On December 18, 1620, English Separatists (called Pilgrims) landed on what is now Plymouth, MA. Before leaving the ship, forty-one colonists aboard the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact in order to provide civil stability once they arrived on land.
It is historical fact that the primary desire and aspiration of these original colonists was religious freedom. They were Separatists from the Church of England, and they believed that purification was necessary for the preservation annd advancement of the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They held that the State had no claim on the Church of Christ, and they believed that every true visible church is a company of people called and separated from the world by the Word of God. They were joined together by a voluntary profession of the Faith of Christ.
They also believed that every local church has the authority to choose and take unto themselves sufficient persons in the church offices, and that no “anti-Christian hierarchy… of Popes, Archbishops, Lord-bishops… nor any such like should be set over the Church of Christ.”
While there are certainly many other convictions and values that formed the foundation of the American experiment, the distinctly Christian concept of religious freedom was perhaps the cornerstone.
I celebrate the birth of America. I celebrate the relative goods that America has embodied and produced in the world. Therefore, I celebrate this anniversary of the founding of the American nation.
And yet, I also recognize that whatever America was or is or will be can only ever be subordinate to the greater kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before there was an America, there was the Church. And long after America is gone, the Church shall remain.