Pastor and RBP author Jay Lucas took part in a public debate on the timely theme “America’s Founding Documents: Christian or Secular”?
Grace Community Church, Washington Court House, Ohio, hosted the debate Saturday, March 16.
Arguing for a Christian interpretation was Jay Lucas, pastor of Grace Community Church and author of RBP’s Ask Them Why: How to Help Unbelievers Find the Truth and Meant to Be Free: The Biblical Basis of Religious Liberty (to be published later this year by RBP).
Arguing for the secular view was Michael Buckner of the Atlanta Freethought Society and coauthor of In Freedom We Trust: An Atheist Guide to Religious Liberty.
The debate was part of Grace Community Church’s cultural apologetics conference, Because Truth Matters. That conference included Randy Guliuzza, president of the Institute for Creation Research, and Mike Riddle, founder and president of Creation Training Initiative.
Bob Peterson, state representative of Ohio’s District 91, moderated the debate. Although the debaters had strongly conflicting views, the atmosphere was cordial.
As not only a pastor but also a father and grandfather, Jay says he is strongly compelled to testify of America’s unique history, a record he believes has been destructively distorted by progressive historians. He cites the separation of church and state as an example.
“The Biblical concept of the separation of church and state, that gave us the First Amendment—and it is Biblical—has been distorted, rejected, and replaced with what I think is a false interpretation of the First Amendment in our day, one that ignores the historical record and seeks to drive Christianity out of the public arena.”
But before discussing the Christian influences on America’s founding documents, he first clarified a point: “In no way am I claiming that America is a Christian nation or that it was founded as a Christian nation. . . .
“The New Testament makes no provision for a nation being Christian. The Bible identifies individual believers who are Christians, communities of Christians joined together to form local churches, and then the universal connection of all Christians together, called the Body of Christ in Ephesians 4:12. Technically speaking, it would be Biblically inaccurate to suggest that a nation can be Christian.”
He spent the remainder of his time “demonstrating that the United States came into existence largely because of the influence of Christian doctrine and because of the actions of Christians.”
“Do you know how many of the 50 state constitutions still directly acknowledge God?” he asked his fellow debater and the audience. “If you said 50 out of 50, you would be correct.”
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