Theocracy, State Religion, Christian Republic - What’s the Difference?

(Revised and updated from a previous article most-recently published June 15, 2007)

A Theocracy is defined at Princeton as “the belief in government by divine guidance,” and Wikipedia gives generally-accepted definition of a State Religion as “religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state.”

The United States is neither. Instead, it is a government which is unique in history, in that it was formed by a group of people, most of whom were Protestant Christians and considered the Bible to be one of their most important sources of truth. The essence of Biblical Christianity, or “the Gospel,” is salvation by grace, freely given, and accepted at will. Christians seeking to emulate Jesus Christ will not feel the need to force others to follow Christ. Christians pray to God, directly, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and do not depend on others to tell them what God wants them to do.

Christians are required by the scriptures to attempt to win others to Christianity, but only by example through lifestyle, and respectful discussion. Christians are able to live in peace with those of other faiths and religions, and those who are not religious. These ideas may or may not prevail in a Theocracy where one person on group of persons claims to speak for God. It may or may not prevail in a country with a State Religion, where the government can not only kill you for disobedience, but, at least theoretically, also send you to hell.

But true freedom of religion will, and did for many years, prevail in the United States…a Christian Republic…a representative government consisting primarily of Christians, based on Biblical principles and ideals. An entry in the (Library of Congress eloquently describes the role of Christianity in the formation of the government:

The Continental-Confederation Congress, a legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, contained an extraordinary number of deeply religious men. The amount of energy that Congress invested in encouraging the practice of religion in the new nation exceeded that expended by any subsequent American national government. Although the Articles of Confederation did not officially authorize Congress to concern itself with religion, the citizenry did not object to such activities. This lack of objection suggests that both the legislators and the public considered it appropriate for the national government to promote a nondenominational, nonpolemical Christianity.

Congress appointed chaplains for itself and the armed forces, sponsored the publication of a Bible, imposed Christian morality on the armed forces, and granted public lands to promote Christianity among the Indians. National days of thanksgiving and of “humiliation, fasting, and prayer” were proclaimed by Congress at least twice a year throughout the war. Congress was guided by “covenant theology,” a Reformation doctrine especially dear to New England Puritans, which held that God bound himself in an agreement with a nation and its people. This agreement stipulated that they “should be prosperous or afflicted, according as their general Obedience or Disobedience thereto appears.” Wars and revolutions were, accordingly, considered afflictions, as divine punishments for sin, from which a nation could rescue itself by repentance and reformation.

The first national government of the United States, was convinced that the “public prosperity” of a society depended on the vitality of its religion. Nothing less than a “spirit of universal reformation among all ranks and degrees of our citizens,” Congress declared to the American people, would “make us a holy, that so we may be a happy people.” (Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, Library of Congress, 10/27/03)