THE QUESTION

Some politically conservative Christians say that America is "a Christian nation," and at this time of year, with the country saturated with Christmas imagery, it can seem that they are right. Are they? Is America a "Christian nation"? Should it be?

Posted by Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on December 13, 2006 7:30 AM

FROM THE PANEL

“On Faith” panelist Lyle Dukes is Senior Pastor and founder of Harvest Life Changers Church in Woodbridge, Virginia. He and his wife, co-pastor Deborah Dukes, have served the church since its inception in 1995. Among the church’s ministries are an international television program, a regional radio program, world missions outreach as well as Christian bookstores, a record label (The Sound of Harvest), a publishing company (Harvest Word Publishing), community self-improvement courses (GED program, computer and financial courses) and numerous community service projects (prison and social services outreach). He and his wife produced CDs featuring the Harvest Life Changers Church Mass Choir and solo performances by Deborah Dukes. Their most popular CDs include Through the Eyes of God and In His Presence. Dukes and his wife were recognized as one of gospel industry’s top couples by Gospel Today Magazine. Dukes, a U.S. Army veteran, also is the author of several books and articles including, Possessing The Kingdom Anointing, The Ministry In You, Let Us Pray, Give It To Me Straight and Three Steps In Defeating Temptation and the co-author of The What Works The Best Principle.

By the Numbers

I believe that we ought to do our best to live and teach our convictions. But it is my opinion that God is not looking for a place to fit in. The real Christian nation does not have geographical borders.

Lyle Dukes Founder, Harvest Life Changers Church | 24 COMMENTS
Dec 19, 2006 at 5:30 PM
Jim Wallis is president and executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, progressive Christian movements founded to fight poverty and promote social justice. He also is the author of the best-selling God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It (2005). The “On Faith” panelist was raised in a Midwest evangelical family. As a teenager, his questioning of the racial segregation in his church and community led him to the black churches and neighborhoods of inner-city Detroit. He spent his student years involved in the civil rights and antiwar movements. While at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, Wallis and several other students started a small magazine and community with a Christian commitment to social justice that has grown into a national faith-based organization and network. In 1979, Time magazine named Wallis one of the “50 Faces for America’s Future.” Wallis also is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine and speaks at more than 200 events each year. Some of his other books include Faith Works; The Soul of Politics: A Practical and Prophetic Vision for Change; Who Speaks for God? A New Politics of Compassion, Community, and Civility; and Call to Conversion.

The Path of Jesus...and the State

Jim Wallis President, Sojourners/Call to Renewal | 31 COMMENTS
The Reverend William McD. Tully has been rector of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City since September 1994. The first professional calling of the “On Faith” panelist was to journalism, and he worked as a copy boy and local reporter at the Los Angeles Times. As a community worker for the Model Cities program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Tully discerned an "underlying call" that turned him toward ordained ministry and study at the General Theological Seminary. After ordination in 1974, he served as curate at the Church of the Epiphany, Manhattan; associate rector at St. Francis Church, Potomac, Maryland; and then as rector of St. Columba's Church, Washington, D.C. The people and mission of St. Columba's taught Tully about church growth, Christian hospitality and hope for the future of the church. Working with a dedicated group of leaders, an enlarged clergy and professional staff at St. Bart’s, Tully has led the church in its growth and renewal. He loves his ministry and is always eager to meet and work with others who have found a home and a ministry at St. Bart's.

My God Doesn't Need "Christian" Nation

William Tully Rector of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City | 28 COMMENTS
Michael Cromartie is Vice President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank dedicated to applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to public policy issues. The “On Faith” panelist directs the Center's Evangelicals in Civic Life  and Religion & the Media programs. Cromartie was appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2004 and is currently serves as its vice chair. He also is a senior advisor to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and a senior fellow with The Trinity Forum. He hosts Radio America 's weekly show "Faith and Life," is an advisory editor of Christianity Today and served as an advisor to the PBS documentary series With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Christian Right in America . He is the co-editor with Richard John Neuhaus of Piety and Politics: Evangelicals and Fundamentalists Confront the World, which Eternity magazine named one of the twenty-five best books of 1988.

Large Christian Population Does Not Make US 'Christian Nation'

Michael Cromartie Vice President, Ethics and Public Policy Center | 26 COMMENTS
Miroslav Volf   |  Donna Freitas   |  Sherman Jackson
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On Faith is an interactive conversation on religion moderated by Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post. It is produced jointly by Newsweek and washingtonpost.com, as is PostGlobal, a conversation on international affairs. Please send your comments, questions and suggestions for On Faith to editor and producer David Waters.