Just to begin, I’d like to point out that my last entry is probably an impossible story to live up to, as nothing like that will ever happen to me again. So, a caveat: no story from here on out will be able to match that last one in humor or plain weirdness.
Unfortunately, it’s been over a week since my last (and first) entry. I’ll try not to let that happen again.
A couple of days ago found me in an old church in southwest Washington, where a small group of us were staying the night so we could help clean up some of the property that had been ravaged by a massive flood. This church was built in the late nineteenth century and had a rather odd, if fascinating, collection of books. For no other reason than to kill time, some of us began looking through some of the old books and seemingly ancient Christian literature. As we flipped through one book that looked as if it was printed in the 1960s, we saw a painting of the Statue of Liberty. This may not seem odd, but this was a children’s book on the history of Jesus and the church. In the picture, in the background of the Statue of Liberty, was a faded depiction of Jesus’ face, smiling down at the statue.
This picture made us all start laughing. Looking at it, one would immediately get the impression that it is trying to depict America as God’s country. Of course, this isn’t a new concept. In the 50s, the phrase “Under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance. And of course, the song “God Bless America” is sung over and over to celebrate God’s “light from above” guiding His favorite country. The American church often has flagpoles right outside their buildings, while many modern churches hesitate to hang a cross in fear of being offensive to newcomers. Christianity has become synonymous with “patriotism,” and vice-versa.
One has to sit and wonder, “Is this what He intended?”
When we pledge our allegiance to a flag—an inanimate object, a symbol of men, a representation of an empire—it amounts to nothing less than idolatry. To align, categorize, and otherwise segregate ourselves from the rest of the world by drawing lines in the soil and singing “God Bless America” is entirely against Jesus’ purpose for death. His purpose was to create a Kingdom, one that is “not of this world.”
The next several entries are going to be concerning this idea of an “apolitical God.” The God of the Bible was a God above politics, outside the categories of men. So why do we continually support acts that assert American supremacy on the world? Why do Christians so often support the idea that this is “God’s Country?”
If you want to read much of what has inspired this line of thinking, check out Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne or Myth of a Christian Nation by Greg Boyd.
More to come on this soon…
“Unfortunately, it’s been over a week since my last (and first) entry. I’ll try not to let that happen again.”
Don’t be sorry. This is your second post; you’re setting the precedent right now. You only have to post once a week or so, because that’s what people will expect. 🙂
What’s the aPolitical position on pledging allegiance to a group of people who share a common objective and agree on a set of principles to help guide achieving that objective?