D.J. Kennedy's “America’s Heritage”
Tries To Establish A Connection
Between Christianity and the Constitution

“America’s Heritage” is an attempt to link Christianity and the Constitution. Written by Gary DeMar, the book was published by Dr. Kennedy’s Coral Ridge Ministries in 2002.

The thesis is laid out in the introduction, which asks the fundamental question, “America’s Christian Heritage: Fact or Fiction?” The conclusion is “fact,” as evidenced by the testimony of various Presidents and Supreme Court Justices.

This line of testimony continues in subsequent chapters. The Christian founding of various colleges, plaques and inscriptions in Washington D.C., and official national days of prayer are presented as evidence.

The book presents further evidence of America’s Christian History. The author points to Christianity in the colonial constitutions and to an alleged link between Christianity and the Constitution itself.

In this regard, two internal proofs are cited. One is the reference to “year of our Lord” in what is known as the subscription clause at the end of the document. Another is the day of rest accorded the President, where Sunday is excepted from the 10 days granted the President to sign or veto a bill.

How can we determine if this book has accomplished its goal of establishing a link between Christianity and the Constitution? Has it proved that the Constitution is a Christian document and that America is therefore a Christian nation? We must first establish some standard for evaluation.

As Christians we must go to the Bible in an attempt to identify that standard. Without such a standard we are likely to be distracted by peripheral data that are irrelevant to the question. What do we learn from Scripture that would enable us to judge whether a particular nation is a Christian nation?

Throughout the Old Testament we find God insisting that the nation of Israel maintain its covenant relation with him by means of an oath to obey His law. Israel is continually called upon to renew the broken covenant by an act of formal, oath-bound commitment to God, often written.

This is the defining characteristic of a “Christian nation.” Without the oath-bound covenant to a legal system based on the Bible there is no Christian nation.

There may be many other admirable things, but there is nothing that may be called a Christian nation. The legal system must be oath-bound to the law of God or it is not a Christian nation.

An example is seen in Nehemiah 9:38, which reports, “……We are making an agreement in writing; and on the sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites and our priests.” By this standard, we are forced to conclude that “America’s Heritage” has failed to prove its case. It has demonstrated no essential link between Christianity and the Constitution.

Do Christian colleges constitute a national oath to God? No. Does the phrase “year of our Lord” constitute a national oath to God? No. Does excluding Sunday from the 10-day window to sign or veto a bill constitute a national oath to God? No. Do inscriptions on state-owned buildings constitute a national oath to God? No. Does any of the evidence presented in America’s Heritage constitute a national oath to God? No.

Therefore, America’s Heritage has failed to establish any vital link between Christianity and the Constitution. It has failed to demonstrate that the U.S. Constitution is a Christian document as defined by the Bible.

The answer: “We will never know. But when all the testimony is in, it is an undeniable truth that Christianity served as the foundation for the political edifice we know as America.” Here the author admits that the Constitution left out the one essential ingredient for a Christian government. In the next breath he defies logic by claiming that America is a Christian nation anyway. Go figure.

For this reason we cannot recommend “America’s Heritage” for the serious student of American history. It fails to establish any connection between Christianity and the Constitution and does not give due emphasis to the cornerstone of Christian civil government.