re going to look to God, our King, as our sovereign.

They really understood that. And in the course of doing the research, I was astonished that they all understood that—and that we haven’t heard this. And it’s not taught in schools. Or if it was ever taught, it’s been forgotten.

…And I thought, “This is amazing.” And of course, because of that, they succeeded.

And so it really gave me a completely different view of America in a way, and of the Revolution.

I said, “This is something that God allowed in history which had never been done before, and we need to be filled with gratitude that we get to live in a country where we genuinely govern ourselves.”

And we have to take it seriously. And we have to understand what it means, and we have to live into it. We can’t take it for granted.

Without Christianity, There Would Be No American Revolution. Revival Changed the Course of History. 

Greg Laurie:

…Well, before there was a revolution, you might say there was a revelation. There was a work of the Holy Spirit in the colonies through a man from England named George Whitefield.

And he had this incredibly powerful voice. He was hoping to be a stage actor—and he was for a period of time—but he came to Christ. His life was radically changed.

He preached in England—actually, he was thrown out of the churches there—started preaching in the open fields, the coal mines—and then eventually came to America. And he was sort of the tip of the spear of a spiritual awakening…

Eric:

It’s difficult to exaggerate about George Whitefield. There was no evangelist in the history ever—I always joke around that he makes the Apostle Paul and Billy Graham look like lazy agnostics. That’s the level of wild.

He had preached thousands and thousands of sermons. But God used him as the forefront of the Great Awakening. 

So, revival was kindled all up and down the thirteen colonies. It changed things so dramatically that by the time you get to the American Revolution, people were ready to govern themselves. They basically said, “We look to God. And because we look to God, we can govern ourselves.”

And the leaders in the Revolution understand we have a population capable of pulling this off because they are looking to God… Without that, people cannot govern themselves.

And all the founders understood that idea. And I quote it in the book, and it’s been quoted many times, John Adams said—I should remember the exact quote, but I don’t—but basically, it’s useless unless you have a virtuous and moral population. If the people are truly moral and virtuous, then we can govern ourselves, and we can–you know, our Constitution works.

Greg Laurie:

The quote from Adams was “ Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It’s wholly inadequate for the government of any others.”

Eric Metaxas:

…And he is not the only one that said that. Many of the men of that time understood this very clearly, that “this is what we’re doing, we’re going back to Sinai. We’re going to do what hasn’t been done in 3,000 years and we can only do it with the Lord’s help.”

… So that’s why these lies that we’ve lived with—you know, that, “Oh, they were Deists”—it’s complete baloney.

The Founding Fathers Were NOT Deists. And Here’s How We Know.

Greg Laurie:

Let’s define that. What is a deist?

Eric Metaxas:

A deist is basically someone who would say, “I believe in God.” 

… Well, you know, the devil also believes in God. Do you trust in God? Do you love Him?

So a lot of secular historians have dismissed a lot of the founders as deists.

Deism was popular in the French Enlightenment—but it’s not Christianity. It’s kind of vague, sort of useless, belief.

Greg Laurie:

That God isn’t really involved in our lives.  Perhaps they would acknowledge He created us. And the Bible is an interesting book of inspiration…  But we as Christians believe that God—yes, He created us—but He’s actively involved in our lives. He’s leading us. And I think it’s clear that God was leading these Founding Fathers…

Eric Metaxas:

…They all wrote letters that would make it obvious that they believed God is active in history, that He responds to our prayers. Deists do not talk like that—ever.

And so it’s a total lie. And I have to say it gets me angry. When I did the research, I thought, “This is a lie.”

Greg Laurie:

… It’s an intentional distortion.

Eric Metaxas:

Yes. It’s intentional, and it confuses people and misleads people.

 And so I didn’t write this book to correct anything at all. I just wrote the truth. But I was startled by some of the truth, because I thought, I never knew it was so obvious that they all believed this way.

 I mean, maybe you make the case that Jefferson is a deist. But even Jefferson buys the idea that they’re going back to Sinai.

 …And Benjamin Franklin could not be a deist. He wouldn’t say at the Constitutional Convention “If a sparrow cannot fall [to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?]” He knew that God is a God of history. And maybe he didn’t know when he was a younger man, but he knew it later on.

Greg Laurie:

 Well, in fact, Benjamin Franklin played a key role in exploding the ministry of George Whitefield, publishing his sermons. I think maybe Franklin was motivated a bit by the monetary gain. But he knew what Whitefield was saying. He appreciated what he was bringing to the colonies, and so he really played a part, like it or not—and I think he probably did like it—in the spiritual awakening that preceded the American Revolution.

Eric Metaxas:

No doubt about it. Yes. I agree.

The Ideas Expressed in the Declaration of Independence Came from Christianity 

Eric Metaxas:

… As I’m doing the research, I’m thinking, “Wait a minute. John Adams is the architect of independence.”

… [Jefferson] wasn’t writing anything that they didn’t all know, and had known for years. They’d known this stuff for years, and they had it in other documents and stuff. They just wanted somebody to kind of pull it together in this thing, and of course he does beautifully.

…This is not to take anything away from Jefferson—but to pretend he came up with this stuff… he did not come up with this stuff.

 This stuff had been come up with from the Bible, through the Reformation, through Puritan theology. And everybody understood this who was involved.

 It wasn’t like after they declare independence, they read Jefferson and they go, “Oh, well we never heard of this, but yeah, good. We’ll sign this.”

The Founders “Saw This as an Explicitly Christian Project.” Unless We Understand This, “America Cannot Go Forward.”

Greg Laurie:

 …You didn’t set out to write a Christian book about America. You set out to write a book about the Revolutionary War, how America came to be. But it turns out it’s a very Christian story because God was at work all throughout.

Eric Metaxas:

It’s inescapable.

…Look, it’s simply true. It’s not “Christian history”—it’s history. And history speaks for itself and it is what it is.

… It’s important that we know this. It’s not a side issue. It’s central to everything. 

America cannot go forward unless we understand who we are, unless we understand our founding, unless we understand the men of the founding saw this as an explicitly Christian project [that] they were doing. That’s not just a couple of them—they all understood that.

Listen to the full episode on The Greg Laurie Show.