This past Easter weekend, Canadians and Americans both found themselves attending Easter services and traditions commemorating the greatest event in Christianity. For many people, Easter is also a time that resurfaces deep religious and philosophical questions—a debate exasperated by the new Trump administration. Canadians like myself have watched “God Bless America” claims and the growing angst across borders as America has been taxing Canada, and are undoubtedly questioning where and how God fits in, now more than ever.
Are Canadian Christians the same as American Christians? How does Canada fit into “God bless America?” And if he does bless America more than Canada, why?
The year 2025 started a new era for America, following Trump re-entering the White House as president, which has also brought up a new religious zeal within conservative branches of the Republicans.
Following an Easter in the White House that elevated the Holy Week to a new level, Americans are entering into an unprecedented tightening of the relationship between the church and state. The New York Times reports Trump’s newly rebranded faith office is working to end the “prevailing belief that church and state should be separated,” and notes that pastors from Trump-supporting churches are getting more opportunities to tighten bonds with the White House.
While Canada has become increasingly secularized since its constitution, America has done the opposite, and it’s becoming increasingly noticeable.
In Trump’s inauguration speech, he revealed a religious part of his motivation to better America through the “Manifest Destiny” idea. It’s no small belief, and it’s been a part of the American core since the early Puritan settlers—and it definitely should not be overlooked at it’s reintroduction into modern day America. The term essentially refers to the God-given right that the land of North America (despite pre-existing cultures), belongs to Americans, and when taken to the extreme, can result in an unwavering belief that America is truly a superior nation (Does Canada as the 51st state make more sense now?).
In this direction, Trump’s reaction to his assassination attempt points to his belief in “Manifest Destiny”—he believes he was “saved by God, to make America great again” (MAGA). It figures then, that Americans who have been raised to believe in America as a divinely-ordained superior nation, or one that God has immense favour in at least, might not think twice after hearing Trump’s conclusion of his life being spared.
Yet, amid the largest percentage of Trump supporters—white evangelical Christians—there’s a strong percentage that are equally as unsupportive of Trump’s MAGA and “manifest destiny” ambitions, as most Canadian Christians are.
Back in 2018, following Trump’s first year in office, The New York Times reported a sharp correlation between the Trump administration and increasing racial segregation in churches: Michael Emerson, author of “Divided by Faith” says, “The election itself was the single most harmful event to the whole movement of reconciliation [in churches] in at least the past 30 years.” This also directly correlates with the lowest percentage of Trump supporters being black evangelical Christians.
Ok, so what does all this mean for Canada? It means that the majority of Canadian Christians are fundamentally different in national beliefs to the majority of American Christians. It means that while Trump’s actions may appear to be clear outliers in 2025, he’s also returning to the core of American exceptionalism that America was built upon. And, it means that wherever America is prosperous, it will largely be interpreted as the divine blessing the nation was expecting.
It seems the early Puritan zeal of being a chosen people is making a comeback in America, and Canada gets a front row seat.