Christian Citizenship (Biblical Reasons Why I Want to Be a Christian in a Multi-Faith Nation) Part 1

This post is part 1 of a series on Christian citizenship, and why I believe mixing Christian identity with American identity is bad for both. My intent in sharing these short Biblical reflections is not to "prooftext", or just compile a list of unrelated Bible verses to support my argument. Rather, I hope to give you little bite-sized thoughts, which I believe represent themes you'll find throughout the Bible and historic Christian teachings.
I hope they make you think.


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

Jesus says, “My kingdom is not from this world.” (John 18:36)

When Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, asks Jesus, "are you a king?", this is his response. For the entirety of Jesus' ministry, there were expectations that he would raise an army to challenge Rome and win back the territory of Judea and Galilee for the Jewish people. People expected him to attempt to found a government in Jerusalem, with himself as king. Jesus disrupted this expectation at every turn.

If Jesus had wanted a kingdom on earth, he would have told his followers to fight for one, and he never would have willingly gone to the cross. We Christians believe and teach that Jesus going to the cross, rather than any earthly throne, is, to put it mildly, rather important for the world.



For more about Jesus' teaching about "The Kingdom of God", check out tomorrow's post.

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