If we consider the actual words and actions of the Founders of America, it becomes very clear that the political agenda of the "Fundamentalist Christian Right" and "Christian" Dominionists in America today is not at all compatible with the fundamental ideals of the Founders, nor is it compatible with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, or with the obligations of truly democratic government.
The Constitution and the intent of the Founders of America and the Framers of the U.S. Constitution regarding religion has been simply ignored, especially since 1823 when the "Christian" "Doctrine of Discovery" was carried over from Europe and adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court to give white European Americans the right to rob "heathen" (Native Americans) of their land.
That was a groundbreaking event and the first of its kind, and leaders from each of the great religions presented their views. This created appreciation for Eastern religions -- appreciation that had been passed down from mainstream Western philosophers of the 1700s who were fascinated with Eastern culture, religion, literature and philosophy -- including such great philosophers, poets and writers as Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Friedrich Nietzsche, Charles Baudelaire, William James, Percy Shelley and Walt Whitman, among others
In the 1930s, however, Christian Dominionists began to react and assert themselves, and they sought not only to combat religious pluralism and reject the idea of equality of religions. They also sought to censor the movie industry, and they succeeded. That right-wing conservative "Christian Revival" of the 1930s then continued sporadically throughout the 1940s and then became very aggressive in the 1950s. It had a significant impact on both the movie and television industry, and rigid censorship was imposed on the broadcast and entertainment industry by a very powerful conservative clergy, even though they were in the minority.
That Christian Dominionist movement became aggressive in the 1950s because theocratic evangelist Billy Graham tried to get President Eisenhower to institute an official statement that "America is a Christian nation under God" -- a notion that had been rejected by the Founders and later by Congress, and even later by the U.S. Supreme Court that agreed with the Jeffersonian democratic view.
In the 1950s President Eisenhower was pushed hard not only by Billy Graham but also by other Christian evangelists and proselytizers such as Francis Schaeffer and Abraham Vereide. But Eisenhower held firm in honoring the Founders' precedent of being generic when referring to God.
Even when the phrase "under God" was inserted into in the pledge of allegiance in 1954 due to pressure by Christian Dominionists, it was a compromise. And actually it merely acknowledged that the Founders had used generic terms like "Nature's God" and the "Creator" in official documents while avoiding the endorsement of any particular religion. For Eisenhower fortunately recognized why the Founders understood that we cannot have religious freedom unless all religions are treated as equal by government, showing no favoritism.
Despite that, Billy Graham continued his theocratic efforts. In fact, Graham made a compact with Richard Nixon, secretly endorsed Nixon over John F. Kennedy for president, and he met with a large group of evangelical Christian clergy to coax them to endorse Nixon too. And that, by the way, violated an Internal Revenue Service code that prohibits any tax exempt religious institution from endorsing any political candidate -- a code that right-wing preachers often violate.
After that, Graham, Schaeffer and other right-wing evangelists kept pushing, and they eventually politicized and radicalized some influential television evangelists, like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
The result was that in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was campaigning for the presidency he made a pact with Falwell and Robertson, and thus the "Moral Majority" and the "religious right" or "Christian Right" was revived and energized to influence politics and government. And it's only gotten worse since then.
Today the number of Theocrats is much larger, though their blind flocks are still in the distinct minority. But their leaders are, nevertheless, very influential and have had the power to influence and even direct the actions of certain members of Congress and certain members of the Supreme Court. Even today members of the legislative and judicial branches of government are being swayed by aggressive political action by the likes of David Barton, James Dobson, Franklin Graham, Rick Warren, Douglas Coe, Charles Colson, Stuart Epperson and Tim LaHaye, along with many other Theocrats who adamantly claim that Christians must rule according to "divine right."
The truth, however, is that they strive to revive the man-made theocratic doctrine of Christian superiority and supremacy that actually led to the horribly oppressive Dark Ages, the bloody Crusades, the cruel Inquisitions, and all the religious military industrial imperialism ever since, all in the name of Christianity.
Of course, not all Christian evangelists are theocratic, and some are more theocratic than others. However, the point is that if one actually believes what the Nicene Creed declares, and if one believes in the parts of the official church canon that resulted in the notions expressed in the Nicene Creed, then one is easily led to the erroneous conclusion that Christianity is the only religion founded by "God Himself" and therefore Christianity will ultimately be the world's religion.
That idea, in fact, is just as erroneous as the idea that Judaism or Islam will ultimately be the world's religion.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).