Columbus Day and America’s Founding: A Christian Perspective

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Columbus Day may bring to mind a familiar rhyme, a parade, or simply a three-day weekend. But beneath the holiday is a harder conversation about exploration, colonization, and the stories we tell about America. For Christians, it also raises a question worth considering: How do we acknowledge the faith that helped shape our country while being honest about the injustices woven into its history?

Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day invite us to look beyond the version of history we find most comfortable. There is much to appreciate in America’s religious heritage. There is also much to grieve. And if we want to understand our nation’s complicated founding, we will need to make room for both.

What Does Columbus Day Commemorate?

Columbus Day commemorates Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas in 1492. It is a federal holiday in the United States, associated with European exploration and, for many communities, the celebration of Italian American heritage.

Even the names of his three ships have become ingrained in our national memory: the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María. And, of course, generations of American schoolchildren learned to recite, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”

But what, exactly, are we remembering?

The event has often been described as “The Discovery of America.” Yet the Americas were already home to Indigenous peoples with their own communities, cultures, and histories. Columbus’s arrival was a discovery from a European perspective, not the beginning of the story of the people who already lived here.

His voyages helped initiate sustained European colonization of the Americas, beginning with Spain and followed by other European powers. They also helped set in motion the exchange of plants, animals, human populations, culture, and technology.

But exchange and exploration were only part of the story.

Why Is Columbus Day Controversial?

Columbus Day is controversial because celebrating Columbus’s arrival can overlook the exploitation, enslavement, and displacement of Indigenous peoples associated with European colonization. What some Americans remember as a story of discovery, others remember as the beginning of devastating losses.

Columbus-era documents show that Columbus himself exploited and enslaved Indigenous people. His skill as a mariner does not erase that part of his legacy.

And the consequences of colonization extended far beyond his voyages. Indigenous communities suffered through disease, warfare, dispossession, and forced removal as European settlements expanded and, later, the United States grew.

That is the conundrum of Columbus Day.

Can we recognize the historical significance of an event without celebrating everything that followed? Can we acknowledge achievement without excusing exploitation?

Those questions reach beyond Columbus. They lead us into the larger story of America—and the way Christians sometimes tell it.

Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?

Christian beliefs and practices helped shape early America, but Christian influence is not the same as an officially Christian government or a society that consistently reflected biblical teachings. Before we answer whether America was founded as a Christian nation, we need to ask what we mean by “Christian nation.”

Tell me if you’ve heard this one:

Once upon a time, there was a nation founded by Christians, established on Christian principles and ideals, in order to be a Christian nation. A city upon a hill. A new Jerusalem.

And God smiled on this nation.

And placed His hand of providence on her. He led her and helped her grow. Soon, she became the greatest nation on the planet and took stands against moral evil and political tyrants. She came to the rescue of other nations and fought against the spread of godless ideologies.

No?

Then maybe you’ve heard this one:

Once upon a time, there was a nation founded by people who wanted religion to have nothing to do with public life. Its founders were skeptics and deists who established a constitution and laws on entirely secular principles. They built a wall between church and state because they wanted faith kept out of the nation’s affairs.

And because this nation was founded on secular principles, it should be kept on secular principles.

Two stories; one country. And obviously, I’m talking about the United States.

For many Christians, the first story is the more appealing one.

But neither story adequately captures the history.

Christian goals and aspirations were part of the settlement of North America. Christian factors contributed to the struggle for national independence. Christian beliefs influenced people who helped shape the United States.

There has been a great deal of commendable Christian belief, practice, and influence in the history of our country and the colonies that preceded it.

Yet the Constitution did not establish Christianity as the national religion. Article VI prohibited religious tests for federal office. Recognizing Christianity’s historical influence is different from claiming that the federal government was formally established as Christian.

And if by “Christian nation” we mean a society consistently reflecting the ideas presented in Scripture, the claim becomes harder still.

Our forefathers and foremothers were not always consistent in practicing the principles they professed.

Why Did Early Americans See Themselves as a “City Upon a Hill”?

Some early English colonists understood their communities as having a special responsibility before God. For the Puritans, the image of a “city upon a hill” expressed the hope that their shared life would serve as an example to others.

The idea of “chosenness” and “special blessing” from God became a recurring theme in American history. In 1630, John Winthrop famously told his fellow colonists, “wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill.”

As historian Conrad Cherry writes:

Throughout their history Americans have been possessed by an acute sense of divine election. They have fancied themselves a New Israel, a people chosen for the awesome responsibility of serving as a light to the nations.... It has long been... the essence of America’s motivating mythology.

But regardless of how we feel about this culturally or biblically, does that sense of divine election give us an accurate account of our history?

During America’s bicentennial celebration in 1976, much was made of the faith and piety of the Puritans and Pilgrims, along with the righteous fight against tyranny expressed in the American Revolution.

As historians Mark Noll, George Marsden, and Nathan Hatch noted, the resulting narrative suggested that everything about our nation flowed from the Christian actions of Christian people. Those actions, in turn, supposedly bequeathed an unambiguously Christian heritage.

But even as devout Christians themselves, these historians challenged that interpretation as revisionist.

The fact that people believed they had a special calling from God does not mean that everything they did expressed His character. Their aspirations deserve examination. So do their actions.

How Did Christian Ideals Conflict with the Treatment of Indigenous Peoples?

The conflict between Christian ideals and the treatment of Indigenous peoples exposes one of the deepest tensions in America’s history. People could profess a desire to live by Scripture while participating in dispossession and violence that contradicted the dignity of their neighbors.

Consider the Puritans of the 1600s.

Do we focus on their desire to establish Christian colonies and live by Scripture? Or do we also examine the taking of Native American lands and the displacement and killing of Indigenous people?

Both belong in the conversation.

Acknowledging injustice does not require us to pretend that Christian faith contributed nothing good to American history. But recognizing Christian influence does require us to be honest about the ways people failed to live according to that faith.

Genesis 1:27 teaches that human beings are made in God’s image. That truth includes the Indigenous peoples whose lives, families, and communities were disrupted by colonization.

Their dignity did not depend on whether Europeans recognized it.

If we evaluate history through Scripture, we cannot measure faithfulness only by religious language or stated intentions. We must also consider how people treated those whose land, freedom, and lives stood in the way of their ambitions.

What Is the Difference Between Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day?

Columbus Day commemorates Columbus’s arrival in the Americas and is also associated with Italian American heritage. Indigenous Peoples’ Day honors Indigenous peoples’ histories, cultures, and contributions while drawing attention to the consequences of colonization.

The movement toward Indigenous Peoples’ Day predates Berkeley’s observance in 1992. Its roots include a proposal made by Indigenous participants at a 1977 international conference addressing discrimination against Indigenous populations. Berkeley later became an important milestone in the holiday’s adoption.

The distinction matters because the two observances ask us to consider different perspectives on the same history.

One emphasizes an arrival that transformed the relationship between Europe and the Americas. The other centers the peoples who were already here—and whose stories have too often been pushed aside.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day also offers an opportunity to recognize more than historical suffering. Indigenous peoples are living communities with continuing traditions, achievements, and contributions.

For Christians, listening to those stories can help us develop a fuller understanding of our neighbors and our nation.

How Should Christians Reflect on Columbus Day?

Christians can approach Columbus Day with gratitude, honesty, and humility. We can appreciate what is good in our country’s history while acknowledging injustice and honoring the people whose experiences complicate the stories we prefer to tell.

Micah 6:8 calls God’s people to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him. Those responsibilities do not disappear when the subject is our national heritage.

Perhaps we can begin by learning more about the Indigenous communities connected to the places where we live. We can listen to their accounts, examine the history we were taught, and resist the temptation to assume that national success always proves divine approval.

We can also distinguish love of country from the belief that our country has always acted faithfully.

On Columbus Day, many Americans will simply embrace a day off from work, perhaps attend a parade celebrating American heritage, or get away for a three-day weekend. They may give little thought to Columbus, the supposed discovery of America, or the exploitation of Indigenous peoples.

They may not wrestle with which “story” of America’s founding is most accurate.

But perhaps, just perhaps, there is a bit more to think about than what to put on the grill.

James Emery White

Sources

John Winthrop, A Modell of Christian Charity (1630), in Conrad Cherry, God’s New Israel: Religious Interpretations of American Destiny.

Mark A. Noll, Nathan O. Hatch and George M. Marsden, The Search for Christian America, Expanded Edition.

For more on the history of Columbus Day, click here.

Photo Courtesy: ©Wikimedia Common/ L. Prang & Co., Boston

Published Date: October 14, 2024 

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook, and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.

Originally published October 14, 2024.