When Did God Become an American?

I went to Barnes & Noble today on a whim – I just felt it was time to browse and see if anything might catch my eye.

While browsing the American History section, there came over the PA system a promo announcement: “Buy two classical or opera CDs and get a third for free.” It reminded me that I’ve been meaning to replace the Mozart Requiem recording that I gave to my mom several months back. So, I browsed, I found, and I chose two more. Sweet.

I drifted back to the History section and something did indeed catch my eye: The Godless Constitution: A Moral Defense of the Secular State. I look forward to reading it. It had to catch my eye because for the last couple of weeks I have been pondering a blog post that would use the title given to this post. I have been pondering for a few reasons.

It is a fact that God is never mentioned in our hallowed Constitution. Does this strike any of my readers, especially my religious and patriotic ones, as odd? It certainly struck me when I first became conscious of it. When I went to look for myself, I fully expected to find a reference in one of two places, if not both: the beginning and/or the end. He wasn’t there. And he wasn’t in the middle. No “and God willing” or “seeking His divine providence” or “with the blessings of Almighty God.” Nothing. Nothing even close.

Another thing: many of us are aware of the fact that the original Pledge of Allegiance did not contain the phrase “under God.” One nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

And another: Did you know the United States has an official creed? And guess who isn’t mentioned.

Do we ever utter the word “God” when we sing the National Anthem? Is there a pattern here?

The Declaration of Independence certainly mentions God – that is true. But if you were writing a letter to the Pope declaring that he no longer has authority over you, don’t you think at least some of your arguments might make reference to God? Would it or could it be a completely secular letter? King George was the secular ruler of England and the Colonies, but let’s not forget that he was also head of the Anglican Church. Is it reasonable to expect that the authors of the Declaration would make no reference to God when they were declaring independence from the English equivalent of the Pope?

But once the dirty work of independence was done, once the appeals (both secular and spiritual) had been made and the fighting drew to a close, the Founders got down to the business of setting up a government that would be, as far as humanly possible, fair, just, impartial, and benevolent. A month into the Federal Convention of 1787, Ben Franklin submitted a letter arguing that each day’s session should begin with a morning prayer. The meeting was adjourned before a vote was taken, and the matter was never taken up again. The members of the Convention were saying as delicately as possible to their esteemed colleague: “No, Dr. Franklin. We can pray with our respective congregations or in private. Not here; not now.” Religion was no longer a touchstone for the Founders as it had been during the Revolution; religion was now something to be protected from government influence and intervention.

Today’s America seems to want it both ways: government needs to protect religious rights, and at the same time religion’s influence needs to be inserted into government as far as possible. To be more specific: my brand of religion needs to be inserted as far as possible.

I don’t need to ponder this for very long before I see the hypocrisy and the danger in it. We do both our religion and our government harm when we insist on blending the two – we weaken them both and pose a potentially grave threat to our society.

Will anyone argue that nationalism (patriotism) and religiosity have blended and morphed into something wonderful in the Middle East? Can we not recognize the one as nitro and the other as glycerin? What is the difference between Islamic fundamentalists marching around with AK-47s and imposing their societal rules on the population and the Salem witch trials, or the Crusades?

Our Founders were pretty wise – they knew history and they were students of human nature. They knew a bad mix when they saw one.

Civil government is one thing; religion is another. Good civil government is not influenced by religion, does not favor any brand of religion, and protects freedom of worship for all citizens so long as forms of worship do not infringe on the natural rights of others.

Religious, patriotic Americans would do well to acknowledge that God is as much American as he is Iranian; as he is Russian; as he is Japanese, Mongolian, Chinese, Somali, Cuban, Spanish, and even French. God favors no flag if he has truly created all men equally.

God is not flattered by the inscription on our money; he does not celebrate the Fourth of July from the back of a Ford pickup; he does not watch NASCAR. God does not smile upon our baseball games, apple pie, and Main Street, and he doesn’t tune in every time someone blares “God Bless the USA” over the loudspeakers. He takes as much joy in watching a young boy enjoying a local festival in a little, dusty Iraqi village as he does watching another young boy sitting on top of his daddy’s shoulders at a Memorial Day parade in a little, dusty American town. He made both boys; he loves them equally. God is not political; we are.

If “all men are created equal” as we love to spout, then let’s stop holding on to this infantile notion that God loves America like he loves no other nation on earth. Love God the way you feel he calls you to, and be glad you live in a country whose civil government protects your right to do so. But to wrap God in a flag, any flag, must be viewed as an insult to his power and dominion over the affairs of all men whom he has “created equal.” God doesn’t fly a flag; he doesn’t need to. He’s just God.

If we really want God to bless the USA, perhaps we need to ask him to bless the whole world instead. What, are we afraid he might forget us?

Comments

[Sue Champlin]

Kurt
I remember reading Joan of Arc by Mark Twain. As he was detailing different miracles in the book, it suddenly hit me - hey, Joan is from France! Why would God care about France? I had to laugh at myself. Joan of Arc, not withstanding; my boys and I were discussing politics and the fact that Jesus rarely, if ever, addressed the political issues of his day. He did pay his taxes though but I suppose that's another issue.:) By the way, that wasn't a "dig". Just an observation about how He dealt w/government. Not sure where I'm going with this. I just thought the France thing was funny.
Sue