We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
Remembering the Myth During Election Season
Given the current political furor in America right now, we thought we would post an extended quote from Greg’s book The Myth of a Christian Nation. This book was originally a reflection on Christian political engagement during the 2004 election, and how conflating “America” with Christianity is devastating to the mission we’ve been given in the world. We seem not to have learned much since then.
The myth of America as a Christian nation, with the church as its guardian, has been, and continues to be, damaging both to the church and to the advancement of God’s kingdom. Among other things, this nationalistic myth blinds us to the way in which our most basic and most cherished cultural assumptions are diametrically opposed to the kingdom way of life taught by Jesus and his disciples. Instead of living out the radically countercultural mandate of the kingdom of God, this myth has inclined us to Christianize many pagan aspects of our culture. Instead of providing the culture with a radically alternative way of life, we largely present it with a religious version of what it already is. The myth clouds our vision of God’s distinctly beautiful kingdom and thereby undermines our motivation to life as set-apart (holy) disciples of this kingdom.
Even more fundamentally, because this myth links the kingdom of God with certain political stances within American politics, it has greatly compromised the holy beauty of the kingdom of God to non-Christians. This myth harms the church’s primary mission. For many in America and around the world, the American flag has smothered the glory of the cross, and the ugliness of our American version of Caesar has squelched the radiant love of Christ. Because the myth that America is a Christian nation has led many to associate America with Christ, many now hear the good news of Jesus only as American news, capitalistic news, imperialistic news, exploitive news, antigay news, or Republican news. And whether justified or not, many people want nothing to do with any of it. (pp. 13-14)
Category: General
Tags: America, Myth of a Christian Nation, Nationalism, Politics, Religious Idolatry
Related Reading
Making America an Idol
I write as a kingdom person in the context of America, presently the dominant empire in the world. In that light, I’d like to address the fact that my calling is to resist nationalism even in the midst of appreciating my own country. America was conquered by white Europeans in the name of nationalistic religion.…
William Wilberforce and the Possibility of “Christian” Politics
William Wilberforce was a passionate Christian who entered politics for the sole purpose of ending the slave trade. For more than thirty years he passionately and courageous labored to get Parliament to outlaw the practice. His life’s dream was fulfilled a month before he died in 1833. It’s no surprise, therefore, that Wilberforce is frequently…
5 Differences Between The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the World
Image by matthijs rouw via Flickr The kingdom of God looks and acts like Jesus Christ, like Calvary, like God’s eternal, triune love. It consists of people graciously embracing others and sacrificing themselves in service to others. It consists of people trusting and employing “power under” rather than “power over,” even when they, like Jesus, suffer because…
Jesus’ Kind of Social Justice
For many, the primary way of building the kingdom is to influence politics in order to make America more Christian. Others take the opposite approach, concluding that Jesus didn’t try to overhaul the political systems of his day through political means; therefore Christian faith is only a private matter that has no social relevance. Both…
12 Reasons for Keeping the Kingdom of God Separate from Politics, Part 1
Image by the justified sinner via Flickr Jesus came to establish a kingdom that was not of this world. This is why Jesus refused to call on angels to defend himself and why he forbid his followers to use violence to defend themselves or advance their cause. It’s also why neither Jesus nor Paul nor…
Evangelical Politics: Three Generations
Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd and Shane Claiborne represent three generations of influential evangelicals engaging in an intriguing discussion on the role of faith and politics. The lively conversation on NPR’s On Being (formerly Speaking of Faith) with Krista Tippett revealed a shared theology that guides these three men — as they interpret and live out…