For those Christians who might be seriously worried about the direction in which the country is heading, here is an encouraging statistic: a poll found that almost 70% of registered voters believe in the physical resurrection of Christ.
It seems as if every annual poll finds fewer American Christians, especially among young people, and more people who consider themselves entirely non-religious and non-spiritual — a reality that would have disturbed our Founding Fathers. But, after all, the old saying is that “there are no atheists in foxholes.” As America seems increasingly to be in crisis politically and socially, perhaps we can expect a Judeo-Christian religious revival in our once thoroughly Judeo-Christian nation. A recent poll seems to provide evidence to support that hope, just in time for Easter.
It is true that many people who identify as Christian do not regularly attend church services, which is concerning considering that the third commandment is to keep holy the Lord’s day. The Daily Signal covered the good news, however, on March 28:
A Scott Rasmussen National Survey poll, conducted March 20 and 21 among 1,000 registered voters, found that 73% of respondents will celebrate Easter this year. When asked whether they would celebrate the holiday primarily as a religious holiday or as a secular holiday, 56% of participants responded with religious, 16% said secular, and 27% said both secular and religious equally.
The poll reflected voters’ belief that Jesus physically rose from the dead, by a margin of 68% to 13% … Some 49% said they were “very likely” to go to church on Easter Sunday, and 23% were somewhat likely, while 10% said they were not very likely, and 16% said they were not likely at all to do so…By a margin of 83% to 5%, voters said they believe that Jesus Christ did in fact exist and walked the earth.
Respondents were divided into 21% each for the categories of Bible-believing Christian, Protestant, or Catholic, 12% Evangelical Christian, two percent Jewish, one percent Muslim, six percent atheist, and 16% as “none of the above.” Therefore the poll of registered voters did represent more Christians than there are in the general population overall, since, as of 2022, only about two-thirds of Americans are Christians. According to Daily Signal, only 32% of respondents attend religious services one or more times a week, with 18% going one or more times a month.
Related: This Good Friday, 100s of J6ers Still in Prison
Religious leaders and devout Christians who are concerned about increasing religious apathy in America or excited by the above poll results would find good company in the Founders. Indeed, the Founding Fathers saw religious practice and political prosperity as going hand-in-hand, as being inextricably connected.
The “Father of our country” certainly had no doubts about this fact. “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens,” declared George Washington in his Farewell Address. He added, “[R]eason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
Related: St. Patrick’s Lorica and the Power of Faith
Founder John Adams agreed with Washington’s assessment. “Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net,” he observed soberly. “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
The first U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice and Founding Father, John Jay, went a step further than Adams, arguing that Americans should keep religion — specifically Christianity — in mind when we vote for our leaders: “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
To close, here is a quote attributed to Founder and “Father of the Constitution” James Madison: “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not on the power of government…[but] upon the capacity of each and every one of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
America was founded on Judeo-Christian ideals, and, to survive, it has to maintain that foundation. That’s one of the reasons why we are in such crisis as a nation now — but also why the above poll on Jesus and the Resurrection provides hope for our future.
