Public Christianity Is as American as Apple Pie

Donald Trump’s selection of Senator J. D. Vance as his running mate has reignited debates about Christianity and nationalism. There is a vital question at the heart of these exchanges: What is the proper role of religion, and specifically Christianity, in American public life? Many casually assume the United States is a secular republic, and that those seeking positions of public authority must check their faith at the door.

Their concerns for the rights of religious and other minorities is laudable. We should be skeptical of some on the religious right whose professed “post-liberalism” sits uneasily with America’s historical commitment to ordered liberty. But the logical endpoint of their view — that religious value judgments have no place in public affairs — is wrong. America is indeed a Christian nation. What that means, and what that does not mean, matters greatly for our self-understanding.