Challenges to "Christian" Patriotism

These are not attacks so much as they are confusions. There are several parts of “Christian” patriotism that really puzzle me. I’m not trying to beat anyone over the head with attacks. In fact, I have grown misty-eyed over the stars and stripes more times than I can count. I used to highly value our rich Christian heritage. I’ve been adamant to others about the importance of standing up for our American troops. I’ve argued against liberals frequently. I’ve laughed at tree-hugging pacifist hippies on numerous occasions. I was cheering inside during Bush’s “Shock and Awe” campaign. I voted for George Bush in 2004 – without any really notable reservations. I decided to dedicate the last nine years of my education to pursuing a Ph.D. in American Literature because I valued our culture so strongly. And so on…

But over the last few years I have run into several features of American patriotism that have made me more and more uncomfortable with claiming the title of a “Christian” patriot.

There were little things before this, but what may have really got me rethinking Christian Patriotism was that bumper sticker I saw a while back:
“God Bless the whole world. No exceptions.”

Now…I respect our troops. I do. I appreciate them giving me the life I have here in the United States. But it just seems like one of the Christian Patriot’s duties is to weaponize God so that He annihilates anyone who gets in the way of the United States. I’ve prayed the “Lord, protect our troops” prayer many, many times. But recently I’ve wondered why I never pray for the other side. I mean, it may be unpatriotic to think this, but they have fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, friends, and lives they value. It seems like, as a Christian Patriot, I have to believe that our troops are more valuable than their troops, that our families are more important than their families, that our friends are more important than their friends, that our cultural values are more important than their cultural values (including cultural values that don’t interfere with Christianity).

It just tears me apart. It’s like the verse “Love your neighbor as yourself” only applies to fellow patriots and not to the Samaritan on the other side of the world. The Christian Patriot is expected to ignore the second commandment when it gets in the way of being a patriot.

“But,” someone says, “loving your neighbor is spreading democracy around the globe. That’s what the soldiers are doing. That’s not what the people fighting them are doing. That’s why we pray for the soldiers on our side and not for the soldiers on their side.”

Ah! So let’s fight for the sake of democracy. Let’s go through the entire world and slaughter the armies of those who don’t believe in the same government we do, since our government is so wonderful and theirs is so, well, not. Let’s burn villages and bomb cities unless they convert to our form of government. Yes, that is true patriotism! Let’s stand up with tears in our eyes as we sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” in the serenity of vaulted cathedrals, and let those tears empower our hands to fill in circles on ballot sheets that will lead to the awe-inspiring arm of the Almighty God of American Democracy laying waste to as many undemocratic countries as possible. Let the screams of women losing their sons and fathers and homes and income and sanity be silenced by the fervency with which we salute the red, white and blue! And let any squeamish Christian in America who dares to timidly raise his hand and ask questions have it cut off by the sword of a million voices as they smother his face in the flag of freedom.

And let us see no contradiction in these attitudes as we dress up in strategically ripped jeans and expensively casual t-shirts and designer sandals made from the blood, sweat, and tears of a Communist country across the sea (who we haven’t Americanized yet, but we really look forward to a day when we can get them to see the light), and sit in booths on gay pride days and apologize profusely for the crusades.

And meanwhile, let's just forget that the first greatest commandment is to love God, not to love our country. Silence anyone who dares assert that “God” and “the United States” are two different things. Don't seek to base your love for your neighbor solely on your love for God – instead, feel free to pick and choose the way you love your neighbor based on your love for your country.

“But I thought you said you weren’t attacking us.”

I don’t want to make an enemy out of you. If you are an American soldier, I want you to know that I appreciate you protecting my right to write this right now. I really, really do. I’m just trying to point out some contrradictions I’m seeing. This is coming from one Christian Patriot rethinking his position after many years of practicing several of the prescribed beliefs, to another Christian Patriot who may have gone with the flow more-or-less unquestioningly, as I used to before becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the title.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying American soldiers are evil. I’m just wondering why it’s so taboo to say that any enemy of the United States may actually NOT be an enemy of the almighty God himself. I’m just wondering why a God whose Son said “My kingdom is not of this world” is seen as the God of America and the God of Democracy.

I’M ALSO NOT ENDORSING COMMUNISM. I know enough about it to know that its viewpoint is dangerous to Christianity (although I often wonder whether capitalism is dangerous to Christianity, too. I think Jesus comes across as more of a socialist -- not a governmentalized socialist, but a servant-attitude socialist). And I freely admit that militant Islam is dangerous.

It just seems that, in the United States, Christianity has become weaponized…almost as if the Crusades aren’t over yet. I mean, the Crusades were meant to squelch militant Islam and protect the Holy Land, too…although they did get some power and, at times, money on the side...

Two thousand years ago, Christ said, “You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Maybe he was talking about the Crusades.

Maybe he was talking about the United States.

What do you think? Can we pursue the title of “God’s country” and “World’s Richest Superpower” at the same time?

Now, there are difficult questions. For example, if you don’t protect your country, people in it will die and lose their freedom. That’s a fact for the United States. But the "protect the country" rationale has been used for everything from spreading democracy to spreading Nazism.

It just seems that freedom isn’t free – there are always limits, and the freedom you do have often depends on taking away those same freedoms from other people who constantly threaten to take it away, whether they are Jews, Asians, Russians, or Arabs. I mean – Aryans who loved Hitler were fairly free in Nazi Germany. There were Christian Patriots there, too.

Which is why this question keeps bothering me: where do we draw the line between protecting the fatherland and seeing that God’s love isn’t restricted to the fatherland and those who closely resemble it?

And if you don’t think that is an important question…
2,726 people died in the World Trade Center bombings. 4,400 US soldiers have died in Iraq, up to date. 1,000,000 people have died in Iraq since the war began up to 2007, although there are widespread claims of undercounting.

How many tears and prayers have we shed and prayed for our dead American soldiers?

How many tears and prayers have we shed and prayed for the dead Iraqis?

"Love your neighbor as yourself..."

My vote and your vote (and, if you don’t vote, the opinions we shared or didn’t share with our friends and family) contributed a major role in killing those people. We helped pull the trigger – whether it was right or wrong. I could give other statistics from other wars, but you get the point. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT IRAQ. It’s about our overall attitude as Christians, and the importance of questioning whether our patriotism is getting in the way of our picture of God.

But if this still uninterests you…hmmm… maybe you have a point. Maybe it’s not important. We shouldn’t think about it. From now on, when the anguished ghosts of a million corpses (along with the millions more who mourn their loss) beg us to rethink our application of the second greatest commandment, we’ll give an irritated shrug and say, “I really don’t feel like thinking about that right now. Shut up and die so I can close my eyes, raise holy hands, and sing praises to my God in peace.”

Just Like Jesus -- A Confession of Doubt

"I Love
[The smiling Savior
Showing off his shiny white teeth
blond haired and blue eyed
model physique
standing straight and walking
majestically.
Clean blue sash across the chest
white robe from Armani
gentle, soft, manicured hands
smoothly filed fingernails
uncracked feet encased in folksy designer sandals.
Six feet tall and handsome enough
for a million nuns.
Silky-smooth skin.
Gentle voice that can caress
an entire mountainside.
Hangs out in Starbucks
and lives in impressive, high vaulted, frescoed buildings]
Jesus!"
"Oh, isn't Jesus wonderful!
Don't we all want to be just like Jesus!
Wouldn't the world be perfect if everyone was
just
like
Jesus?"

Sometimes
We aren't sure we're just like Jesus,
So we have to go to the poor and hurting to compare notes.

And though we find we're not quite there yet
We're closer than the starving, poor, destitute people without manicures, or handsome features, or majestic walks, or folksy designer shoes, or white teeth, or a model physique, or clothes from Armani, or smoothly filed fingernails, or silky-smooth skin, or gentle voices, or Starbucks, or beautiful buildings...

And the people who look at us begin to realize how far they are from Jesus when they see how close we are. These people trying to be just like Jesus have really cool stuff and really nice societal positions. Hey, I want to be just like Jesus, too!

And so they are saved from
that old man sitting in the dirty alley
that woman about to die from AIDS
that hunchbacked cripple
that hungry child
and all the other filth and roughness in the world
that gets in the way of being just like Jesus.

I have a confession.
Sometimes, I really doubt Jesus.
He just seems to put far too much effort
into looking dignified and trendy
for someone who would die for the sins of the world
or wash his disciples' feet
or be born in a dirty stable
or cuss the dignified religious people out
by calling them "vipers" and "sons of hell" and "children of the devil"
or go to a religious retail shop
and drive out all the cashiers with a whip.

I used believe
and through that faith I joined a crowd
that told the starving, poor, destitute people about the smiling, manicured, dignified Jesus.

And then I saw someone who seemed a bit rough around the edges who was the hungriest, poorest, most destitute-looking man I had ever seen. I went to him.

"You need Jesus," I said.

His homely, weather beaten face looked at me.

Jesus wept.

Apologetics: Good or Bad?

"My most recent faith struggle is not one of intellect. I don't really do that anymore. Sooner or later you just figure out there are some guys who don't believe in God and they can prove He doesn't exist, and some other guys who do believe in God and they can prove He does exist, and the argument stopped being about God a long time ago and now it's about who is smarter, and honestly I don't care."

--Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

How important is apologetics?

Many have sentiments like Donald Miller and claim that it doesn't really matter what you know about theology and apologetics when you talk about God. God will use the words you say to help the other person. So because it doesn't matter that much what we say, we don't need to really worry that much about what we say. What we should do instead is help people in more practical ways instead of theologizing things and believing we can convert them with a "formula."

I think this thinking can encourage the same principles it tries to condemn, because many times I hear people use this way of thinking to say something like, "Forget about the apologetics -- do enough good deeds, and you'll convert people to follow God." That sounds similar to, "Know enough apologetics, and you'll convert people to follow God." Both ways of thinking are missing something.

I Corinthians 13 shows this. In the first few verses, Paul says that you can be the best speaker imaginable (speak in the tongues of men and of angels), or be the most generous and sacrificing person imaginable (give all you possess to the poor and become a martyr), or have a strong faith and thorough knowledge of God (can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and have a faith that can move mountains) -- and yet still be nothing because you don't have love.

Which means that it is possible to be a great speaker, a generous person, a sacrificing person, an individual with strong faith, and someone who knows everything there is to know -- and still not have love.

That's a pretty big deal. I mean, that means that you can be doing service projects until you're blue in the face and still not be showing love.

What is love?

It's patient, kind, doesn't envy, doesn't brag, isn't proud, isn't rude, doesn't look out for number one, doesn't get angry easily, and doesn't keep a ledger of things that other people do wrong. It doesn't rejoice at evil, but takes deep joy when someone approaches truth. It always protects the other person, always trusts that there is hope for the other person, and doesn't give up on the other person (according to I Corinthians 13).

Here's my point: There's a lot more to loving people than merely reading a book on theology. There's also a lot more to love than giving money to a homeless person. There's definitely more to love than handing someone a tract.

These things should be done as MANIFESTATIONS of love, not as replacements for it. Otherwise, they don't count for squat (at least, according to the first few verses of I Corinthians 13).

And that's how theology and apologetics matter. They doesn't matter as pure information. But if the person studying is genuinely motivated by love for others, then it is of immense value.

And now, a page from my diary...

I don't want to be a Pharisee, but I want to get to know the God I love better. Because of this desire I really treasure old memories of conversations late at night with me and another person debating a theological issue. I enjoyed it most when it wasn't about who was smarter, but when our motivation for talking was our love for God. We both loved God so much that we wanted to get to know Him better. And we also cared enough about what the other person thought to take that person's thoughts seriously. It wasn't about one-upsmanship. It was a way of showing we cared.

I wasn't always that way. Believe it or not, there was a time in my life when I would avoid theological debates. That changed when I realized that when I get really serious about following God's command to love someone, I can't help but care deeply about the relationship between what they think and what I think and what God thinks.

I'm finding out that love isn't a one-trick pony. It's an internal motivation for all your external actions. It's the blood running through the veins of your thoughts, actions, conversations, and so on. When we say "love is physical action, not intellect," then we are cutting off the bloodflow of love that is keeping us alive by basically telling love: "You can be involved in these actions, but leave my way of thinking alone."

I mean, you are commanded to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You can't focus on just loving God with your strength and leave your heart at the wayside. And you can't love God with your heart and leave your mind at the wayside.

That's because whatever part of your life you don't strive to love God with, Satan will use for his purposes. And, as I John 2:9 and 4:20 makes clear, you can't love God without loving people. If you love God, then what He thinks becomes important. Proof that you love God is in the way you love people, and if you love people in a way that resembles the way you love God, then what they think becomes important.

Here's what I'm getting at: If you don't care about what other people think, you don't love them, and if you don't love other people, you don't love God.

That's why apologetics is important. It's not about being seen as smart. It's about loving people enough to care about what they think, and loving God enough to care about His relevance to what people think.

If you practice apologetics without loving people -- whether you're doing it with a Ph.D. in Philosophy or a simple five-step tract -- you're missing the point. And something else I've observed is that you may not have a very effective ministry -- people aren't often convinced by those they think don't really care about them, no matter how much they know. If you aren't loving people, chances are you aren't really loving God (see I John 2:9 and 4:20), and if you aren't loving God, you may need an evangelist more than the people you're "ministering" to.

If your discussion on apologetics is motivated by loving people -- whether you're doing it with a Ph.D. in Philosophy or a five-step tract -- you've got the right idea. And I think people notice this. I've seen people give tracts half-heartedly, and not make an effect on me. But I can also remember people giving out tracts who seemed to genuinely care about me -- and the effect was powerful.

And when I say "care," I'm not just talking about a fuzzy feeling. I'm talking about people who lean over and listen and sincerely want to hear and interact with what you say. Not as a contest of wits, but as a manifestation of genuine love and concern.

So apologetics are important because God can use us most when we strive to love people practically, emotionally, and intellectually. But how can we love people if we don't care about what they think and feel? And if we avoid apologetics in our Christian walk by doing things for people without wanting to hear and interact with their lives and the beliefs they have, how much can we really say we love people? And if we don't really want to bother striving to love people emotionally, physically, and intellectually, then how much can God really use us?

I try to keep these questions in mind when I live my life. I don't always do the best job, but these questions motivate me and tell me that what I'm learning to do for living doesn't force me to become a heartless intellectual. On the contrary, love is my fundamental motivation -- love for God and love for people.

As a side note -- intellectual struggles concerning God are, I think, God's challenge for us to dedicate our minds to understanding him better and loving people more -- that's my direct answer to Donald Miller. More to say about that -- perhaps in a seperate note.