Last Saturday’s presidential candidate forum at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Superchurch no doubt fueled the belief of Christian Americans that ours is truly a Christian nation.
Nary a week goes by without letters being printed in editorial sections nationwide declaring that the time has come to declare our legacy, that we must acknowledge the intent of the founding fathers and embrace the Christian heritage upon which our whole society is based.
I’ve always had some issues with these sort of the claims, ranging from the factual accuracy of many of them – such as the fact that most of the founding fathers were in fact Deists, not Christian; or that really only two of the ten commandments are actually laws – to the broader question of “who cares what the founders wanted?” After all, the founders also supported the atrocities of slavery as a vital economic interest; and believed that only rich, white men should be able to vote.
Let’s put all of that aside for the moment, though, and take a moment to examine what people really mean when they say they want the United States to be acknowledged as a Christian nation.
First, let me say that there are a lot of devout people of generous spirit out there that sincerely want to help others and make the world a better place; and Rick Warren is one of them. Unfortunately, these are not the people calling for Christian supremacy.
No, it’s the other Christians. You know them: They are the homophobes and the warmongers. They are the greedy and judgmental. Their mantras are not the gospels of “That which you do unto the least of my brothers, you do unto me,” but rather homespun quips like “God helps those that help themselves.”
These are the people that hate welfare and social security, ridicule environmentalists and think “loving your enemy” is for pussies. The frightening thing is that they are the ones in charge, and they want to stay in charge. This group is so powerful, in fact, that our presidential candidates are tripping over themselves to ingratiate themselves to them.
Their desire for recognition is not about faith, and certainly not about Christ. It’s about power and control. It’s about wanting to rid this nation of the things they don’t like, the things that frighten them, the things that stand in the way of attaining their individual wealth.
It raises the question: Why do the true Christians out there allow their faith to be subjugated and manipulated this way? Why are there not more voices of dissent calling bullshit?
Well, I’ll go out on a limb and say that most don’t know any better. Nearly half of them can’t recite all ten commandments, or name all four authors of the gospels, let alone name the twelve disciples. They simply hear the term “Christian Nation” and think “That sounds good to me!” In some cases, their ignorance aside, they genuinely do see it as a positive thing. No one can say Jesus wasn’t a great guy.
Unfortunately, what Sean Hannity, John McCain, George W. Bush and all of their ilk want when they don their crosses has almost nothing to do with him. What they want more closely resembles the golden calf.
