The Freedom From Religion Foundation demolishes Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s assertion that Christianity is a defining bond of “Western civilization” and a central component of American identity.

On Feb. 14, Rubio delivered a speech at the Munich Security Conference describing the United States and Europe as part of a single civilizational bloc forged by “Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry and shared history.”

“We are part of one civilization — Western civilization,” he claimed. “We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.”

Such remarks betray an amazingly narrow-minded worldview.

“When the nation’s top diplomat characterizes the United States as bound to Europe by ‘Christian faith’ and frames national identity in religious terms, he marginalizes tens of millions of Americans who are not Christian,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Nearly one in three Americans today is religiously unaffiliated. Millions more practice Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and other faiths. They are no less American.”

The United States is not a Christian nation. It is a secular constitutional republic founded on the radical principle that government must remain neutral on matters of religion. The Constitution contains no reference to Christianity and explicitly prohibits any religious test for public office. The First Amendment bars the government from establishing religion or favoring one faith over others.

Government officials have a duty to represent all Americans, not just those who share their personal beliefs, FFRF asserts. Invoking Christianity as a civilizational litmus test sends a dangerous message at home and abroad that religious identity is tied to political legitimacy or national belonging.

The strength of the United States has never depended on religious uniformity. It depends on a constitutional system that protects freedom of conscience for believers and nonbelievers alike. Our secular government has allowed people of every faith and none to coexist as equal citizens under the law.

FFRF urges Secretary Rubio and all public officials to respect the Constitution’s mandate of state-church separation and to refrain from using their offices to promote Christian nationalism. American diplomacy should reflect our founding principles of religious freedom and governmental neutrality, not sectarian rhetoric.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 42,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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