The phrase “Christian nation” gets thrown around like a slogan, but we wanted to slow down and ask a more precise question: what did American courts, lawmakers, and leaders historically mean when they used it? We start with the definition that shows up again and again in public records, that America is called a Christian nation because Christianity has “shaped and molded” its institutions, not because the country forces anyone to become Christian. From there, we dig into the 1892 US Supreme ...