There are even countries that are predominantly Muslim, e.g., Turkey, that might take exception to being considered "Muslim" in any formal, prescriptive sense. Similarly, few people think of the Western Sudan, reportedly one hundred percent Muslim, as a Muslim nation.

If we were to take, on the other hand, adherence to religious values and principles as the measuring stick, we might end up having to concede that there is not a Christian, Jewish or Muslim nation on the planet.

I think, however, that there may be another useful criterion for gauging a nation's religious identity, namely the manner in which it has traditionally understood religion itself and what this understanding contributes to the way religion is presently thought about, discussed and judged.

On this criterion, I think there is very a strong case for considering America a Christian nation. If we look at such common religious constructs as "sacred," holy," "spiritual," "sin," even "religion," we find that our understandings of these things are deeply informed by Christian sensibilities, a Christian heritage and a Christian intellectual landscape.

Indeed, one might even argue in this context that even American atheism is hopelessly "christian." A deranged man walks into a nursery and opens fire on the children. The rhetorical response of American atheists is commonly, "How could a just and merciful god allow such things to happen?"

Such a question, of course, would have no meaning for a Zoroastrian or even an Muslim who happened to be a Mu‘tazilite (which I am not). For the Zoroastrian, such events are not sponsored by a just and merciful God; they are the work of the god of evil. For a Mu'tazilite, God is not responsible for such acts; humans are. But for American atheists who see this as an indictment of the CHRISTIAN god, such an event would go down as another justification for their rejection of God, period.

In America, unless one is extremely vigilant--and being a member of a non-Christian religion may help in this regard--it is unlikely that one's understanding of religion will not be informed by America's historical encounter with Christianity. There is nothing necessarily bad about this influence. But it does raise the possibility of taking a part for the whole and remaining unaware that we are doing so.

For better or worse, Christianity informs the way the overwhelming majority of people in America tend to think about, talk about, love and hate religion -- their own, as well as others'. And in this light, I think we might do well to recognize just how "Christian" a nation America is.