Recently, a flock of religious types and political types
gathered to “rededicate” a nation to “God.”
Sounds good, right?
Lofty
Pious
Who could possibly be against
One nation under God?
One nation! Whose nation?
God, which God?
The Jewish God, the Christian God?
The Muslim God?
What about the Buddhists and Hindus
Those who participate in the Baha'i faith
Do they get to be a part of this one nation?
Or is it just Christians, ala Franklin Graham, and
God help us
Paula White or Robert Jefress
And if Christian, which version?
Because only Nationalistic, Dominion-oriented
Christianity
Will be on that stage
The kind that drop bombs in the name of Jesus (Hegseth)
And exclude rather than welcome the stranger.
I, as a Presbyterian, would not be welcome
Not that I would welcome the chance.
I know our money says, “In God we Trust”
But we don’t
We trust strongmen (yes, men, and they are not really
strong) and bombs
And the Stock market
And that is not the motto under which our country was
born.
Try E Pluribus
Unum: “Out of many, one.”
We were not a country built for religious exclusivism
But were a country designed to bring diverse people
together
Under some unifying values (not Christian BTW).
The values of freedom and justice
FOR ALL
And all should mean all
But just for fun, let say we are a nation under God
That means we should reflect God’s intention for a
nation,
Right?
What does that mean?
That we are the biggest and meanest?
That we destroy civilizations?
Bomb Kids?
That we are ‘”hot”?
In my faith system, God has had a long
And contentious with those nations
That claim to be “God’s People.”
In fact, once Jesus showed up the idea that God
had a favored earthly nation
disappeared
Sure, God still had a people
But those people who those gathered in love
To praise, worship, pray AND SERVE
Jesus was pretty blunt.
My Kingdom is not of this world!!!!!!
Hear that Pete?
Hear that Doug Wilson?
But still, even if there WERE a country that belonged to
God
What would it look like?
Not like the United States of America
Especially not MAGA States of America
Its complicated, but if I were to summarize what God
wanted
From the people of Judah and Israel
Who were, at one point, supposedly dedicated to God
I would do it this way
SEEK JUSTICE AND DEFEND THE VULNERABLE:
God’s country would care for the poor, the vulnerable,
the immigrant
It would protect women (not subjugate them)
In God’s country, justice would be blind
The Supreme Court would work to create equality and
equity
(and not erase Voter Rights and not side with the
Oligarchs)
SHOW COMPASSION AND KINDNESS
It would not spend most of its money on a Department of
War
It would not spend more on guns and missiles than on healthcare
and education, and roads, and food support, and housing
It would not be racist
It would not be retributive, a global bully
Fund USAID
(Not funding USAID will mean 14.5- 25 million preventable
deaths, many of them children, over the next 10 years. Those deaths are blood on the hands of our
country, because we could easily prevent them.
A side note. A year of USAID
funding was equal to a little over a month of the war in Iran)
HAVE HUMILITY
An awareness that life is a gift. This land we live in is a gift.
That we are servants, not masters
Caretakers not owners
Most of all a nation that says it belongs to God ought to
actually
LOVE GOD
More than a demented narcissist
More than earthly power
More than wealth
More than anything
Loving God means loving creation, not plundering it
Drill baby drill is not consistent with love God
Because this planet is another incarnation of God
Loving God means loving all those God created
AS GOD CREATED THEM
BIPOC people
LGBTQI+ people
Yes, trans people
People on the spectrum
People with other mental health challenges
People with disabilities
Female people
Male people
White people
Poor people
People of all faiths
Even arrogant, domineering, cruel Christians
Get to be loved
Maybe if they find love, they will be nicer
Maybe if we all understood we are loved
We would all be nicer
I just know that a political rally
Does not make for a country that actually loves God
It is merely one particular brand of Christianity (a
toxic one at that)
Asserting its domination over the nation
under the guise of “rededication.”
On this day, 72 years ago, the SCOTUS (a much better one
than we have now it seems)
Declared the segregation of schools unconstitutional.
And 72 years ago, we also changed our motto, out of fear
of communism
To “One nation under God.”
Now our better angels have been silenced, and we are
affirming racism
As a nation (not Godly)
And we are doubling down on a motto that has been
weaponized
Against immigrants, LGBTQI+ people and so many others
(also not Godly)
On this day, we would do well to ignore the
Performative mess in Washington, DC
And remember the words of Amos
I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your
assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and
grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship
offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I
will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a
river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" -Amos 5:21-25
