# Holy Smoke: Was America meant to be a Christian nation? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/holy-smoke-was-america-meant-to-be-a-christian-nation Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/holy-smoke-was-america-meant-to-be-a-christian-nation.md Podcast: [Best of the Spectator](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373) Published: 2026-07-05T00:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/best-of-the-spectator/episodes/holy-smoke-was-america-meant-to-be-a-christian-nation Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb/e/6a484a5104fac73b24eca18d/media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=hDOKzsyopT3kGP_wCPgQFsltgYNL587xP_kLuIK0p0w Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-spectator-45373/episodes/holy-smoke-was-america-meant-to-be-a-christian-nation Duration seconds: 1630 ## Resource It might be 250 years since the Declaration of Independence but the document continues to prove controversial, with political groups arguing over the intention behind the document – just watch any Supreme Court case. To mark the 4th of July, Professor Gregg Frazer joins Damian Thompson to talk about the intention of the founding fathers in terms of religion – did they really want America to become a Christian nation? With President Trump courting evangelical Christian voters, rising religious tensions amongst religious minorities and some sections of society advocating for ‘Christian nationalism’, is America’s free market in religious ideas being tested to its limit? Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-spectator-45373/episodes/holy-smoke-was-america-meant-to-be-a-christian-nation/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/holy-smoke-was-america-meant-to-be-a-christian-nation.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.