If someone would have said twenty years ago that separation of church and state would be an issue seriously debated a few years into the new millennium, most of us would have thought they were crazy. We would have thought an argument for Creationism being taught as science, rather than as theology, unbelievable, even in a Saturday Night Live skit. We wouldn’t have believed for a minute that a radical group of Christians could work their way into a position of huge political influence and try to impose their religious view on the rest of us. But that’s where we find ourselves today.

I’m a pretty big fan of separation of church and state. That does not mean I favor separation of belief and action on a personal level, however. To say that we began as a Christian nation and that we must remain so is insulting in so many ways. Our nation was built through the efforts of many kinds of people, not all Christian. We can only remain great if we honor all who call this home, regardless of religious belief. The adoption of a national religious tradition opens the way to prejudice and persecution, things that are distinctly not American. It is our duty always to keep a picture of ourselves that is large enough to include everyone; one that incorporates and respects the contributions of all.

But let’s say we do go against the wishes of our founding fathers and over two hundred years of tradition and impose this thing on ourselves. Whose brand of Christianity do we get? As we know, there’s a broad spectrum of ways it shows up.

I’d be happiest if my brand of Christianity was chosen. First of all, I’d like it to be limited to the teachings of the New Testament. If we are going to be a Christian nation, we should probably make Jesus’ words the basis for it. Let’s see, his main message was love, wasn’t it? I seem to remember him saying the most important commandment was to love God first and then love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus often hung out with those society labeled as undesirable. His view didn’t include haves and have-nots; everyone was equal. I guess it wouldn’t be a bad thing to emulate this.

Jesus often talked about his father. He told us how if we asked him for a loaf of bread, he wouldn’t give us a rock instead. He told us not to worry about what to eat or having something to wear because his father took care of the birds in the sky and the lilies of the field; that he’d take care of us, too. He didn’t seem to spend a lot of time talking about hell and damnation.

Part of the reason Jesus got into trouble was that he wouldn’t stop working on the Sabbath. In fact he said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That attitude might get us into trouble, but it might also keep us from passing stupid laws. The Ten Commandments are sacred to many, and some would like to see them included in our laws. How exactly would we enforce the coveting of a neighbor’s goods? Does that mean we cease to do business on Sundays?

Jesus’ message regarding sinners is that we should love them, but hate what they do. On several occasions, he forgave wrongdoing, with the caution to go and sin no more. He told us to forgive seventy times seven times. There’s the story of a group of men who wanted to stone a woman accused of adultery. He said fine, let him without sin be the one to throw the first rock.

Much of Jesus’ time was spent curing the sick. I don’t know how his teaching would impact our current medical situation, but it certainly wouldn’t make it any worse. And I’m not sure, but I don’t think I remember him telling lepers that their illness was God’s punishment for leading sinful lives.

So, like I said, I’m not in favor of making ours a Christian nation, but if we decide to go in that direction, let’s make sure we adopt the teachings of Jesus. His was a nurturing message of love, tolerance, non-judgment, and forgiveness. It wouldn’t hurt any of us to incorporate these ideas more fully into our own personal lives.