White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made a rare statement during a press briefing on March 30, 2026. "Our nation was a nation founded, 250 years ago almost, on Judeo-Christian values."
Leavitt was responding to a reporter's question regarding Pope Leo XIV, who had recently stated that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war. The Press Secretary used the statement to defend the administration’s practice of calling for prayer during military conflicts. She argued that the U.S. has a long tradition of leaders and troops turning to prayer during "turbulent times".
Iit was not only the Decalogue – as a shared ethical and cultural framework – that allowed the construction of Western Civilization. It was primarily the joint work between Christians and Jews. Love for God, for the traditional family, for the history of the homeland and for Jerusalem, never ceased to bring together those religiously very different populations.
The U.S. founders were not uniformly Christian; while most held Christian backgrounds (Protestant), many leading figures were best described as theistic rationalists or influenced by Enlightenment thinkers rather than orthodox believers. In the meantime, the historical legacy of the Jewish people has always been respected in the US. Haym Salomon from Portuguese origin was the crucial financier of the American Revolution. Isaac Moses, Michael Gratz, Benjamin Seixas, Jacob Cohen were attracted by him to the same cause.
The United States is widely considered the world's most powerful nation, maintaining dominant military, economic, and political influence. It possesses the largest economy and military budget, which is greater than the next eight nations combined, along with global military, technological, and cultural influence.
