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  "path": "/2026/05/25/is-america-built-on-the-gospel/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-25T16:30:01.000Z",
  "site": "https://juicyecumenism.com",
  "tags": [
    "America",
    "movie",
    "speech",
    "told",
    "Is America Built on the Gospel?",
    "Juicy Ecumenism"
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  "textContent": "On this Memorial Day, as we honor those who died in service to America, it’s instructive to reflect on America’s origins and purposes.\n\nThe recent movie _A Great Awakening_ recalls the friendship and business partnership of Benjamin Franklin and evangelist George Whitefield. A skeptical deist, Franklin was never fully converted by the preacher who led revival in colonial America. But, at least as portrayed in the film, Franklin appreciated that Whitefield’s exertions gave Americans confidence that their rights were from God, enabling their revolt against Britain.\n\nIn the film’s final scene, an aged Franklin urges a divided Constitutional Convention to lace their deliberations with prayer, as “unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” The film captures some of the complex interplay between America’s founding and Christianity.\n\nIn contrast, last month, with less nuance, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley declared in a speech at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky:\n\n**_This country was founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This country was founded on the truth of the Bible. This country was not founded on some Enlightenment secularism. It was not founded on a series of neutral principles, whatever those would be. This country was founded on the truth of Scripture._**\n\nOn Sunday, May 17, on the National Mall in Washington, DC at a day-long rally called “Rededicate 250,” numerous speakers reiterated America’s Christian origins. The theme of America’s Christians origins, especially prominent over the last 40 years or so, pushes back against 20th century histories that minimized religion in America’s founding and wider history.\n\nBut there also has been a belief among many conservative Christians, especially evangelicals, that reclaiming and touting this history will strengthen Christianity today in America. This hope is perhaps mostly misplaced, since non-religious or less religious people, even if they accept the premise, are not persuaded of the binding relevance for today. After all, what’s past is past!\n\nAnd there’s a danger in exaggerating the Christian origins of America. If America was “founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” then America is literally a church unto itself, bound to specific Christian doctrine for its identity. This expectation and standard are unattainable and create dangerous expectations.\n\nNo nation is a church or wholeheartedly Christian. We are all, as citizens of this nation or that, in and of the world, amid the wheat and the tares. The Church, as The Bride of Christ, is in the world but not of it. It is bound to Christian doctrine, it worships its Lord, it witnesses to the Gospel, it teaches and performs good works to honor God. But no nation or society can conflate with much less compete with the church.\n\nAnd no nation is literally “built on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” No nation has that level of purity even at its beginnings. The first settlers of Anglo America at Jamestown were all men and came for gold, land, and adventure. They had a cleric, and an established church, and they were expected to worship regularly. But the colony foundered for years, due to disorganization, laziness, rebellion, foolishness, and greed. Some were religiously devout. Some were not. Yet God in His sovereignty used them all.\n\nThe second major settlement of Anglo America was Plymouth Rock, more often associated with America’s Christian founding, as the Pilgrims were devout separatist Calvinist Christians seeking freedom from the Church of England. But most of the Mayflower’s passengers were “strangers,” not Pilgrims, who came as skilled craftsmen or bringing other skills, hoping to prosper in America. New England across subsequent decades was ruled by Puritans but not everyone was a Puritan or religiously devout. Eventually the Puritan theocracy could no longer survive as the population became more diverse. Yet God presided, as He always does.\n\nSome early American colonies with established churches mandated some level of church attendance. But this expectation was not always enforced. Most people lived in the countryside, not close to a church, without traveling many hours on difficult or non-existent roads. Some people were literate and could read the Bible or other spiritual materials. But many were not literate.\n\nOverall church attendance in early America was almost certainly less than it is today. And certainly, today everyone has easier access to religious materials, especially online. Today everyone can read a Bible or watch a sermon, effortlessly, no matter where they are.\n\nThere’s much debate over the religiosity of America’s Founders. Nearly all professed to be Christian but several prominent ones, like Franklin, rejected the Trinity and Christ’s deity even as they often attended churches. The Founders did not write the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution nor into the civil law of most states. Their choice did not reflect impiety so much as it reflected their understanding that governments and nations are not churches. Nations have a more limited, less cosmic purpose.\n\nWe on this earth live in a time before the completion of God’s Kingdom. The Gospel is proclaimed by the church. Some believe it, others do not. God judges human hearts. Christians extol their faith and hopefully strive to live according to its principles. But we cannot force God’s hand. We anticipate “the world to come,” which arrives according to God’s schedule.\n\nChristianity has always pervaded America. It’s impossible to imagine America without it. G.K. Chesterton said America has the “soul of a church.” He was not confusing America with a church. He did not say that America was “built on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” He meant that America was, like a church, built on a creed, which is the Declaration of Independence and its affirmation of human equality with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.\n\nAmerica’s theoretical commitment to human equality derives from Christianity and its understanding that all are created by God, bear His image, are sought for salvation, and will face Him in judgment amid mercy. But America is not a church. And to insist that it is thoroughly Christian presumptuously demands what is impossible barring divine intervention.\n\nChristianity has leavened America and hopefully will long continue to do so. But we who are Christians cannot conflate our faith with our nation. And we trust that God has our nation and all nations in His hands, ultimately claiming all things for His purposes. As Benjamin Franklin, the religious skeptic, told the Constitutional Convention, both in reality and in the film _A Great Awakening_ :\n\n**I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?**\n\nChristians, including those who don’t act very Christian, and non-Christians, all operate under divine sovereignty. God’s power and Christ’s lordship don’t require our stipulating that America is thoroughly Christian. By faith, we know that all are under His care, His judgment, and His grace. And we pray for His mercy, for ourselves, and our nation.\n\nContrary to Senator Hawley’s assertion, America was not literally built on the Gospel. But America is nurtured by and sustained by the Gospel. If we as Christians are faithful, the Gospel will continue to animate America and to advance righteousness in our land that we love and serve.\n\nThe post Is America Built on the Gospel? appeared first on Juicy Ecumenism.",
  "title": "Is America Built on the Gospel?"
}