How Christianity Made America—and How America Remade Christianity

In this episode of The Michael Shermer Show, host Michael Shermer engages in a deep historical exploration with Dr. Matthew Avery Sutton, author of Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity. The conversation traces the paradoxical relationship between religion and American identity—how Christianity helped forge a distinct national character, yet also became a tool for both oppression and liberation. Sutton argues that the First Amendment’s separation of church and state, while intended as a pragmatic compromise, inadvertently created a hyper-competitive religious marketplace, making religion more central to American life than in other Western nations. He unpacks how religious narratives—from the Puritan 'shining city on a hill' to Lincoln’s humility about divine favor—have shaped political discourse, while also highlighting how marginalized groups like enslaved people, Native Americans, and women have reinterpreted Christianity to demand justice. The discussion spans topics from the rise of fundamentalism and the evangelical movement, to the political instrumentalization of religion in debates over abortion, gay rights, and immigration. Sutton concludes with a nuanced view: while secularism is growing, religious revivalism—especially Pentecostalism—remains powerful, suggesting that America’s religious identity is neither dying nor static, but continually remade.