On the morning of February 6, Yang Fenggang, a sociology professor at Purdue University, posted an online lecture titled "Is America a Christian country?"
Teaching American Religion, Chinese Religion, and Sociology of Religion at the U.S. Purdue University, Professor Yang serves as Director of the Center for the Global East and Religion. His research focuses on the political economy of religion in China, ethics and market transformation of Chinese Christians, faith and trust of Chinese business people, and Chinese Christian Churches in the United States.
At the beginning of the speech, the host Red River Valley Chinese Church said the 2020 U.S. election had ignited a debate about America's religious nature. Polarization tended to appear on political and religious issues. Many conservative Christians firmly supported Trump's re-election, expecting him to strongly reverse America's secularization and lead the country back to Christianity, but the anti-Trump left vehemently rejected the fact that the United States was a Christian country, accusing conservative Christianity of upholding racism.
In the lecture, Professor Yang mainly discussed "whether the United States is a Christian country or not" from three aspects: American population, state system and Christian doctrine.
He cited data from several institutes, such as the Pew Research Center, a chart of the percentage of Christians in America, the religious identity of U.S. presidents, the percentage of Congress members who believe in religion, the church's actual congregational size, a Bible knowledge survey, sources for guiding the principles of life, and the ethical acceptance of unmarried sex.
In conclusion, Professor Yang believed that the United States was a secular country in terms of its state system, reflected in its Constitution and laws. Simultaneously, it should also note that the American national strategy's religious, cultural foundation is based on Christian principles. For example, the separation of church and state is a Protestant principle.
"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." After the founding of the United States, church and government were gradually separated in every state. The United States' ethos had been deeply influenced by Christian cultures, such as every meeting of the United States Congress begins with a prayer. The President takes office with the oath by putting his one hand on the Bible, saying "Please God help me." However, Professor Yang then quoted Peter Berger's argument, referring that it would remain to be seen whether the trend to drive religion out of the public square continues after de-religionization of public schools, institutions, and so on in recent decades.
Finally, "Is America a Christian country?" Professor Yang said that no country in the world could indeed be Christian in the original meaning of Christianity, just as Jesus said "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
The professor claimed that the heavenly kingdom was eternal, enduring forever and never corrupts. No kingdom in the world will not be corrupted," Yang said, "America, too, could go wrong, as illustrated by the decline in the number of Christians over the past 20 years. So the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is above all other nations on earth, and no nation can be called a Christian nation in that sense."
Once a professor of religion at the University of China at Renmin, Yang has representative works, including Chinese Christians in America: Conversion Assimilation, and Adhesive Identities, a translation of Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human side of Religion, Religion in Asian America: Construction and Reconstruction of Boundaries and Scope (co-editor), and State, Market and Religion in Chinese Society.
- Translated by Sophia Chen
北京时间2月6日上午，普度大学社会学教授杨凤岗在网上以“美国是基督教国家吗？”为题举行了一场网络云端讲座分享。
杨凤岗教授在普度大学主讲美国宗教、中国宗教、宗教社会学等课程，担任普世东亚宗教研究中心中心，曾任中国人民大学宗教学讲师。他的研究主要集中于中国宗教的政治经济学、中国基督徒伦理与市场转型、中国商人的信仰与信任、美国的华人基督教教会等方面。
此次讲座由红河谷华人教会主办。在讲座开始，主持人表示，2020年美国大选引爆了有关美国宗教属性的争论，在政治和宗教问题上出现两极化倾向，很多保守的基督徒坚定支持川普连任，期望他强力扭转美国的世俗化趋势，带领美国回归基督教，反对川普的左派则激烈反对美国是个基督教国家，斥责保守的基督教维护种族主义。此次的讲座正是在这样的背景下产生的。
杨凤岗教授代表作包括《美国的华人基督徒：皈信、同化与叠合身份认同》，译有《信仰的法则--解释宗教之人的方面》，并编有《亚裔美国人的宗教：边界与范围的建构与重构》（合编）、《中国社会中的国家、市场与宗教》等书籍。在当天讲座中，主要从从美国人口、国家制度和基督教教义三个方面来谈论“美国到底是不是基督教国家”。 他举出皮尤调查机构等各种数据，包括美国基督徒人数比例变化图、美国总统的宗教身份、国会议员信仰比例、教会实际聚会人数情况、对《圣经》了解程度的调查、生活原则指导来源、对未婚性伦理接纳情况等进行分析和阐述。
在结论部分，杨教授认为，美国在国家制度上看是一个世俗国家，美国的宪法、美国的法律体现了这一点；与此同时也应该看到，美国国家制度的宗教文化根基是以基督教原则立国的，比如政教分离或分立就是个基督新教
原则，“凯撒的归凯撒，上帝的归上帝”，美国建国之后，各州建制教会与政府逐步分离，美国的政治文化（ethos）迄今为止也深受基督教文化的影响，比如美国国会每次开会前先祷告、总统宣誓就职要放手按圣经并且最后要说请上帝帮助我等。但是，杨教授也随后引用皮特.伯格的观点，谈到近几十年来美国在公立学校、公共机构等都在去宗教化，之后是否仍旧延续把宗教赶出公共广场的趋势仍旧是值得关注的。
“最后一点，美国是不是基督教国家？”最后，杨教授强调说，从基督教本义来说：世界上的任何国家都不可能真正成为基督教国家，“为什么耶稣说我的国不属这世界，的国王若属这世界，我的臣必要征战，使我不至于被交给犹太人，只是我的国不属这世界。”
“天国是什么？是永恒的，是存到永远的、永不败坏的。世界上的国哪一个不会败坏？”杨教授说：“美国同样会有可能出问题。过去二十年来基督徒人数的下降就已经在显示。所以天国、神的国、上帝的国是超越世上任何的国家，在这个意义上，没有任何一个国家可以叫基督教国家。基督徒最终的那个国是上帝的国。”
杨凤岗教授网上讲座分享：美国是基督教国家吗？
On the morning of February 6, Yang Fenggang, a sociology professor at Purdue University, posted an online lecture titled "Is America a Christian country?"
Teaching American Religion, Chinese Religion, and Sociology of Religion at the U.S. Purdue University, Professor Yang serves as Director of the Center for the Global East and Religion. His research focuses on the political economy of religion in China, ethics and market transformation of Chinese Christians, faith and trust of Chinese business people, and Chinese Christian Churches in the United States.
At the beginning of the speech, the host Red River Valley Chinese Church said the 2020 U.S. election had ignited a debate about America's religious nature. Polarization tended to appear on political and religious issues. Many conservative Christians firmly supported Trump's re-election, expecting him to strongly reverse America's secularization and lead the country back to Christianity, but the anti-Trump left vehemently rejected the fact that the United States was a Christian country, accusing conservative Christianity of upholding racism.
In the lecture, Professor Yang mainly discussed "whether the United States is a Christian country or not" from three aspects: American population, state system and Christian doctrine.
He cited data from several institutes, such as the Pew Research Center, a chart of the percentage of Christians in America, the religious identity of U.S. presidents, the percentage of Congress members who believe in religion, the church's actual congregational size, a Bible knowledge survey, sources for guiding the principles of life, and the ethical acceptance of unmarried sex.
In conclusion, Professor Yang believed that the United States was a secular country in terms of its state system, reflected in its Constitution and laws. Simultaneously, it should also note that the American national strategy's religious, cultural foundation is based on Christian principles. For example, the separation of church and state is a Protestant principle.
"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." After the founding of the United States, church and government were gradually separated in every state. The United States' ethos had been deeply influenced by Christian cultures, such as every meeting of the United States Congress begins with a prayer. The President takes office with the oath by putting his one hand on the Bible, saying "Please God help me." However, Professor Yang then quoted Peter Berger's argument, referring that it would remain to be seen whether the trend to drive religion out of the public square continues after de-religionization of public schools, institutions, and so on in recent decades.
Finally, "Is America a Christian country?" Professor Yang said that no country in the world could indeed be Christian in the original meaning of Christianity, just as Jesus said "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
The professor claimed that the heavenly kingdom was eternal, enduring forever and never corrupts. No kingdom in the world will not be corrupted," Yang said, "America, too, could go wrong, as illustrated by the decline in the number of Christians over the past 20 years. So the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is above all other nations on earth, and no nation can be called a Christian nation in that sense."
Once a professor of religion at the University of China at Renmin, Yang has representative works, including Chinese Christians in America: Conversion Assimilation, and Adhesive Identities, a translation of Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human side of Religion, Religion in Asian America: Construction and Reconstruction of Boundaries and Scope (co-editor), and State, Market and Religion in Chinese Society.
- Translated by Sophia Chen
Professor: Is America a Christian Country?
