Members:
While driving one morning I came to a stop at a traffic light. I noticed on the car in front of me a bumper sticker I hadn’t seen before. On it were printed the often displayed words, “Jesus Saves,” but with a twist. The two words were pushed together on a red, white, and blue background. The three center letters were enlarged and emboldened — JESUSAVES. The distinction between Jesus and the nation was blended and blurred. The two had become one; the Savior and the savior/nation were united.
The separation of church and state is an important issue for everyone. But for Christians, the separation of church from nationalism and patriotism is crucial. Without that separation the church’s identity, witness, and unity get marred and mangled. Discipleship ends up almost synonymous with citizenship. The ability of the church to critique national projects, policies, and aspirations from the perspective of faith is hindered. The capacity to define limits to national loyalty is seriously compromised. Unity with Christians worldwide is weakened.
Not long ago I was in the sanctuary of a church and saw on one of the walls a large banner that troubled me. It depicted a version of the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God — but again with a twist. Instead of the fore leg of the Lamb being hooked around a cross or a staff with a banner of a cross, the Lamb bore a pole from which hung an American flag. Can anyone honestly imagine that removing the cross and giving the Lamb of God the Stars and Stripes does not deeply distort the meaning of the familiar beloved symbol?
The message conveyed by the nationalized Lamb of God is simply not the same as that communicated by the traditional symbol. No longer does it bear the truth universally confessed by the church. At the very least, an American flag-toting Lamb of God demonstrates a special attachment to the United States. The honor due to the Lamb apparently is also due to America.
Christian phrases and images have long been freely appropriated by the nation and its leaders, from the time of the Puritans and Founding Fathers to the present. In the mouths of politicians, “A city set on a hill” is no longer the church but America. The light that shines into the darkness and that the darkness does not overcome is no longer the light of Christ; in the mouth of the commander in chief, these words speak of the light of America. The words of the prophet Isaiah, “To the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free,’” can be proclaimed by a president to call attention to America as liberator.
Typically, you hear no great objection from the church because its members have grown accustomed to blending nationalism and Christian faith, and because some ministers reinforce the practice. No notable shock registered among Christians when Rudy Giuliani declared in New York City’s St Paul’s Chapel in 2001, “All that matters is that you embrace America and understand its ideals and what it is all about. … Because we’re like a religion really.” He was right. The religion he speaks of is that of self-adoration. The church in the United States has too frequently opened its arms to this idolatrous faith.
Many Christians in America have grown so accustomed to such displays — both in and outside the church — that they have lost their capacity to be scandalized by them. I think it’s worthwhile to listen to a non-American perspective on what is found in the churches of the United States. Swiss theologian Eberhard Busch was a friend and biographer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. After a recent stint as a visiting professor in an American seminary, he wrote, “A Letter to Ministers of the Church in the U.S.” In this open letter, he noted that as he spent time in this country, “I got the impression that among Christians … what it means to be a child of God and to be an American has become confused.” Busch clearly recognized this state of affairs as detrimental to the credibility of the American church.
The confusion between national identity and Christian identity is not unique to the United States, but it is very pronounced here. Not everyone finds it unsettling. In his book Who Are We? (Simon & Schuster, 2004), Harvard University political scientist Samuel Huntington cited two surveys — one of 15 mostly European countries and the other of 41 countries — which found that the more religious a people are, the more likely they are to be “very proud” of their country. America ranks close at the top of both dimensions. Huntington concluded, “Americans are overwhelmingly committed to both God and country, and for Americans they are inseparable” (p. 365).
Inseparable? While sociologically there may be a connection between religious devotion and national pride, biblically and theologically there is not. To the contrary, pride in tribe, race, or place is called into the question by a biblical faith. The importance of the boundaries and borders that separate peoples into distinct groups diminish for those who are “in Christ” (Gal 3:28; Col 3:11). Christ makes from divided humankind “one new humanity” (Eph 2:15). That devotion to God and country is “inseparable” for Americans is not a reason for celebration, but one for deep concern. Such a blended devotion can lead to the conclusion that the cause of America and the cause of God are one and that the defense of “national interests” are not distinguishable from the advancement of divine interests.
The inability to clearly distinguish Christian identity from American identity was reflected on the pages of this journal in November 2003, when a Disciples minister offered an articulate and passionate defense of displaying the American flag in church. He spoke of the flag as a symbol of a people “under God.” He honored it for its ability to inspire Americans in times of both struggle and celebration. He maintained that the flag carries a message of the inclusiveness found in America. Further, he argued that the flag is emblematic of justice and freedom and the sacrifices that have been made for these values. Displaying the flag in church, he concluded, affords us the opportunity to honor the country and God together.
That writer gave what may be considered good reasons to hang the flag from a government building or public school, but not for importing it into the sanctuary. What he failed to see is that the inspiration, inclusion, freedom, and sacrifice to which the flag points has everything to do with America and nothing to do with the globe-embracing, Christ-centered church. For the church, inspiration, inclusion, freedom, and sacrifice are based on what God has done. They are not derived from the work of human hands. We come together to glorify God alone. We come together to re-present the redemptive story that forms us to be a people “not conformed to this world but transformed” (Rom 12:2), whether we are in the United States, China, or Zimbabwe. When given a place of honor alongside the cross and other symbols of faith, the American flag obscures the Christian truth and blurs Christian identity. This is precisely why it has no place in the church.
Whether it is done self-consciously or not, every time a special worship service is held to celebrate the nation around Independence Day, Memorial Day, or Thanksgiving, the church is being shaped. Every time the national anthem or “God Bless America” or “My Country ’Tis of Thee” is sung in worship, the church is being molded. Every time the Stars and Stripes are displayed or the Pledge of Allegiance is recited where the church is gathered, the congregation is being defined. At such times what is shaping, molding, and defining the church is not of the gospel of Jesus Christ or the distinctive story of faith. Instead it is the American story that is being allowed to put its mark on the church.
Obviously, the church inevitably will be influenced by the context in which it finds itself. It does not and cannot function in a vacuum. However, the church must be cautious and critical about what is incorporated into its life and worship. Especially in worship, when the stories, symbols, and songs of the nation are introduced they take on an air of the holy and become associated with devotion to God. The unqualified devotion God deserves is more likely to be extended to America, and we are more likely to assume that the goodness of God is embodied in America.
The church can minister in America and to America, but it must not live as an agent of America, officially or unofficially. Even as it engages the nation, the church must keep vigilant about how it is affected by all that is American — from its gaudiest excesses to its most highly exalted values. The church must involve itself in the life and structures of every society in which it finds itself. At the same time, the church must know how to keep its distance so that it does not lose itself, becoming an instrument of something other than its one true Lord.
The church in America desperately needs to rediscover its peculiar identity as Christian. Rather than reinforce and celebrate national identity or patriotic fever in the worship and life of the church, the American church needs to deepen its exclusive attachment to God and its oneness with the church worldwide. The church in every place is called to be a community of reconciliation, not a bearer of the pride, interests, or “creed” of America or any other nation.
What are the consequences of this blending of America and God, this practice of incorporating symbols, words, and songs of the nation into the worship of the church? First, a false — and even idolatrous — version of God is presented in worship. The God who has a special concern for America, a covenant with this nation, the God who has in some sense “chosen” the United States as a special instrument, is not the Christian God. The God revealed in Jesus Christ is the God of all, without discrimination. This God alone is the source of our freedom, security, hope, and pride and is solely deserving of our praise.
Second, the question, “Who are we?” is given the wrong answer when God and American nationalism is mixed. As we gather to worship, we come as Christians. We do not come as Americans or white people or members of the middle class or as professionals or any other alternative identity. Such things are incidental. American identity and heritage should have no more significance in the gathered church than baldness or one’s favorite baseball team. We gather in worship as a people who are one, not with those who share our nationality but with those who share our faith in Christ, no matter where they are.
Third, those who are not Americans and those who are not inclined to celebrate the nation are not utterly embraced in fellowship. Their relationship to America, rather than simply their relationship to Christ, stands as a condition to full inclusion. The implicit sanctification of national identity renders as outsiders those who do not acknowledge the privileged status of all things American. The God-given unity of the church is thereby undermined.
Finally, the spiritual discernment of American worshipers is hindered. If God and country are inseparable, as Samuel Huntington maintained, an independent perspective is impossible for American Christians. All things will be viewed through the lens of the nation. Prophets and psalmists alike observed in scripture that those who worship idols become like them — blind (Isa 44:9, Zec 10:2, Ps 135:15–18). This blindness is evident in the willingness of the majority of American Christians to support the war in Iraq for so long, while the leaders of the church around the world condemned the war as immoral and wrong. Only by disassociating God and country in heart and mind are Christians in America to grow more spiritually clear-sighted.
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