The United States of America is a secular nation not founded upon the Christian religion

A few notes before I begin: This can be an emotional topic. People on both sides tend to say their position is not only true but that the country is "better" or "worse" off as a result. I, as Con, am simply stating facts. My position is not that things would be better if we returned to the "good old days." I am not arguing whether it's "good" or "bad" that America's founding was heavily influenced by Christianity - I am simply arguing that it was. As my opponent said, nations take a few years to set up. Similarly, they also take a few years to arise. America began forming long before 1776 or 1787, and it was not just done in the 13 British colonies. As such, I will be using evidence from before 1776, I hope this is agreeable. I agree to using the founding fathers' opinions as evidence. Nations are not founded by inanimate objects, they are founded by people. Thus, to discover what a country was founded on we must examine the people who did it. However, each founding father obviously had different opinions and beliefs. Some were extremely devout Christians, some were Agnostics or even perhaps Atheists. Therefore, any argument citing a founder must consider that person's level of influence and the degree to which their worldview likely shaped their actions. I do not consider this an appeal to authority fallacy as long as it is a direct quote from a founding father (as opposed to citing analysis by a contemporary historian). Ok, let's begin. The level of influence religion has over a nation exists on a spectrum. At the extreme ends of this spectrum are theocracy and the secular state. America is certainly not a theocracy. There is no religious council or state religion that directly runs the government. At the same time however, America is not a secular state like China or the USSR. There are no laws against the existence or private practice of religion. That means the USA falls somewhere in the middle. I write this to show that America is not at either extreme. It was not officially founded as a secular nation or a Christian nation. I simply need to prove, under the definition of "founded upon" that we are using, that Christianity was more influential than any other worldview or religion in early America. America's founding did not begin in 1776. The only thing the Declaration of Independence did was re-classify an already established territory and culture as a politically independent entity. In order to find out what that culture was, we must look much earlier to discover the values, ethics, and beliefs that ultimately influenced the founding fathers. Almost every British colony that formed early America was either directly or indirectly founded due to the Christian religion. Jamestown, Virginia (1607), the first successful English colony, was motivated in part due to the desire to spread Christianity to the native Indians. The settlers marked their landing by erecting a wooden cross on the site, and placed a priority on constructing a new church as one of their first buildings [1]. Massachusetts (1620) was completely motivated by and created for Christianity. The Puritan ethics of these early Pilgrims rapidly expanded and dominated the entire region for generations, ultimately paving the way for other groups such as the Quakers and Mennonites to establish communities as well [2]. Maryland was founded in 1632 specifically as a safe haven for persecuted Catholics. Rhode Island was founded as a refuge for minority Christian sects. New Jersey and Pennsylvania were founded almost exclusively as Quaker communities. The list goes on and on. But America was not just confined to the 13 British Colonies. Other areas that were destined to become U.S. territories prior to 1800 also began as exclusively Christian. The modern day Midwest, Great Lakes region, Florida, and the Southwest were all settled and explored by Catholic Priests. Many modern American cities in these regions began as Catholic missions. I know this is post-1800, but as an example of how powerful this Catholic influence was, counties are still called "Parishes" in the state of Louisiana today. The point here is that British America got its start heavily influenced by Christianity. The reasons why colonists came, the reasons why they expanded, and the values they based their communities on were almost exclusively Christian. Were there other motives and values involved? Of course. But when it comes to religious worldviews, there was very little deviation. There were no Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu American colonies. Undoubtedly there were some Agnostic/Atheist/Humanist settlers, but there were no colonies founded exclusively on those worldviews in the same way that colonies exclusively formed based on the Puritan, Quaker, or Catholic faith. Since no other religions or worldviews were as dominant in early America, it is undeniable that America began forming heavily influenced by Christianity. Let's fast forward to the time of the American Constitution. It is clear that Christianity played a huge role in influencing the men who founded the nation. Entire books have been written about the devout Christian faiths many of the founders practiced. It would take me way too long to explain them in any detail here. I'll just give examples from George Washington as a starting point: George Washington was sworn in as president on the Bible (a practice almost every president since has followed). He could have picked the Koran, or a Hindu Sutra, or Rousseau's "Of the Social Contract," or no book at all. But he chose the Bible. Immediately before his inauguration, Congress actually passed a binding resolution that: "after the oath shall have been administered to the President, he, attended by the Vice President and members of the Senate and House of Representatives, shall proceed to St. Paul's Chapel, to hear divine service." [3] Congress actually mandated a Christian church service for every member of the legislative and executive branch following Washington's inauguration to mark the the first official day of the American government. In Washington's Inaugural Address, the first official statement given in the history of the American Presidency, Washington dedicated two entire paragraphs to discussing God. He actually emphasized the point - that as his "first official Act" as president, he deliberately wished to express his "fervent supplications" to God. He concludes by returning once again to the subject of God, declaring that America would not have been possible without God's divine blessing [4]. So in conclusion, was America founded as an officially established Christian nation? No. Were laws made to specifically mirror the Bible? No. But my opponent said in Round 1 that I do not need to prove Christianity was established in any official capacity. In Pro's own words, all I have to do is "prove that the country was based on the ideals of Christianity." Given the evidence, this is undeniable. From the Pilgrims at Plymouth to the Priests in the interior, Christianity dominated North America the second Europeans began to arrive. Native Americans were not converted to Islam or Buddhism or Humanism, they were converted to Christianity. The worldviews of George Washington and the other founding fathers were significantly shaped by Judeo-Christian traditions, as I showed in the above paragraphs. As such, I submit that the evidence points overwhelmingly to the fact that America was founded by men who were heavily influenced by the ideals and ideas of Christianity. Looking forward to Round 3. [1] Catherine Deane, "Jamestown," Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, 2012 [2] Nathaniel Philbrick, "Mayflower," Penguin Books, NY, 2006 [3] http://www.nationalcathedral.org... [4] http://www.archives.gov...