Original sentence: Advocates of the notion that the United States is a "Christian nation" contend that this text does not constitute evidence to the contrary, because the question of whether the government of the United States was founded on the Christian religion (the issue discussed in the text) is different from whether the United States is a "Christian nation"-- the treaty describes the form of government, while the term "Christian nation" describes characteristics of the people of the United States.Advocates of the separation of church and state contend that this text constitutes evidence that the United States was not founded as a "Christian nation", as many advocates of a greater presence for religion in public life contend.Further, they point to the fact that the purpose of the treaty was not to govern the relationship between church and state, but to deal with issues of piracy.One therefore cannot presume that everyone or anyone who voted to ratify this treaty agreed with the language of Article 11, which was arguably collateral to the treaty's purpose.They point to the fact that because the treaty was signed and ratified so early in the United States' history, it would have been signed by a President and ratified by a Senate who had extensive firsthand knowledge of the original understanding of the relationship between church and state in the United States and thus carries authoritative weight