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Wednesday, August 13, 2003

•••America the Divine Since the attacks on New York, this notion of America the divine has been extended and refined. In December 2001, Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of that city, delivered his last mayoral speech in St Paul's Chapel, close to the site of the shattered twin towers. "All that matters," he claimed, "is that you embrace America and understand its ideals and what it's all about. Abraham Lincoln used to say that the test of your Americanism was ... how much you believed in America. Because we're like a religion really. A secular religion." [emphasis mine, from The Guardian Unlimited, July 29, 2003] I'm not sure I buy the argument about president as priest and soldiers as missionaries, but this was a stimulating read nevertheless. Thanks to Mike James of "Tread Lightly" for the Interesting Link ™ from his blog. It does certainly speak to the problem of American Civil Religion -- though from an international geopolitical perspective rather than a theological one. What I like about the article in particular is that it illustrates this American Civil Religion transcends party lines. Liberals, Conservatives, Independants -- they all tend to do this same thing, confusing church and state, speaking and thinking of the one in terms of the other. It certainly runs both ways. Too many in the American churches are doing their theology by the U.S. Constitution rather than by the Holy Scriptures.   7:53:04 PM   googleit 181

•••Christophobia From Gene Edward Veith's Culture Beat article in this week's World magazine discussing Mel Gibson's new movie: In today's culture, vague spirituality, do-goodism, and multicultural appreciation for the world's religions are acceptable, but focusing on Jesus Christ is just too shocking to bear. He remains the stumbling block.... Many people assume that the death of Jesus cut short a great life, that if Jesus had only lived longer, who knows what a great influence He might have had on society. But the importance of the cross is that with His sufferings, Jesus atoned for the sins of sinners from "all tribes and peoples and languages," pulling onto Himself all of the punishment that they deserve so that they can have free forgiveness and everlasting life.... The controversy over the Mel Gibson movie is a testimony to the failure of Christians to communicate effectively what they believe. Secularists, by and large, think Christianity is all about moralism, with good people going to heaven and bad people going to hell. They have no idea that Christianity is really all about grace, forgiveness, God becoming flesh, Christ giving His life and rising again for the salvation of sinners. Maybe a movie on the centrality of the cross can set the record straight.   7:14:43 PM   googleit 180

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