Was America a Christian Nation?

Historian Dr. Kevin Kruse of Princeton University spoke recently at Union Theological Seminary in New York City on the subject of America as a Christian nation. Dr. Kruse, author of One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America, argued that the notion that America was a Christian nation was founded on political and capitalistic movements during the 1940s and 1950s and has no basis in the early history of the country.  Dr. Kruse argued that business leaders spearheaded the effort to introduce ideas like â??freedom under Godâ? and opposition to idolization of the state; publicly they claimed they were opposing communism, but really â?? according to Dr. Kruse â?? these â??Christian libertariansâ? wanted to dismantle the New Deal. Dr. Kruse argues that both Billy Graham and Dwight Eisenhower were key players in this effort who, though set in power by business interests, saw the Christian revival of America as an end in itself.