America was not founded as a Christian nation. It was founded as a nation with many Christians, deeply influenced by religious belief and moral tradition, but intentionally designed so that no single faith would govern the state. That distinction matters, especially now.

On May 17, thousands gathered on the National Mall for “Rededicate 250,” a massive prayer rally supported by the Trump Administration and prominent Republican leaders. The event promoted the claim that America was explicitly founded as a “Christian nation” and must now be “rededicated” to that identity, and it was part of a pattern in this administration that includes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asking U.S. soldiers to pray “in the name of Jesus Christ.” For many Americans, including many Christians, the gathering on the National Mall may have felt patriotic, uplifting and spiritually meaningful. But the historical and constitutional argument at its center was fundamentally wrong.

My own Catholic roots run deep. Who I am, what I believe and how I see the world were shaped by my upbringing in a close-knit Catholic family. I often joke that I did not just attend Catholic school, I majored in it.

From elementary school through high school, college and even law school, I was educated in classrooms where crucifixes hung on the walls, prayer began the day, and the lessons focused as much on character and moral responsibility as on academics. My wife and I later chose the same path for our three children, all of whom attended Catholic schools and Jesuit colleges. We go to Mass every Sunday.

So, I write this not as someone hostile or ambivalent to religion, but as someone deeply formed by it. I believe faith can inspire compassion, service, humility and a profound respect for human dignity. Catholic social teaching has shaped my understanding of public life and moral responsibility in countless ways.

But faith is strongest when it is freely embraced, not politically imposed.

The Founders understood that principle. Almost all were religious, and many were devout Christians. Yet together they created something historically revolutionary: a government that derived its legitimacy not from a church, monarch or divine mandate, but from the consent of the governed.

The Constitution contains no declaration that America is a Christian nation. There is no reference to Jesus Christ. Article VI explicitly prohibits religious tests for public office. Those were not accidental omissions. They were deliberate safeguards. And the First Amendment guarantees both the free exercise of religion and protection against the governmental establishment of religion.

Moreover, the Treaty of Tripoli, ratified unanimously by the Senate in 1797 and signed by President John Adams, stated plainly that “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” The statement was not a rejection of religion. It was an affirmation that citizenship and government in America would never depend upon religious identity.

Catholics, perhaps more than most, should understand the wisdom of that protection. For much of American history, Catholics faced discrimination, suspicion and exclusion. Anti-Catholic riots erupted in major cities, churches and convents were burned, and the Know Nothing movement rose to prominence warning that Catholics could never be loyal Americans because of their allegiance to Rome. When Archbishop John Hughes began construction of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan in 1858, many Protestants mocked the project and questioned whether Catholics fully belonged in American public life. Al Smith confronted anti-Catholic bigotry in 1928, and decades later John F. Kennedy still felt compelled to assure the nation that he would not govern as an instrument of the Catholic Church.

The separation between church and state protected Catholics when Catholics were outsiders. Today, it protects Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics and every other American equally.

That is why Christian nationalism ultimately misunderstands both Christianity and America. It does not strengthen faith. It politicizes it, turning religion into a tool of political identity and power while implying that those who worship differently, or not at all, are somehow less American.

Christianity spread across the world because individuals, inspired by the Holy Spirit, freely embraced it, not because governments mandated it. History shows that when religion becomes fused with state power, both liberty and faith suffer.

Patriotism becomes distorted when one group claims exclusive ownership of America’s moral legitimacy. America belongs equally to believers, doubters and nonbelievers alike. Our unity has never depended on religious conformity but instead on shared principles of liberty, equality under law, pluralism and human dignity.

At a time of growing political division, I understand why many Americans are searching for moral grounding and national purpose. But the answer cannot be redefining America in ways that narrow who fully belongs. While I will always encourage people to embrace their faith and pray, the glory of America is not that we all pray alike, but that we are free to pray differently, or not at all, while still remaining one nation.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat, has represented New York’s Third Congressional District since 2024, and previously from 2017 to 2023.