America's Transcendent Tether.

The article examines whether America was ever a Christian nation, concluding that while it was never de jure Christian, it long operated under a shared civil religion tethered to a transcendent Creator until the Supreme Court severed that link mid-century. Topics include the distinction between de f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity Vol. 39; no. 4; pp. 20 - 27
Main Author: Litfin, Duane
Format: Article
Published: Fellowship of St. James Jul/Aug2026
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        affil: President Emeritus of Wheaton College
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        Civil religion
        Christianity & culture
        Christian nationalism
        God
        United States. Supreme Court
        Civil society
        Supreme Court justices (U.S.)
        Institutionalism (Religion)
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          Civil religion
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          Christian nationalism
          God
          United States. Supreme Court
          Civil society
          Supreme Court justices (U.S.)
          Institutionalism (Religion)
      ab: The article examines whether America was ever a Christian nation, concluding that while it was never de jure Christian, it long operated under a shared civil religion tethered to a transcendent Creator until the Supreme Court severed that link mid-century. Topics include the distinction between de facto and de jure Christianity, the rise and function of American civil religion; and the legal and cultural consequences of cutting off vertical reasoning from public life.
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