RELIGION* Heather Cox Richardson : Thousands of people gathered today on the National Mall to engage in an eight-hour taxpayer-funded evangelical worship event to “rededicate” the nation to Christianity . . . . Rather than basing the United States on religion, the nation’s founders and framers, as well as Americans of later generations, sought to instill in Americans reverence for the nation’s core political values, especially the right of self-government and the checks and balances that made that self-government possible. . . . That civic religion unified the nation, but it did more than that. It also instructed Americans on the rights and duties of citizens who live in a nation that rests on “We the People.” They must think for themselves, question elected officials, and take an active role in their government. Replacing Americans’ civic identity with Christian nationalism destroys that vitally important understanding of the role of citizens in a democracy.…