A Christian Nation

"My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?" Mark 11:17

One day recently I received a request to send word to President Obama that our nation is a christian nation. I am not weighing in on the side of the comments that he is making, because I am not happy with most of them. But I want to raise the question, "Is our nation really a christian nation?"

Certainly our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values. Our bill of rights was primarily written by a Baptist preacher. Without the foundation of the scripture we would likely not have ever become what we have. But today our nation is a mixture of all kinds of religious expression by all kinds of people groups. Most of our major cities are ethnic, not white anglo saxon protestants. Projections are that trend will continue. Some even suggest that muslim may become the predominant religion simply by birth rate in another 15 to 20 years.

What concerns me most, however, is that a majority of people in our country still claim to be born again christians. They say they believe in God, and that the Bible is still a source of authority. Yet studies and surveys by Gallup and Barna suggest that christians do not live by any different guidelines than non believers. On any given Sunday 80% or more of the population of our nation is not in church anywhere.

So by what standard are we a christian nation? By our roots of origination? By our claims to faith? Certainly we cannot claim to be a christian nation by the way we live. Isn't it time for God's people to pray for a spiritual awakening? Or is it too late?