The Founders did not create a Christian nation. They created something stranger.

The American Revolution rejected the divine right of kings, but it did not reject sacred purpose. Instead, Americans transformed liberty, the nation, the Founders, and even the war itself into objects of near-religious reverence.

Thomas Paine preached revolution like a revival sermon. Jefferson invoked “Nature’s God” and “divine Providence.” George Washington became a providential deliverer in the public imagination.

The result was not a state church, but a civil religion -- a national faith that treated America itself as part of a divine mission.