Now on to more pressing issues...
As I said, there has been a recent conversation that popped up on my Facebook page regarding politics and religion. I have researched this quite a bit and have some rather strong opinions about it. I am convinced that the marriage of politics and religion is extremely dangerous.
I borrowed the title of this blog from chapter six of Dean Merrill's Sinners In The Hands of An Angry Church. I read this book in 1999 for an undergrad class at Tyndale. Merrill's website says this of the author:
I’m a former magazine editor (Campus Life, Leadership Journal, Christian Herald) and editorial director (David C. Cook, Focus on the Family) who has written seven books and coauthored more than 20 others. My works have twice been honored by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association with Gold Medallion awards, while another was named Christian Book of the Year..
I’ve had the privilege to travel widely overseas, especially during my seven years as a vice president at International Bible Society (now Biblica). I am currently a mentor with Partners in Publishing, a small group that seeks to help Christian publishers in the developing world. My favorite part of the globe to visit is Africa.
My bachelor’s degree was earned at Christian Life College (Chicago) and my master of arts in journalism at Syracuse University. My wife and I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado; we’re the proud parents of three and the grandparents of ten
I'm getting that out in the open because I know that Merrill is not a politician or historian by trade but in chapter six of this book, he makes some great points, one of which being that the idea of the “good old days” of America is a myth. Here are some of his examples:
-In the middle of the 19th century, New York City had one prostitute for every 64 men..
-The mayor of Savannah estimated that the city had one prostitute for every 39 men.
-Abortion was as proportionately frequent on the eve of the Civil War as it is now, 160,000 abortions in 1860 in a non-slave population of 27 million.
-In the 1930's, during the Great Depression, while divorce rates fell, domestic violence rose sharply.
-Murder rates in the 1930's were as high as in the 1980's.
-While 20% of American children live in poverty today, 20% of kids in 1900 lived in orphanages.
-In the 19th century, the age of consent in some states was 9 or 10 years old.
-Prior to the 1920's, no law required a divorcing father to pay child support.
-In a 1943 LIFE article, the rising statistics of juvenile delinquency were reported on, including the rise of drug use, sexual promiscuity, train wrecking, hoodlumism (a very 1940's word), willful destruction of war materials and other property, arson, assault, rape and murder
Merrill also makes the point that this exercise of myth building goes back further than the 19th century. How many of you had heard these quotes?
“Whosoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.”--Benjamin Franklin
“It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can surely stand.”--John Adams
“It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”--George Washington
“I have always said, and always will say, that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands.”--Thomas Jefferson
“America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”--French Observer Alexis de Tocqueville
Merrill points out that David Barton compiled a list of these quotes and of the above five quotes, only one has been proven historically, the Adams quote. It seems that our well-intentioned patriots have crafted an American myth of sorts to somehow make the claim that the United States of America is a Christian nation. Well, let's dispel that myth right now. America is not a Christian nation. In case you thought you misread that, I will write it again.
America is not a Christian nation.
Never has been. Never was.
Before you start on me, here is what I am NOT saying. I am NOT saying that this country was not founded on Judeo-Christian ethics. Most of our founding fathers, while not being Christians (as you will see below) had a great deal of respect for the life of Christ, holding him as the highest example in proper ethics, but they rejected any claim of his being supernatural,let alone being deity.
The founding fathers of this country were deists. According to the website, Deism is “...the recognition of a universal creative force greater than that demonstrated by mankind, supported by personal observation of laws and designs in nature and the universe, perpetuated and validated by the innate ability of human reason coupled with the rejection of claims made by individuals and organized religions of having received special divine revelation.”
Did you catch that? Deism defines God as “a universal creative force greater than that demonstrated by mankind.” That doesn't sound like a Christian God. Merrill makes the point that often in the documents of the founding fathers, you find the word “reason” capitalized. They viewed reason as a god of sorts and believed that most problems could be solved with the human mind. This religion or way of thinking was a direct result of a philosophical movement called the Enlightenment, a movement which asserted that humankind had been enlightened by some sort of higher power and “Reason” would lead them to all truth.
Want to know what our founding fathers believed? Here's what some of them believed:
-While George Washington, our first President, was a member of the Anglican Church, most men were members of the church because of their desire to influence society. Most of the stories that surround him and his Christianity are now considered myth, such as the story of him and the cherry tree. In many of his writings, he referred to “providence” with a capital “P,” a further indicator of his deistic beliefs.
-John Adams was raised a Congregationalist, but ultimately rejected many fundamental doctrines of conventional Christianity, such as the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, becoming a Unitarian.
-Thomas Jefferson was a man so hostile to Christianity that he scissored from his Bible all references to miracles. He was, as the Freedom From Religion Foundation tells us, "a Deist, opposed to orthodox Christianity and the supernatural." In all four references in the Declaration of Independence to God, they were at best acknowledgements of Him as Creator, giver of rights, and the “Supreme Judge.” The last reference is a simple acknowledgment of “Divine Providence,” clearly a deist term.
-James Madison wrote this in his Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments: "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." He also said, "What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."
-In James Monroe's first inaugural address, Monroe praises the concept of religious freedom, boasting that Americans may worship "the Divine Author" in any manner they choose. This same address declares that "the favor of a gracious Providence" has guided the United States. It concludes with Monroe declaring that he enters the presidential office with "fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which he [sic] has already so conspicuously displayed in our favor." Monroe's second inaugural address speaks of his "firm reliance on the protection of Almighty God." When his speeches refer to the Deity, he uses only the stock Deistic phrases.
-Benjamin Franklin just simply says it: "Some books against Deism fell into my hands. . . It happened that they wrought an effect on my quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a through Deist.”
The above quotes were found doing a very simple Google search. While I am not one to believe everything on the internet (if it prints, it has to be true, right?!), these quotes were well documented. And Merrill lists even more evidence that I am not including here. Again, hear what I am NOT saying. I am not saying that ALL of our founding fathers were not Christians. Patrick Henry, John Jay, and John Witherspoon are examples of Christians as founding fathers. But they were the exception and not the rule. It is simple Christian (well-intentioned) myth building that leads us to believe this. Historically and academically, the claims that the United States of America is a Christian nation just simply does not stand the test of scrutiny.
One of the surface things that really bug me about this assertion is that it is so easily debunked, but yet many well-meaning pastors preach from their pulpits that we need to return to the roots of our country. While anyone that knows me, knows that I am a political conservative, I am more concerned about the truth than being conservative. I can assure you that if the truth ever led me to a more liberal way of thinking, I would go there. I thank God that I am able to say that and I feel very blessed to be able to say it because I know that often, Christians will not allow themselves to think anything other than what they have been told because they are afraid of the results. We should never ignore truth because we are afraid of the consequences.
The truth is that history is replete with examples, both contemporary and historical, of what happens when religion and politics converge. The news has been non-stop in the last 48 hours of the death of Osama bin Laden. Do we need a better example? This man tethered his religious convictions to his politics and the result has been thousands dead. Examples of this are all over the Muslim world, from Muamar Gaddafi to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, all contemporary examples of the dangers of this. But unless we think that we are immune, our own Christian history is filled with examples, the most obvious being Emperor Constantine and further on down the line with the Crusades. Religion and politics should be kept apart.
Again, I am not saying that you shouldn't use your religion as a basis for your voting. I certainly do, but we shouldn't just simply tow the party line because, as most of us conservative evangelicals were taught, “Republicans are good and Democrats are bad.” It's simply not that black and white.
That has been one result of the coupling of religion and politics, but another has been the idea that the only political issues that Christians care about are abortion and the so-called “gay agenda.” These are not the only issues. This belief that the United States is a Christian nation has led us to justify our so-called right to invade other countries on the pretext that since God has blessed this country, we have the right to do whatever we want, a divine right, if you will. As I told a friend recently, Jesus represents the ultimate freedom and that is the only cause that I really ever want to fight for. That's not to say that I don't have a huge amount of respect for members of our armed services, but we don't have a divine right to invade other countries, unless it is a means of national defense. As a matter of fact, it is unconstitutional, clearly stated in the Constitution which by the way, never even mentions God.
The coupling has also lead us to believe, whether we want to admit to it or not, that God must be capitalist. I mean, if you don't work, you shouldn't eat, right? Nevermind that some of these “capitalist” policies have led to banks and corporations getting filthy rich off of the ignorance of the poor, and I'm not just talking about taxes here.
There are numerous other issues that I think have been a direct or indirect result of this idea that we are a Christian nation. I could go on a while, but I won't. You get the point. So lets get some conversation going. If the United States is not a Christian nation, then how does that change how we view and do things? What other things would change if we really understand this?
No comments:
Post a Comment