THOUGHTS
Do American Christians
Worship Nationalism?
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19
December 2011
by Jesse Silk
T
hose of us who have grown up in the United States have probably been immersed in pa-
triotism since our youth. We recited the pledge of allegiance in school, stood respectfully
during the playing of the national anthem and observed all the holidays that commemo-
rate the American cause. It probably never occurred to us that our love for the good ol’ U.S.A.
could be an ideological downfall; if anything, it was something we fostered and enjoyed as the
4th of July fireworks exploded in the night sky.
Though we no longer recite the pledge of allegiance in homeroom, patriotic sentiments
still abound in our environment. After watching television for half
an hour, you’re bound to find a program or commercial paying hom-
age to American soldiers. At several professional football games,
the American flag covers the entire field before the game starts and
fighter jets fly over the stadium. We still observe the American na-
tional anthem by removing our head-coverings. As someone who of-
ten wears a hat, sometimes I forget if the reason I’m holding it in my
hand is because someone is praying or because something “Ameri-
can” is transpiring.
“America the Beautiful” even found its way into chapel. I’m sure
we all hope for God to “shed His grace” on the United States just as
we desire grace to be given to the rest of the world, but there seems
to be an exclusive element to the song. Otherwise, from that perspective, it should be called
“World the Beautiful.” It would be interesting to see someone raise their hands when singing
the patriotic anthem; after all, it is a praise song, just to a different entity.
Something so simple and unintentionally mundane as the pledge of allegiance can be
quite profound. In third grade, all the students in my class would stand to say the pledge of
allegiance — all except one. One day, after we finished pledging and took our seats, I asked the
student why he chose not to recite the pledge. “I only pledge my allegiance to Allah,” he said.
My eight-year-old brain didn’t quite know what to make of the situation, and the thought lay
dormant until recently. Now I look back and realize that he was on to something.
Consider the true meaning of “pledging allegiance” to something. Logically, should it not
communicate a promise of loyalty? And loyalty that is divided isn’t really loyalty at all. Sure,
we are loyal to our family and friends, but they are people, not ideologies. Tension exists when
we realize we have allegiances to multiple greater purposes; in this case, they are patriotism
and Christianity. We would like to think that one can complement the other, but the track
record of each indicates that only one is worthy of our allegiance.
Truly considering this issue should cause us to ask ourselves some difficult questions.
Should the system of politics, which is not only undeniably corrupt but by nature must also
overlook the individual in order to affect the masses, be a pursuit of Christians? To what ex-
tent should we individually practice the concept of “separation of church and state”? As far as
war is concerned, how are we justifying the right to take a life of another image-bearer? More
importantly, why are we trying to justify that in the first place?
When I use the words “we,” “us” and “our,” I am referring to the body of Christ. The fre-
quent use of the word “we” in reference to America, especially the American government, can
be dangerous. The motives and causes of the United States government are often too different
from those of believers to identify the two as synonymous purposes.
Instead of realizing the dissonance between the two, Christians overwhelmingly see a
moral attack on the government as an assault upon Christian standards. For example, the
idea of gay marriage is appalling to believers, but if we really wanted to protest the sanctity of
marriage, we’d improve our atrocious divorce rate. Furthermore, we’d put our money where
our mouth is and realize that our own marriages do not need a government certificate to be
validated by God. Christians have an opportunity to create an entirely different institution by
marrying solely through the Church, but we are neglecting it because of our misunderstanding
of “us.” Human marriage is incredibly important, but it is not the root issue. It is the fruit of a
greater question: to what higher power do we truly belong?
While the concept of “we” indeed emphasizes the importance of the Church, the only way
to change how “we” behave is one individual at a time. It is much simpler and more accurate
to discern how I can provide for the poor, love the sojourner and maintain the sanctity of mar-
riage in my own life than it is to dwell on murky decisions that affect over 300 million people.
It is “I’s” that make up the “we” of the Church, and when we start living how we ought to be,
the Church will be the primary agent of change in society, not the government.
by Rachel Stephens
I
love Christmas. So much so that I have a
tendency to annoy the grinches people
around me. I listen to Christmas music
when I feel like it (September) and merrily
ignore the naysayers. On top of that, I still
have an unashamed love for all things Disney,
and color pictures
of princesses to de-
stress. It is no sur-
prise, therefore, that
I am a fan of Santa
Claus. Not that I re-
ally believe in him.
Growing up my
parents never pre-
tended that Santa
exists. They didn’t
put “From Santa” on
our presents, and we didn’t leave out milk and
cookies on Christmas Eve. Instead, we read the
Christmas story from Luke and set up nativity
scenes around the house. However, they didn’t
demonize him, either. We watched Miracle on
34th Street and The Santa Clause and fully en-
joyed them. My parents knew that we under-
stood what Christmas was really about, and
knew that the story of Santa Claus wouldn’t
spoil that.
The question at hand is not really whether
or not Santa exists. I’m not arguing that explo-
ration of the North Pole would find a giant toy
shop and bakery. Santa does not exist in the
traditional sense. The Air Force can’t catch his
flying reindeer and no camera will catch a pic-
ture of him coming down the chimney. Santa
is not a real person in a real sleigh eating real
cookies. But somehow Santa is still more real
than you and I.
You don’t have to believe in Santa to ap-
preciate what he is. Santa is joy and goodness
and generosity. As long as there are imagina-
tive children and creative adults, he will exist.
He is the symbol of childhood innocence and
imagination. A world with Santa is a world in
which anything is possible. And isn’t that re-
ally what we want?
“No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and
he lives forever. A thousand years from now,
Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years
from now, he will continue to make glad the
heart of childhood” (Francis Pharcellus, The
Sun, September 21, 1897).
Should
Christians
Keep Santa
in Christmas?
