Christian nationalism in the United States presents itself as a righteous crusade to reclaim the nation's supposed religious foundations. However, this movement is historically fraudulent and profoundly antithetical to the philosophical and ethical underpinnings of the American experiment. Drawing from the Enlightenment, deism, and the esoteric traditions of Freemasonry, the Founding Fathers crafted a republic where reason triumphed over dogma and where liberty flourished unchained from sectarian rule. Christian nationalism, in its attempt to yoke the state to the cross, threatens to drag us back into the Old Night—a time of burning books and men alike, of inquisitorial courts and thought crimes.
The vision of America was never one of theocracy but of a New Atlantis, a place where the human mind could soar free from the chains of imposed belief. The Treaty of Tripoli, signed in 1796, made this abundantly clear:
"The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
This was not a casual statement but a direct rejection of the religious wars that had drowned Europe in blood for centuries. To embrace Christian nationalism is not to restore America's foundation—it is to trample it beneath the banner of superstition and submission.
The Enlightenment and the Founding Fathers: Guardians Against Theocracy
The Founding Fathers were not Christian zealots. Many, like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine, were deists who rejected religious dogmatism in favor of reason. Freemasonry, which shaped their philosophy, held no allegiance to any creed but instead revered the Great Architect of the Universe. This concept emphasized divine intelligence without the chains of priestly authority.
Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom declared that "no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever." This was not just policy; it was a bulwark against the horrors of religious tyranny that had defined the Old World. From the Thirty Years' War to the burning of heretics, history has shown that when religion wields the sword of state, reason perishes, and men become fuel for the flames of pious cruelty.
Nietzsche's Warning: Slave Morality and the Stagnation of Man
In The Antichrist, Friedrich Nietzsche warned of the dangers of Christianity's tendency to suppress strength, creativity, and the will to overcome. He condemned the "slave morality" that exalts meekness, obedience, and suffering, seeing it as a force that shackles human potential rather than elevating it.
Christian nationalism, in its quest to mold America into a theocracy, embodies this very stagnation. It demands not a nation of strong, free-thinking individuals but docile believers who fear questioning doctrine. It is a movement not of bold builders but of those who wish to chain the human spirit beneath the yoke of imposed faith.
The Schools of Wisdom: Greece, Egypt, and the Light of the Ancients
If Christian nationalists seek to make America a bastion of wisdom and civilization, they would do well to remember that the great schools of thought did not emerge from theocratic rule but from the temples of pagan Greece and Egypt. The Academy of Plato, the Lyceum of Aristotle, and the mystery schools of Alexandria birthed the intellectual fire of the West. The Hermetic knowledge of ancient Egypt, the rational inquiry of Socrates, and the mathematical revelations of Pythagoras were not the products of blind faith but of minds liberated from dogmatic chains.
In The Secret Destiny of America, Manly P. Hall saw the nation as the heir to this ancient wisdom—a land where the sacred fire of Enlightenment could burn anew. Christian nationalism, however, would extinguish that flame, replacing the Promethean gift of knowledge with the dull glow of unquestioning obedience.
Albert Pike and the Masonic Vision: Free Thought Over Dogma
Albert Pike, in Morals and Dogma, declared:
"The universe is one great book of God's thoughts, not to be shut by a hand clad in iron, but opened with reverent love by minds that seek the light."
This is the true Masonic vision: a world where wisdom is pursued, not imposed, and men seek truth through reason, not coercion. Christian nationalism opposes this ideal, not as an agent of divine Enlightenment but as an echo of the Old Night—an age where kings ruled by divine right and dissent was met with the rack and the pyre.
The Old Night or the New Dawn?
Christian nationalism is not a return to America's foundation—it is a betrayal of it. It does not lead us forward but seeks to drag us backward, past the Enlightenment and the Republic and into the suffocating darkness of religious rule. The Old Night is always eager to return, whispering of past glories that never were, promising a paradise that is, in truth, a prison.
America was conceived as a nation of free minds, a land where reason, not dogma, would guide the path forward. Those who seek to forge it into a theocracy would do well to remember the fate of those who burned the heretics: when the flames grow high enough, they consume all, even those who first lit the match.
The choice is simple: a New Rome, where law and reason reign supreme, or a return to the smoldering ruins of medieval theocracy. The great architects of this nation laid the foundation for the former. It is up to us to ensure that their vision is not buried beneath the latter's ruins.
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