Somewhat ambiguous is what exactly the term "Christian nation" means. Does it mean that the founding fathers intended on basing their government around Christianity? Does it mean that the majority of the citizens were/are Christian?
The founders represented the majority of the nation's people who were likely at least 75-90 percent Protestand Christian at the time of the founding.
The majority of the Founding Fathers were deists, not Protestants. There are
numerous quotes to support this.
What the founders were particularly interested in relative to Christianity is that no denominational sect or church system was to be established such as the RCC or Anglican Church or any such thing. What they established primarily was the freedom to practice religion anywhere, be it in school, government or private sector, uninhibited. This they did and this they practiced after the documents were established. Thus no fuss was raised about praying and Bible reading in schools or anything like that.
In the 1950's the government placed on currency motto's like "In God We Trust." It was not always this way. And while in rural areas I have no doubt schools were teaching prayer, this was not the intention of the Founding Fathers. That much is undeniable given their own testimony and their expressed purpose of keeping civil government and religion separate.
A conflict of interest arises. Where there may be no expressed religion in schools, it is certainly implied if prayer to Jesus is compulsory like a "Pledge of Allegiance." In fact, I don't agree with the pledge of allegiance either. In today's time, never before have we seen such a melting pot of culture and mishmash of religious beliefs.
Therefore in the best interest of respecting each others view, isn't it advisable to simply remain neutral when it comes to religion which clearly was the intent of the Framers?
Doesn't prayer in school and teaching parables about Jesus negate or invalidate the reason for churches?
That doesn't mean that somebody cannot pray in school of their own accord, in my opinion. If you feel convicted to pray in school, that is your right as a citizen seems to me. What some atheists have done is manipulate or extend the intent of the Establishment Clause far beyond the Framer's intent.
The intention of the Framers was never to keep God out of public life, but to keep religion and the government totally separate and to remain neutral.
"Political correctness is tyranny with manners." -- Charlton Heston
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