So Christianity Today's
David P. Gushee has an article titled
"What's Right About Patriotism" on the CT Weblog. He mentions that as Christians we cannot lose a proper love for our country in the face of the seeming lack of patriotism in America right now. He says that the Christian Right are part of the small number who are too nationalistic. He writes:
"It is deeply uncomfortable from a theological perspective that in many parts of our nation, the only place in which one can experience any substantive evocation of patriotism is the local Christian congregation. Other kinds of public celebrations of national loyalty have generally collapsed."
I have a question for Mr. Gushee: "Have you been to a baseball game recently? Do you watch sports at all?" The sight of 40,000 fans with their hands over their hearts singing "God Bless America" and (at White Sox Cellular Field) fighter jets screaming in time over head are only a small but very moving semblance of mass patriotism. Do you watch TV or listen to the radio? I don't know how you think "national loyalty has generally collapsed." Whether we wave flags or not the fact is we cannot help but be loyal to our nation. We participate in a physical and mental infrastructure that are loyal to the State. It does not need my flag waving to remain itself. I think it thrives on mass inaction and is postmodern enough to accept a mass defection from overt patriotism. Today I got an envelope from the American Bible Society asking for support. On the envelope were the words "One Nation, Under God, Indivisible; With Liberty and Justice For All. Free Gift Enclosed." When I opened the envelop, the first words of the letter read, "My dear Friend in Christ, What would you most likely want in your backpack if you were fighting in Iraq?" The free gift enclosed was an American flag.
Two Christian organizations on the same day are enough to arouse my attention. Let's talk patriotism. First let me say that I was born an American citizen and do not hold dual citizenship anywhere else. I have been able to visit India, Haiti, Canada, Mexico, China, Israel, and Palestine for short periods. Upon returning home to America, to one degree or another I always felt right at home. I was a missions major for a time in college and seriously pursued the idea of living great lengths of time in another country in service of the Kingdom. The most significant hurdle that finally forced me to drop my major in that college was the distinct feeling that we were being trained to infiltrate the foreign population with a culture love for Jesus that secretly also loved America. I felt that my academic adviser never really escaped his racist upbringing and really had no love for particular people so much as for their souls. I remember him walking in the morning the US got word of the genocide in Rwanda and exclaiming, "Don't be bothered by this little skirmish. These particular African tribes have been fighting for years. There's nothing anyone can do." This type of supposedly apolitical sympathy enables the kind of apathy and intransigence that lead to war globally. At the time that I heard these words I had no idea what was going on. His comments were so flippant and brief that I thought nothing of it. In the weeks to follow I got mad. I wish I could say I confronted him, but I didn't.
Whether it's David P. Gushee of Christianity Today, the American Bible Society, or my old mission's adviser reminding me of my Americanness, the constant theme seems to be that I need guidance to be political. The other idea is that politics never stands in the way of being Christian. We have nothing to fear from the State especially when it is Democratic. Finally, being in the world but not of it involves political allegiance. I'll take all of these points on at the same time.
The real problem with CT, the ABS, and my adviser is that they are not political enough! They don't read the Bible politically. They assume that their audience passively subsists on just enough rhetoric to take the edge off their conscience. And so we need guidance. As though the audience we're asking, "Please remind me to be patriotic. Remind me to vote. Remind me that there is really nothing I can do to stop genocide except to feel badly and rush in to minister to the population later." [As an aside note: Isn't it interesting that church membership booms during atrocities? Does Evangelicalism serve best only as a balm after the damage is done?]
I hear the argument a lot lately that I should feel privileged to hold opinions like these. That I am protected by America's bombs, her Reserve troops, her big companies, her foreign interests. Some kid born in 1988 from a small town in middle America is getting blown up by an IED so that I don't have to worry about patriotism. But I do care. I did not ask that kid to go fight for me. I make so little money every year that since the war began I haven't had to pay the federal government for one shell spent on this mistaken war. I care about the half million children who died of sanctions in Iraq before this war. I care about the thousands who've died since. I care that as a nation we have lost all conscience or concern for what Eisenhower called "the military industrial complex." And I believe all this because I am an American. If I were truly unpatriotic I would care nothing about the way things are going. I love this country enough to say our current path is dead wrong and that it predates this Presidential administration. We would do right to surrender our permanent seat in the UN on the grounds that our true motives are not for the world's interests but our own selfish interests. Only a foreign policy of repentance can save us now. We are intent on setting a precedent for war the world over and letting all our allies do the same. Israel's actions in Lebanon are the case in point.
Yes Mr. Gushee I care about America. But I am not proud of my nation's interests. I hold my citizenship like Paul held his Roman citizenship. He used it wisely but then spoke constantly of the Kyrios Christ as opposed to the Kyrios Caesar. His readers knew what he was talking about. NT Wright does an excellent exposition of Phillipians 3 by way of explanation in his article
"Paul's Gospel and Caesar's Empire". The Judaizers were wanting to offer haven and safety from the Roman cult in circumcision. Paul admonished against any safety from the State in circumcision. Our citizenship is in heaven but until then we have no safe haven here. Neither in Judaism nor in Rome. Yes we can expect persecution for worshiping Kyrios Christ. For wearing our citizenship as a loose garment. But we envision a Kingdom with different ways of being human. Kyrios Christ is out for a new humanity. In worship, in the eucharist, in fasting and prayer, we the called out Body of Christ remember our true allegiance. I do not rely on America's version of freedom or peace. Peace for America is an illusive security based on fear. For all of our wars we feel more insecure not less. I don't need my government to tell me I am safe.
Even so I cannot be independent of my country. I drink her water. I breathe her air. I use her electricity. I speak her language. I listen to her music. I even speak the language of dissent that she fosters. For all practical purposes I could be mistaken for a Democratic American. In the same way I could be mistaken for a Nice Guy and not a Christian. What does a Christian dress like? What sort of music does he listen to? As a teenager you could know by my t-shirts and my music that I was a Christian. Today you can't. But spend a week with me, watch my every move, and you'll find that I have pricked conscience. I do this faith-thing in that I care a lot about naming Sin. I care about Formation. I care about aligning my every move with God's. Someone recently reminded me of the Amish response to the question "Are you a Christian." It is "Ask my family."
I am a social animal. I care a lot about human interaction. That makes me political. God made me that way. If getting angry makes me a good American and if America wants men of conscience than I'm a proud American. But I know too that sometimes America threatens my faith. She is now threatening the Body of Christ worldwide with her warfare and her foreign selfishness. Christians in Lebanon are dying because my President and his choice of Ambassador to the UN refuse to call Israel's actions excessive. Kyrios Christ calls me to speak and act against those actions. As He guides me I do. Does that sound other-worldly and strange? So be it.
More David P. Gushee to Read:
The Middle East's Death Wish—and Ours
We say "everyone wants peace," but we also want to see our enemies destroyed.Dialogue:
Another Point of View: Evangelical Blindness on Lebanon
The academic dean of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary is angry at evangelical Christians, Israel, Hezbollah, the U.S., and the international community. by Martin Accad
We Risk Not Just Suffering, But Annihilation
An open letter to Dr. Martin Accad. by David P. Gushee
