I have a Facebook friend who, whenever I make a comment about the devolution of morality in America, always responds with the obvious fact that America is not now, nor has it ever been, a Christian nation. He’s right.

The issue is not whether America should be a Christian nation or not. The issue is whether America (in her citizenry) recognizes the sovereignty of the Lord GOD over the affairs of all the nations be they atheistic, Islamic, secular, or whatever. To say (and believe) that God is sovereign is to believe that the Creator of the universe has established immutable laws by which his universe is governed. So we have laws of gravity, laws of thermodynamics, in fact laws that govern even the minutest aspect of the physical universe. And what applies to the physical applies to the arena of right and wrong, good and evil, righteous and sinful.

A nation that recognizes God’s sovereignty is NOT a theocracy. In this present age, only the Church is or can be a theocracy. Theocracy implies that there are nations that have a special status with God, and we know where that has gotten us in history. Be it the abuses of the Papacy during the centuries from the “Christianization” of Rome in the early centuries AD to the Reformation, or the present Islamic Republic of Iran, theocracies that are lacking the Theos are really just autocracies in theocratic drag.

So, no, no rational thinker is trying to turn America into a theocratic Christian nation. What I and others are doing is simply stating the obvious: if there is a sovereign God, he has the absolute right to set the standards for behavior both public and private, and that he can and does impose rightful penalties for the disregard of those standards, up to and including eliminating from the roster of nations those peoples who attempt to overthrow the not-overthrowable sovereignty of God.

When a people, through its legislative, executive, and judicial processes says, “Do murder, Do commit adultery, Do steal, Do bear false witness, or Do covet, lust, and desire that which is not yours,” they are attempting the impossible and exposing themselves and their posterity to the dire results of disregarding natural law. This is not Christianity which is salvation of sinners by grace through faith in the Christ who died for our sins and was raised for our justification for the glory of God alone – this salvation revealed to us through the scripture and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. This merely living Coram Deo.