The State of the First Amendment 2007 survey, released by the First Amendment Center in September, revealed that 65 percent of American citizens believe the nation’s founders intended the United States to be a Christian nation.

In addition, 55 percent believe that this Christian nation is established in the Constitution.

This survey then continues to question American citizens on their knowledge of what the First Amendment guarantees for religious rights and asks for opinions from citizens to understand how the public reacts to laws and freedoms.

Leonard Sadosky, assistant professor of history, said one thing the Founding Fathers worried about was the government preventing citizens from practicing their own religion.

“Most of the leaders of the Revolutionary Movement don’t want the federal or state government to tell them what church to go to,” Sadosky said.

He said the vast majority of Americans at the time were Christian, but there were major differences between different sects of Christianity, so the founders felt it was important that the government did not prevent citizens from choosing their own religion.

“The First Amendment was pretty specific about the establishment of religion,” Sadosky said.

One thing Sadosky found ironic was that the separation of church and state has actually made religion stronger in the United States.

Warren Blumenfeld, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, said the idea that the country was based on the Christian faith is a complete fallacy. He said that the words “God” and “Christianity” are never even mentioned in the Constitution. He said the Treaty of Tripoli, which the U.S. Senate unanimously approved in 1797, reads, “the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility of Muslims.”

Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science, said the survey reflects the reasons why American politics are so difficult in comparison with European politics.

Schmidt said this shows the struggle to involve religion in the society continues in America, whereas countries in Europe do not involve religion in government, causing less headache.

In response to a statistic that 28 percent of Americans “thought freedom to worship as one chooses was never meant to apply to religious groups that the majority of the people consider extreme or on the fringe,” Schmidt said he thought such a statistic would be well over 50 percent.

He said rightists in the United States are saying “no” to jihad and terrorism and leftists are saying “no” to fundamental, conservative Christianity.

Schmidt also believed the representation of different races was low, as 79 percent of those questioned were white, while only 7 percent were black, 4 percent were Hispanic, 3 percent were biracial, and 1 percent were Asian. He said this may lead to lower statistics in response to questions about religion in schools.

Blumenfeld said Thomas Jefferson, who held Deist beliefs, was especially involved in the push for a country that allowed religious freedom. In 1777, Jefferson drafted “An Act for the Establishment of Religious Freedom” in Virginia, which passed in 1786.

Soon after that, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison negotiated a compromise with Protestant sectarians that eventually led to the clause written into the First Amendment allowing religious autonomy.

The Founding Fathers did this to ensure escape from religious persecution they had experienced in England. By proposing the First Amendment, Blumenfeld said, religious freedom was guaranteed regardless of affiliation.

Blumenfeld believes this survey demonstrates a “lack of religious pluralism” in America.

“We are a country that knows very little about other religions. We promote the Christian calendar. We have to learn about other religions for economic success and also to be considered an educated nation,” he said.

Other statistics from the survey show that 58 percent of Americans believe teachers and other public school officials should be allowed to lead prayers in public schools.

Another statistic shows nearly 50 percent of Americans believe that public school teachers should be allowed to use the Bible as a factual text in history and social studies classes.

Hector Avalos, professor of philosophy and religious studies, thought this statistic would only be applicable when concerned with one’s own faith being broadcasted.

“People are for public prayer when they think their affiliation is being taught. When this is not the case, they don’t really think it is right,” he said.

Avalos said religious diversity is not something people discuss or truly ponder, which may lead them to be confident in only their beliefs.

Avalos believes this may be caused by educators’ lack of teaching multiplicity of religions.