Kyle Gebhart

I want to pull back for a moment to get a broad view of American ‘divine right’ arguments. The basic premise of such arguments is simple: The Christian God actively ordained and involved himself in founding the US. The conclusion following from this premise is that God particularly supports of the United States and has interest in its continued preservation and success.

The beginning of divine right, reaches further back than the Declaration of Independence or the founding of America. Some even hold Christopher Columbus as an example of Christian missionary zeal and character. In 1838 Washington Irving published a popular biography of Columbus that was very well received in the United States, he reports,

“[Columbus] was devoutly pious: religion mingled with the whole course of his thoughts and actions, and shone forth in his most private and unstudied writings. Whenever he made any great discovery, he celebrated it by solemn thanks to God. The voice of prayer and melody of praise rose from his ships… All his great enterprises were undertaken in the name of the Holy Trinity…The religion thus deeply seated in his soul diffused a sober dignity and benign composure over his whole demeanor. His language was pure and guarded, and free from all imprecations, oaths and other irreverent expressions.”

Such praise attempts to establish Columbus as a Christian leader and hero of the faith; and it is clear that Columbus was a devout Catholic. However I wonder at promoting him as an example of faithful Christian living. Take the following case in point.

A quote from Columbus’ own journal describes his initial encounter with the peoples of the West Indies (the Arawaks). Columbus states, “…they do not bear arms, and do not know them…They would make fine servants…With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” Upon his return to Spain, Columbus freely declared to the Spanish crown that he would return from another journey with, “as much gold as they need…and as many slaves as they ask…Thus the eternal God, our Lord, gives victory to those who follow His way over apparent impossibilities.”

And he did in fact follow through on his oath (at least the part about slaves, there was little gold to be found on islands the Spanish occupied). In 1495 1,500 Arawak were rounded up and 500 loaded onto ships. 200 of those died on route to Spain, and Columbus later wrote: “Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold.”<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[1]<!–[endif]–> Lacking the resources of gold, Columbus advocated exporting the second most valuable resource found in the West Indies: human bodies and souls.

In light of this, a particular Bible verse comes to mind: My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. In deed, protecting the weak and to exhibiting the wisdom from heaven that is gentle, submissive, and full of good fruits. The natives of the West Indies, by Columbus’ own admission, were like defenseless children before the power of Spain. Instead of a spirit of servanthood and meakness, Columbus acted in the tragic and typical spirit of European colonization.

I don’t want to debate here the sovereignty of God’s judgment upon the natives of the New World. The hard truth of the matter may be that European exploration and conquest were a tool in God’s hand related to judgment. Instead, I’m advising caution to assigning God’s manifest blessing on the activities of European exploration, colonization, American Independance, Manifest Destiny, and the like.

At his best, Columbus was merely a product of his times – an overly zealous nobleman dedicated primarily to pleasing his King and Country, and believing that enslaving the natives of the West Indies brought them closer to Jesus. At best, however, he shows some evidence of being ignorant of the most basic Christian conduct and morality outlined in the New Testament. I wouldn’t want him teaching a Sunday school class anytime soon.

Was he a Christian? God knows. Should Christians hold him up as a hero of the faith? You tell me.

So, for the record, I love this country. I really like America, it’s been a journey to get there, but I’m (sigh) even ‘proud to be an American.’

Let me share a little story. About six years ago, I was visiting the North African country of Tunisia with some friends of mine. I was with them as they were deciding whether to move to Tunisia.

While there, I was feeling rather embarrassed of being an American. I’d heard many stories of ugly Americans abroad: loud, self-centered, culturally insensitive people who boast of American superiority. I felt guilty for their sins. I was a self-hating American. I thought, “how unfortunate that all these other nations must tolerate our weaknesses; how noble of them to suffer long with us.”

About a week into the trip, we were invited to dinner at the home of a very generous Swiss-German couple. In talking with them, I was exceedingly apologetic, and self-conscious of my American stench. My self-deprecating humor and unredeemed cynicism spilled out. As I waxed philosophical about how difficult it must be for them to endure American pride and arrogance; they looked at me like I was crazy.

They began to talk about the Americans that they know as generous, warm and caring people. They explained that though there are some in the world who despise America, there are many more who have a love and appreciation for the US. It was an epiphany. America is dark but lovely. My goal in these posts is not to trash America. As I discovered in Tunisia, to hate America is merely a misguided form of self-hatred.

Neither is my goal to trash the founding fathers. I acknowledge that many of the things I love about America I owe to their leadership. The pluralistic society they founded has enabled myself and many millions to worship God with freedom and joy. I can say with sincerity that I am thankful for that gift. Free speech is a powerful gift, empowering the message of the Gospel to run freely. A free militia is a wonderful ‘check’ against the temptation of tyranny.

However, to hold up an American flag emblazoned with “in God we trust” is misleading. To declare the US as a ‘Christian nation’ is misleading and inaccurate. We are simply not a nation filled with Christ-like humility. I have little interest in defending the godliness of the American experiment. I see the broad strokes of God’s sovereign and perfect leadership; but not a specific divine blessing upon the US because of our piety. God loves America, (with all of her warts) but He didn’t found America.

The Declaration of Independence presents ideals that Americans hold sacred, it is a foundation stone in the cathedral of American Civil Religion. It represents the definitive moment where we gained our freedoms and the rights and privileges we cherish and defend. There is a problem though. As a Christian, it is impossible for me to accept that the founding fathers were warranted by God in signing this document.

The Declaration opens:

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

Now, compare with the following:

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” Romans 13:1-2

As Paul writes these words, he exhorts Christians (suffering under the godless state of Rome) to obey and trust God. Paul’s commanded response to Roman rule is humble submission; however the founding fathers weren’t playing by Paul’s rules.

The signers of the Declaration of Independence were not condoned by Scripture in rebelling against England. Instead, they invoked “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” The key word in these opening sentences of our Declaration of Independence is the word entitle. Nature’s god has entitled them to independence.

This god of whom Thomas Jefferson writes does share some basic qualities with the God of the Bible: a type of omnipotence, a benevolence towards mankind, and an interest in human affairs. However, Jefferson’s god is a foreign god to me. He is the god of American Civil Religion, the god of the Declaration of Independence, but he is not the God revealed in the Bible. We’ll call him the “American god.” Washington referred to him by such titles as, “All-Wise Disposer of Events, Grand Architect of the Universe, or Beneficient Being.”[1]

As my series of posts unfolds, we will see that this American god is almost universally the deity whom the founding fathers invoked, and perhaps worshipped. We will also see that the American god is fundamentally at odds with the God of the Bible.

The Declaration of Independence baptizes our nation into the name of a foreign god,and the founding fathers consciously dismiss the God revealed in the Bible. In the act of American independence, they defy a clear exhortation of the apostle Paul. Paul’s God does not impel revolutions. Paul’s God does not encourage His people to willfully rebel against appointed governors; even if those governors do not fear God. The god of Nature, however, does impel such actions. The fathers are entitled by Nature’s god to throw off English authority. How can we conclude that the founding fathers were following the same God as Paul?

Before I launch into my examination of American Civil Religion I want to establish a working understanding of some key premises. The first premise is that many Christians are unaware of the power of nationalism over their worldview.

Historically, it can be argued, that nationalism is quite young only emerging in its current form in the 1800’s. For much of history the ties that bound people together were more localized. Those ties related to families, clans, tribes or races, and in some cases a common language or religion. It is only with the ascendancy of democracy that large groups of peoples with different ethnic and religious backgrounds were united under the broad, inclusive flags of the modern nation-state.

Under democratic ideals nationalism is pluralistic. It states that each should willingly lay aside religious, cultural, or ethnic differences to unite around a shared value system or ideology. Democratic nationalism states, “We will lay aside our differences, to engineer a nation around these political or social goals.” Unity and agreement with these ideals becomes the source of our greatness. For Americans, these ideals are succinctly stated at the beginning of the Republic in the Declaration of Independance: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

In honoring our revolutionary past, we chose the term ‘patriot’ for anyone who is inspired to throw off the bonds of slavery to other masters and forge ahead in the spirit of liberty. This language fills the pages of our newspapers, magazines and news programs. Being patriotic is central to our popular discourse. A political candidate who appears unpatriotic has signed their resignation. Good Americans are patriotic, bad people are unpatriotic. Burning an American flag is illegal in several states, supporting the troops is essential, having the heart-strings pulled when the national anthem is sung mandatory. If you are a good American, you are patriotic. If you are not patriotic then perhaps you are a communist, a terrorist, or a traitor.

Patriotism is most esteemed within conservative circles. Those circles include a large, vocal portion of the evangelical Christian community. The influence of Christian patriots can be clearly seen in the number of books and articles written over the last decade on the subject. The liberals have penned hundreds of alarmist diatribes fearful of a conservative takeover of America. The conservatives have characterized their opponents as unpatriotic, supportive of terrorism and un-American.

I think, however, that the patriotism of many evangelical Christians is far more dangerous to their spiritual life than they have seen. Jesus and his apostles never supported or denounced political candidates. I won’t go so far as to say endorsing certain candidates is wrong, but the prophetic voices of the New Testament have made it clear to us that our citizenship in heaven is primary. If our nationalism overrides our allegiance to The Kingdom of God, then we have compromised our spiritual well-being.

I believe that there are many in the American church who are already compromised in this way.

A few years ago, this term came to mind to describe the nationalism, patriotism and social ethics that fuel the imaginations of most Americans. Though I never assumed I ‘coined’ the term I’d never heard it before.

A simple Google search revealed to me that American Civil Religion has some other observers; the most notable seems to be this guy. I’m putting his book on hold at the library as we speak.

In any case ACR is by far one my favorite topics on my mind at any given time (just ask Zack). I’ll be putting together a series of posts on how ACR and biblical Christianity are dangerously at odds with each other. Look for thoughts on subjects such as: America’s ‘covenant’ with God, Manifest Destiny, Israel worshipping golden calves, genocidal acts, faith in the White House, and even Mormonism - that unique and much maligned religion created right here in the good old U-S-of-A.

One quick note: my primary citizenship is in heaven - but I do love Americans. I just have questions about how long we can continue to claim to be a Christian country, and whether claiming to be a Christian country was ever a good idea.

I’ll leave us with a quote from Belleh I snagged from the wikipedia page on ACR:

And to that I will say, Amen Robert, Amen.