Blessed is the Kingdom

Seeking The Kingdom In All Things

Rediscovering God in America

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a dinner for local pastors that had as its theme, “Rediscovering God in America”. As I had suspected, this gathering seemed not so much about finding ways to more effectively bring God to the people of our country, but rather focused on bringing a particular brand of politics into churches. It saddened me as I had hoped this would not be the case. The brand of Christianity that was presented has, in my opinion, been warped to the point that it would be unrecognizable to the early followers of Christ. There were at least three things that struck me as being wrong with the gathering I attended last night.

Christianity is not a religion based upon fear.

Christianity is not tied to any particular political party or nation.

Christianity is not about the acquisition of wealth.

The conversation that dominated my table last night focused very clearly around fear. Fear that we are quickly moving to a time in America when Christians will come under extreme persecution, fear that freedom of speech will be taken away from Christians, fear of those who are different. This is antithetical to true Christianity as we hear from the Scriptures that “perfect love casts out all fear.” (1 John 4:18) The phrase, “Be not afraid!” is repeated over and again throughout the Bible. The thing that struck me most in listening to my table companions was our complete disagreement on this basic issue. When asked if I thought Christianity in America is in trouble, my unequivocal response was, “No”. While it is easy to see the persecution of Christians in many nations, I do not see the same in the United States. It is true that Christianity is often criticized in the media and in our culture, but there is a distinct difference in being criticized and being persecuted. There are still Christians today who are brutally tortured and killed for their faith. In the US, we still have the free practice of religion. Are there people in our country who disagree with many of the positions taken by Christians? Yes there are. Is this criticism a restriction upon freedom of speech? I would argue that it is not. Something else to consider is that Christians have always suffered persecution. The cross is part of the Christian life.

It always worries me when people try to tie Christianity, or any other religion for that matter, to nationalism. Historically it just never seems to work out. We need look no further than the current situation in the Middle East to see what disastrous effects this can have. “But that is Islam,” many would say. We as Christians ought to remember that there have been many things done in the name of Christianity over the centuries that were also connected much more to politics than to our faith, and it always ends badly. There are certainly pressing issues in the political arena that merit the attention of churches and where we should speak out, but to tie the Church to any specific political party or nation is, in my opinion, a grave mistake. The problem is not with Christianity, but with those who would use and distort it for their own political purposes. There is a long history of using the church for political gain, beginning with Constantine and the Edict of Milan and continuing to the present day.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of what I heard was an idea described as American Exceptionalism. This sounds very close to the idea of Manifest Destiny, that God has blessed the United States above all other nations and that we are somehow predestined for God’s favor. This again is far from true Christianity. I have often heard it said that Americans make up 4% of the world’s population, yet we have 25% of the world’s wealth. It shocked me last night to hear someone quote these figures and to see it as a purely positive thing, something we should do all we can to hold on to. Our speaker noted that an American below the poverty level in the US would have more than a middle class European. What he didn’t talk about, were third world countries like Haiti, where the average income is 480 dollars a year. It is certainly a blessing to live in the United States where we have an abundance of wealth, but with these blessings come also the responsibility to work toward more equity for all people. It is a mandate from Christ to help the poor, not to acquire wealth. In fact, Christ calls those who place their focus on doing so fools. (Luke 12:13-21)

As a member of the clergy, I am always looking for ways to draw others more closely to Christ. Fear, politics and wealth are typically poor tools for accomplishing this goal. Some tools that have a long tradition of success are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. I think I’m going to stick with those.

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This entry was posted by on Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 at 3:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About The Author

Fr. Christian is the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City, TN.

Comments

  • http://practicinghuman.wordpress.com practicinghuman

    May God bless you and your congregation as you use the ancient tools of the Church to call people towards faithful lives in Christ.

  • Valerie

    Great post Fr. Chris! I’m sick of hearing about the “persecution” of the American church.

  • Zack

    Excellent points, all. The church needs to stop trying to be a political lobby and get back to trying to uplift people. The Faux News approach to religion may be effective, but it is awfully misguided. Excellent post.

  • http://pithlessthoughts.blogspot.com/2004/08/election.html s-p

    Amen. “Criticism does not equal persecution”… martyrdom has been replaced with “being offended” or getting our feelings hurt. It is not a constitutional right, much less a Biblical imperative that people like Christians. If we worked as hard at being Christians as we do at maintaining political agendas, influence and power we might not repeat the sins of the religio-political leaders who crucified Christ “lest they take away our place and our nation”.

  • Faith Full

    Amen!! This a breath of fresh air! …I can already tell it’s going to be a great day. Thank you!

  • Cajun Queen

    Bishop RFS says it best “BE THE FACE OF JESUS TO ALL THOSE YOU MEET”. If we Americans did this, we would indeed rediscover God in America!!! As always, you have the best post…

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Thanks for all the comments y’all!

    I will agree with our bishop on how to bring God more fully to America!

  • Tory K

    Darnit, you made me rethink a notion I had been forming.
    I guess I’m just looking to place some blame on how society is making it seem like following Christ is unpopular or even “offensive” to other people.

    I’ll give your post a bit more thought.

  • David K

    I think I’m with you on more of this than you might expect, especially the part about the Church (and her offspring) as political tool.

    But…I think you are also sometimes blinded by your politics. It’s a constant struggle, I guess, for all of us. I’ve been thinking about this long and hard, and I agree that fear is not the answer. And yet I guess I’ve seen that they will kill us and try and stamp us out and I am unwilling to bend down before them. Perhaps I am unwilling to bear that cross and that is my failing. But that is not my perception.

    I would argue that one can not give gifts if one does not own (in some way) what is given. I would argue that the Eighth Commandment implies that property is Godly. Further, the founders of this country, or perhaps more accurately, those few men of political power and education sought to build a unique refuge from tyranny based both on Old and New Testaments, based on an egalitarian notion of property and capitalism, and based on a political democracy rooted in the rule of law.

    Clearly the Old and New Testament are under attack (whether or not some cling to them in fear, or distort them, or just as wickedly offer lip service for political expedience).

    Clearly the notion of property and capitalism are under attack.

    And Clearly the rule of law is under attack.

    When you can see that, perhaps you will understand the fear better. And I’m not with you there in person when you meet them (though think of me with you in spirit next time) but maybe some of those that you meet sound like they are saying “God chose us and we must be right” when what they mean is “we think we’re blessed in part because we try to live close to God and by the rule of law and we hate to think of that way of life disappearing”.

    So that’s my ramble at 1am that I fear won’t be heard in the way I mean it. But if you and I can’t figure out a way to hear one another, heaven help us all.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    David,

    It has always been clear to me that the two of us agree on much more than we disagree, but we often have different opinions of how to accomplish many of the same goals. Let me comment on what you have written and ask a few clarifying questions.

    There is no doubt that as hard as we try, politics can creep into any conversation, but my issue with this particular gathering was that it was billed as an event centered upon Christianity and in actuality was one centered upon a political agenda.

    It would help me to ask who you are referring to when you say “they will kill us and stamp us out”. It is not clear to me who the “they” is in that part of your comment. I agree that there are many intent on stamping out Christianity and persecuting it, but it is not my experience here in the US. I just returned from a burial, for instance, and I am always struck by the fact that cars will stop our of respect for the funeral procession. Of course they do this for any procession and some may not be Christians who are being buried. Nonetheless, it is a Christian practice. I have spoken to several people in person since writing this post who point out that this is a factor of living in the Bible Belt. True enough, but the fact that there is a Bible Belt in the the US would indicate to me that Christianity is not under attack. We still have our constitutional right to freely practice our religion.

    Much of what was implied in the conversations I had at this gathering was that it is not enough for us to have that right, but that somehow we were under attack when Christianity was not the dominant driving force in the government. My own preference would be that our political leaders always made judgments that coincided with Christian values. When it comes to the constitution though, it is not only Christians who have a right to freely practice their religion, but every citizen. The Church would also attest that besides having the right to practice one’s own religion, one also has the right to protection from those who would impose their religion upon others. A well known American theologian, Fr. John Courtney Murray, was a key proponent of this at the Second Vatican Council and it was his work that led to the Declaration on Religious Freedom.

    http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651207_dignitatis-humanae_en.html

    In fact, you have given me another good idea for a post that could discuss that particular document.

    I agree that whether one is under the assumption that the Founding Fathers were Christian or Deist (my own study leads me to believe there were both, though the majority were Christian) that your assessment of what they were intending to do in creating this democracy is accurate.

    I think we can agree that there have always been those who would attack the Bible. What disturbed me at this conference was that either intentionally or not, this is exactly what was happening. One example is to describe the parable of the man hiring laborers in Matthew 20 as being a proof text about the US minimum wage. I am pretty sure that wasn’t what Jesus had in mind when he first shared that story with his disciples.

    As to the notion of property and capitalism being under attack, I don’t really see that, but my concern is actually not about property rights or capitalism, but how to share the Gospel. One thing that continually disturbs me is the attempt to tie our religion to any particular political view or ideology. Christianity is not connected to capitalism, socialism, the democratic party or the republican party. It includes people of every race, nation, and ideology. That is what makes it strong.

    Lastly, we are blessed in the US. But I don’t believe that God show favor to the rich. If anything, our tradition and the Bible would point to Him favoring the poor. That being said, my own faith tells me God is not on anyone’s “side”. He asks the same thing from each of us, according to our ability. So if we have been blessed with material wealth that does not mean God likes us more, it simply means we have a greater responsibility to assist those who have not been blessed in this particular way.

    Anyway, I hope also that you will continue to try to hear what I am saying. I actually think we hear more of each other than it may seem. At least I don’t think you are missing the mark on what I am attempting to convey from reading your comments.

    Hope the waters of the great flood will recede soon!

  • http://www.blestatheist.com elizabeth mahlou

    American exceptionalism is not a particularly new concept. When I worked at the US Department of State 25 years ago, it was one of the topics about which we would ask advanced foreign language students to give a formal speech in order to confirm that they had reached a sufficiently high level of language proficiency. At that time, though, the concept of American exceptionalism was considered negative — the so-called Ugly American stereotype that diplomats would have to live with and try to re-make. From the description of your dinner conversation, it sounds like it has somehow warped into something that people consider good. I am not sure how a sense of being exceptional could ever be good. Isn’t that a bit hubristic? Isn’t that the kind of pride that the Bible warns us against?

  • David K

    I might simply say “They”=Satan’s Minions (but that would likely include the people that set you off!). The older I get the more credence I give to the idea that there are folks out there actively working against God.

    But what I think I meant are those in the US that seek it’s demise. And I don’t just mean jihadist types, but ya know real che gueveras. I suppose in some way I feel there is not enough fear of these people. But that’s not totally right; it is the ignorance of the fact that they exist and how they exert their influence that bugs me. two words: social justice. We could flip perspectives and put me at a “social justice” meeting and I’d be groaning at every word spoken (this has actually happened before I wised up).

    So I see your point about the bait and switch. That the intent was never “rediscovering God” but of proscribing which version of God is correct? And that the fear was predominately that their version was on the outs? Or was it really more political than that?

    I’m so very tired, and feel whatever I write is close to offense. But I admire you greatly for going to an event you were suspect of in the first place. If it were MY event, of course, I’d be thrilled to have you there, or anyone of a different viewpoint that was able to stand up and make a good account of that viewpoint.

    I’m not sure I know exactly you mean by American exceptionalism. It sounds to me that you use it pejoratively. I believe it’s origins were simply that America was exceptional in the components that made it the type of democracy that it is. Now, I wasn’t at your meeting and certainly can see the sort of we are better because we are white christians (supremacist) view coming out, but that to me is not really American exceptionalism but once again ignorance. Maybe I need to go to some of these things and get a feel for them myself. I suspect I’d take just as dim a view as yourself, only it’d be for different reasons.

    I do think de Tocqueville was right in the sense that constitutional America couldn’t have come into being without the particular set of variables that existed, and that among them were a genuine Christian faith, coupled with the disastrous consequences of communal (as seen as Christian at the time) living, and the birth of Dutch type corporations. And if necessary I can argue that capitalism as we know it comes out of the old and new testament and not from some other tradition. Maybe that WILL be our downfall, that we no longer see ourselves as a special, blessed nation. That makes a kind of sense to me, even if that’s not what the gathering was about. And hopefully you know that I believe that with such a blessing comes a responsibility (but as far as I know we are still the most giving nation on the planet by anyway you measure it).

  • Mark G.

    Father, I admire your fortitude in sitting through such a circus – I surely would have walked out.

    A few points & notes:

    - My travels to the East have offered a certain mirror-like perspective on our own society. I have noted in China an underlying societal current which I might call Chinese Exceptionalism – the notion that they are a blessed people on their way to prosperity & dominance in the world. Interesting, no?

    - Your encounter with the brethren points to an idea that I have been stewing on for a few years – that of impatience & lack of trust in God’s goodness masquerading as “action.” Things are going as they’re supposed to, so we have to act now! Really just a form of pride. Our efforts to yield our results. It forgets that God’s will will be done, & is a shaky statement on hope of eternal beatitude in God’s presence.

    - The Declaration on Religious Liberty seems to stand in pretty stark contrast to prior assertions of the Holy See about the universal Kingship of Christ, including in the temporal realm. Without taking a stance one way or the other, I just note that there is an unresolved tension here, as with many VCII documents, which at 1st read (or 2nd, or 3rd, …) seem to be disconnected from or even opposed to prior teachings. The Pope has repeatedly called for an interpretation of the Council in the spirit of a “hermeneutic of continuity,” because so many have taken the VCII teachings & run off in so many bizarre directions.

    - Like Paul, we should be content with lack or plenty. Our blessedness as Christians comes not from having power or things, but because God has called us to communion with himself through Christ Jesus, our greatest treasure. Our country is blessed to the degree that it manifests God’s justice in our dealings with one another.

    - While many conservative Christians have piled on to the Republican platform, keep in mind that a great number of Catholics see the Democrats as their party. Perhaps this applies more to older folks, but it is interesting that the political divide also mirrors a certain religious divide. I suppose our beliefs influence our world view more than we think.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Thanks for the comment Mark.

    Interesting that there is something out there emerging that could be described as Chinese Exceptionalism.

    With regards to the documents of Vatican II, and especially the document on religious freedom, I believe it is important to study them in the context of the whole of our tradition. Sometimes I have heard people who believe that Vatican II was a complete break from our tradition (those on the left see this as great, those on the right as a tragedy) but I don’t think they have properly understood the documents in their context.

    Take the Declaration on Religious Freedom for instance. In my mind there are two main points. First, people are free to choose their religious beliefs. Second, people should be free from coercion when it comes to those same beliefs. Many have wrongly asserted that this document affirms someone’s freedom to reject the truth. This was in no way what the council fathers were saying, nor was it the belief of Fr. John Courtney Murray who is widely seen as the author of the document. Once one has found the truth of Christ in His Church, we do not have the freedom to reject that. To do so would be to fall into the sin of apostacy.

    I hope you are doing well in the East. We miss you around here.

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