My turn: We will always be a Christian nation

In the U.S., we’re a proud democratic nation. I didn’t say a nation of Democrats, but a country where democracy reigns.

But it was “majority rules” thinking that led Pontius Pilate to condemn an innocent Jesus to death on a cross. Although Jesus did not deserve death, majority ruled.

In 1859, John Stuart Mill wrote in “On Liberty” of the importance of freedom of thought and expression, including opinions that must never be suppressed, even when held by a minority. As Mill noted, “Human history is replete with examples where the majority has incorrectly assumed that its views are infallibly correct.”

I can speculate on whether the majority who voted for President Obama will prove to have been wrong, or whether the dissenting voters of health-care reform were really racist, or just souls voicing “minority” opinion.

Instead, let’s turn our attention back to Jesus, whose resurrection we observe on Sunday.

Obama has said, “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation ...” But when one has media access, minority opinion can appear to be the majority. Mill did not directly foresee this. Even if Christians ever do become a minority, no one can deny our founders’ shared belief in “One nation under God.”

We are.

Helena Rodriguez is a freelance writer and English instructor. Contact her at: [email protected]