Actually I'd have to say the evidence is pretty overwhelming that the United States was established among a profoundly Christian population overtly desirous of pleasing God in its establishment. While the sectarian wars of the 17th century tempered their fervor and caused them to value freedom of conscience and worship, they were not remotely neutral on whether they desired a "Christian Nation" promoted and defended by their government.

The irony in the debate over "Christian Nation" is that both modern Christians and secularists look to the founders for their authority for special privilege in the current political debates. It strikes me as quite humorous that secularists unintentionally invoke the most basic of Reformation pleas, that of Primitivism (looking to the first century church as a model of faith, and first century writings as the highest authority). Those who call for a greater secularist society and a higher wall to separate the religious from the political frequently argue that they are simply trying to restore the original balance and structure of the founding fathers. This is put forward as if these men are somehow apostolic in their authority and that their actions are a binding example. "Christian Nation"alists do likewise which, though far more intellectually consistent and historically accurate, leaves them often surprised to find that many don't care what the founder's wanted or established.

Much of this stems from something that De Tocqueville was struck by in his analysis of American Democracy in 1835. He observed that Americans began and ended their political theories with a deep reverence for common law and precedent. The French, he observed, simply launched from abstract theory, but Americans, even when seemingly radical, argued from the construct that the idea was simply a return to prior norms or a logical progression from existing precedents. There is nothing particularly superior to the American or French model among political theorists, though most modern heirs of Continental Enlightenment thought argue that Americans have no “real” political thought as it merely builds upon existing ideas rather than springing fully formed from abstract theory.

We cannot escape the clear evidence that American Political thought was deeply the product of protestant England and Scotland. Even when critiques seek to minimize the profoundly religious orientation and origins of American political thought and institutions by the use of "Enlightenment" thought as a foil, they mis characterize the term by failing to recognize the difference implicit in English and Scottish Enlightenment thought which were far more religiously oriented in their epistemology and purpose. The Continental (French) Enlightenment organized its thinking on a radically different basis than Thomas Reed and his American heirs and waged literary, and from 1792-1815, literal war with their French cousins.

Due to the influence of Justice Hugo Black and influential secular academics, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Ben Franklin constitute the lens through which many modern Americans see the founding generation. Even profoundly religious figures like John Adams are secularized by popularizers like McCulloch and HBO.

Taking just Jefferson for example: Whatever "a wall of separation" meant at the time of his letter to the Danbury Baptists it included his worshiping in the Capitol the Sunday after he wrote the letter; it included using the Marine Corps Band in those services; and it included his support for paid missionaries to Native American tribes.

But I still believe all this, while important, is not some kind of trump card that the American people need respect.

If America did not have a “Christian Nation” heritage, Christian citizens based on the principle of self-government and endowed rights have every right to make it so. But they must contend with those who likewise have every right to seek a social contract they find amenable to their interests and beliefs.

I personally want to shake many of my good Christian historian friends who seem to believe that if we just win the historic debate on our origins as a nation then those who desire a secularist, or even anti-Christian (and they do exist), nation will somehow fold their tents, strike their colors, and look for a local church to attend.

But all that is rhetoric and tactics.

Historically I have to count myself with the “Christian Nation” school of interpretation and not with Hugo Black’s high wall revisionists.

Peter Marshall has written a series of outstanding books on the Christian roots of our form of government and our nation's history. The first one was called The Light and the Glory. I would recommend each American read these books, for I believe they would convince him or her, as they did me, that our country's Constitution, documents, and founding was based in every particular upon Judeo-Christian ethic and belief. Not only was the ethic there, but also the vision that God had brought them to a sort of promised land to further the gospel and elevate principles of freedom for all.

Unfortunately, how can most Americans know the true history of our country--when any Christian or religious history has been cleverly excised or distorted from the revised version being taught in our schools today?

I hate giving up my freedoms also but we are becoming a nation of porkers.

It is close to jeopardizing our national security. If we had to fall back on the draft there would be very few young men that would be physically fit enough to pass basic training let alone be considered medically able to serve.

It is sad to see so many beautiful girls who have weight issues. There was not near this much obesity in the 1970's. It has to affect their self esteem. Is this why the suicide rate is up?

A strong PSA type campaign would help. I don't want a sugar tax because I have a sweet tooth.

Governor Huckabee seems to have used plenty of common sense in his goal of heading off the problems before they become problems.

No, back in the seventies we starved ourselves to look like "Twiggy" and many ended up like Karen Carpenter.

The subsidies that make corn-fed beef, wheat, sugar & corn so nice & cheap have a lot to do with our obesity problem. That and our addiction to highly processed convenience food loaded with detrimental ingredients - esp. msg and its analogs.

Sugars & starches are what trigger insulin release & insulin turns these carbs into the unhealthiest kind of fat - the kind that deposits around the organs. High fructose corn syrup is the most damaging of all because of its effects on the liver. We are seeing a dramatic increase in cases of non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. These carbs are also very addictive - the refined forms especially as they give the body a much faster & larger "hit".

Those of us who are trying to break the addiction have to be able to deal with the higher price of eating healthy. I could drop our grocery bills radically if our family of 7 ate ramen noodles instead of homemade soup with quality meat & vegetables, for example.

Of course, eventually we would end up needing serious medical care - but then we could count on the govt. to subsidize treatment of our diseases, right? We just have to be willing to trade in quality of life is all...

I can agree and add artificial sweeteners, hormones, overtreating animals with antibiotics and chemicals. And don't get me started on GMO foods.
I have diabetes and have siblings at the same or greater weight and they are totally free of the ailment. The main difference being I was the one who went the artificial sweetener route - neutrasweet was being pushed big time.
I've encountered this anecdotal evidence everywhere I get to check it out.
A possible scenario: You begin to see you're gaining weight. The first thing you do is try artificial sweeteners. Then you get a physical and find a slightly elevated sugar and what does the doctor do?
Reenforces that you need to use artificial sweeteners. From there its all down hill.
Let's not even get on the subject of these big businesses especially big pharma.
Research aspartame and how it came to be FDA approved with almost no scrutiny. Unfortunately you may come upon some well respected names.
Kinda busted my bubble a little, that research did.
Again, preventative screening is good, but as with all aspects of education, all control should remain at the state and preferably local level.
But we really need to not enable big business with so many lobby inspired sweetheart deals through legislation and selective regulation because our welfare factors very little into most regulation whether it be fda related, agriculture related, or almost anything else for that matter.

I guess it all hinges on having honest folks who really have our welfare in mind, as well as a process to review what the effects of regulation have been and remove regulation that achieves little of what it was intended to do.
I can trust someone like Mike to be that way, but what about who comes after him. Maybe whenever possible education should be used in place of regulation.

Who was that lady? She was fantastic. Stood up for what she believed in even though she was going against the grain of the show's host, guest, and audience.

And, where does Gillespie get the nerve to insinuate that Gov. Huckabee even suggested a sugar tax. He didn't. He just had children to be discreetly screened and sent factual information to their parents, in case the parents might want to do something about their child's health. I guess Stossel and Gillespie would want to cut out PE and recess now, since that would be taking time away from the children's study time. These guys need to get a grip when it comes to this subject. I'm glad that Gov. Huckabee and this lady (whoever she is) took them straight on.

Just watched it again and they have a caption that tells who she is: MeMe Roth, National Action Against Obesity Founder.

It's neat how the person who posted this on YouTube misspells things.

You are so right. And don't forget depression. I have battled depression my whole life. I was determined to find a treatment that did not use drugs. I found the book " The Mood Cure". It is based on a nutritional treatment And guess what, the first thing to do is cut out sugar, white flour and caffeine. After following the nutrition guidelines I am happy to say I have been depression free for five months now!

Well, yeah, I think that's right. I think it's best --politically-- to refer to them generally as Judeo-Christian principles. Christians (broadly speaking) obviously inherited their basic ethics (especially the big 10) from the Jews.

Its unfortunate that some of the sectarian distrust from the old country made its way to the new. Anti_Semitism, the anti-Catholic mindset of the "Know Nothing" movement of the 1800s, and of some Protestant fundamentalist sects, and non_Nicene groups (LDS, JWs, others), of the 19th & 20th centuries.

Its also unfortunate, politically speaking, that some of these rifts still raise their head from time to time --as they did in the 2008 political season.

Interestingly, on Wikipedia stats are being reported that:



And, at the Republican Jewish Coalition:



I'd like to see Huckabee make a more overt effort to have Jewish, Catholic, and Mormon political leaders on his show. Whatever the "religious" discomfort each group feels toward some of the other groups. Keeping this common focus on Judeo-Christian principles is, I think, paramount for political cohesion toward reaching shared goals.

The drift of Jewish voters is interesting and I think Mike is clearly making a play for them.

Most of what I've seen in the literature is the emergence of a divide between observant people of faith (attend regularly) and non-observant or nominal people of faith traditions.

The observant (Christian or Jew) is more likely to vote Republican than his less observant fellow member of the group.

I emphasized with Mike when he told Stossel he needed to lose 30 lbs., so do I!! I also suffer with bouts of depression and have learned that depression increases in people in January. An article in PARADE magazine last Sunday gives research that shows a correlation with diets of high sugar and processed carbs with severe depression in some people. It is bad enough that it makes me fat but now I learn it causes me to be depressed. After all the excess goodies eaten during the month of Dec. it seems logical that depression and suicide would be higher in January. I plan to buy the book recommended here on moods. I am having withdrawal from abstinence from sugar. I wonder if stevia has the same impact on one's mood as sugar. Would really appreciate Mike having a health segment on this topic soon to learn more facts.

Thanks KUPHOFF for recommending the book THE MOOD CURE. I too suffer with bouts of depression. I also empathized with Mike when he told Stossel he needed to lose 30 lbs. - so do I !! Last Sunday's PARADE magazine had a story on the correlation between foods high in sugar & corn starch with depression. It is no wonder that depression and suicide are higher in Jan. after all the sweet foods eaten in December. This topic would make a great story for Mike to cover in one of his future programs.

Nick Gillespie (Reason TV) and Stossel both believe the way to keep others' bad health choices from affecting the general public is to eliminate medicare and medicaid. It would be instructive to hear exactly what they believe should be done for or with those who make poor health/life choices or who swim at the shallow end of the gene pool. What is the responsibility of government when a parent's bad decisions impact their children' health to a less than abusive extent, but to the point the quality of that child's life will be far poorer than it would have been without intervention?

Their answer is usual formulaic: Helping the less fortunate should be the purview of private charity. If we could only get rid of the income tax--which is probably unconstitutional anyway (just disregard the 16th Amendment)--people would donate to the charities of their choice without compulsion and could then control the behavior of the recipients.

The rebuttal is quite simple, and I think Mike Huckabee has done it better than any political figure--Conservative or Liberal--over the last 15 years. He always returns to ethics. His may derive from Judeo-Christian tradition, but they have actually been almost universal for the last millenium or more. Courtesy of a lifetime at either the pulpit or podium he has infinitely more experience with handling the actual problems caused by people's poor choices. Stossel and Gillespie remind me of something my Mother-in-Law used to say. "Before I had children I had fourteen theories on how to raise kids. Now I have fourteen kids and no theories."

I like your post, but I LOVE this quote!

Yeah, I'm thinking of the parents we've seen on the news whose children are so obese that you could almost literally roll them - yet who keep feeding them french fries & giving them soda, etc. How can that be anything BUT child abuse? They are literally cutting short their kids' lives!

Libertarians seem to ask, "Am I my brother's keeper?" I think the govt. does have a valid role in encouraging behavior that contributes to the health of its citizens because the health of citizens determines the health of the country in every sense of the word!

Sandra & Kuphoff, I totally emphasize with you both! I struggled with mild depression after the birth of my 3rd child & it turned out that I was seriously deficient in omega-3's. I started taking flaxseed oil & fish oil supplements and they helped enormously! They also help with reducing the sugar/carb cravings. I have had such a hard time getting back on track since indulging during the holidays & now my heart races every time I eat something that really spikes my blood sugar. Time to get serious again!

There are more & more good resources out there as word is spreading - [url]mercola.com[/url]is pretty good (don't agree with him on everything, but he's still a great - and free! - source) One of my favorite books at this point (& I have read many) is The UltraMind Solutionby Dr. Mark Hyman. You can see excerpts from it online at http://www.ultramind.com/ if you want to check it out.