Facts show U.S. not a Christian nation

I get tired of constantly pointing out that the United States is not a Christian nation (reference letter to the editor, Jan. 12 from P.J. Bertrand).

First, Thomas Jefferson never believed that God shaped people's lives and never believed that America should be a Christian nation. Further, regarding the Founding Fathers, the early presidents were generally Unitarians or deists believing in some form of impersonal God but rejecting the divinity of Jesus.

Thomas Paine disbelieved all religions. George Washington never declared himself a Christian, according to contemporary reports or in any of his voluminous correspondence. John Adams stated in later life that "this would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion at all."

I could go on with quotations from James Madison, Ethan Allen, Benjamin Franklin and more. The crux of the matter is that the United States is not a Christian nation founded on Christian principles.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Yemen are all Muslim nations founded on Muslim principles and are considered theocracies. The United is anything but. We are certainly different from those countries in that we do not profess to be a Christian nation, and believing that the United States is a Christian nation is wrong thinking and not in accordance with the facts.

Michael Lee

Wheeling