Let’s not brush past the underlying point the Missouri Republican was trying to make by way of a made-up line: Hawley seems certain that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, with members of one faith tradition—his own—enjoying exalted status over others. Indeed, the GOP senator’s misguided tweet was part of a larger rhetorical push. It was just two weeks ago when Hawley spoke at a far-right event and declared his belief that the Christian faith had “formed the soul of this country.” He went on to say, “There is not one square inch of all creation over which Jesus Christ is not Lord,” adding that he believes “the time for Christians to rise is now.”
It was against this backdrop that Hawley—on Independence Day—pushed the line that the United States was “founded…on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” It really wasn’t. The Constitution is a secular document that created a secular government. Thomas Jefferson—in an actual quote—wrote in 1802 that our First Amendment built “a wall of separation between church and state.” In 1797, John Adams agreed: “The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.”