Christian Citizenship (Biblical Reasons Why I Want to Be a Christian in a Multi-Faith Nation) Part 26

 

This post is part 26 of a series on Christian citizenship, and why I believe mixing Christian identity with American identity is bad for both. I hope to give you little bite-sized thoughts, which represent themes you'll find throughout the Bible and historic Christian teachings.

I hope they make you think.

Today's reason why I want to live as a Christian in a multi-faith nation:

In its draft social statement, the ELCA says in article 26, 

“The United States is not a ‘Christian nation.’ It was not founded on specifically Christian principles, though Christians and Christianity did influence its ethos. The premise of the Constitution and its ratification is that the sovereign is ‘we the people,’ not ‘we the Christians’.”

Just as the statement rightly points out that the United States was not founded on specifically Christian principles, the flip side is also true: Jesus himself did not send his followers out to found any new nations! 

His closing command in Matthew's Gospel, often called the "Great Commission," is to make disciples of all the nations. The language, culture, or form of government was not their concern. To say he had any kind of special concern for the land that would one day become the United States is totally unbiblical. What Jesus wanted was for each nation under heaven to have his baptized disciples in its midst.

Seems to me that the question Christians should be asking is less about whether our nations founders were disciples of Jesus, and more about whether we ourselves are.    

For more background information read this statement from the ELCA's presiding bishop, or learn about Christians Against Christian Nationalism.