My dad spent a bit of time around Ollie. He worked at a local metal plant but went back and started a PhD in history at GW when the plant started layoffs, although he died of pulmonary fibrosis before he could finish. Some part of his grad work had him around North fairly regularly. He thought North and Falwell were complete morons. In my early ev years I had expressed some admiration for North’s being a hero and “doing the right thing” - and Dad would just shake his head. He would have liked J&JW.
"What does it mean to love God and to love our country?" That line, particularly the "our" took on new meaning for me last month when I became a US citizen. I don't regret getting citizenship, but the partisan polarization and Christian nationalism of the past months and years has left me wondering if making that commitment was the right thing to do. For all the tensions that it has caused, maintaining a conscious effort to separate church and state seems to be a better approach, this side of glory, than any overtly Christian nation that I have learned of through history. At the same time, I am thankful for the opportunities that being in the US has afforded me in my life, and I look forward to full participation in the life of the country going forward. (I already managed to vote in the primaries for the first time ever!) Admittedly, my first 4 of July as a citizen was pretty low key-I posted a flag photo as my FB image and we grilled burgers for dinner. I wanted to hang up our US flag outside today, but my family (all of whom are born citizens) talked me out of it! I guess my problem is that I love God, but am finding it hard to love my new country. At the same time, love for neighbor is grounded not in how good the other people are, but that they are all people and image bearers of God.
My dad spent a bit of time around Ollie. He worked at a local metal plant but went back and started a PhD in history at GW when the plant started layoffs, although he died of pulmonary fibrosis before he could finish. Some part of his grad work had him around North fairly regularly. He thought North and Falwell were complete morons. In my early ev years I had expressed some admiration for North’s being a hero and “doing the right thing” - and Dad would just shake his head. He would have liked J&JW.
"What does it mean to love God and to love our country?" That line, particularly the "our" took on new meaning for me last month when I became a US citizen. I don't regret getting citizenship, but the partisan polarization and Christian nationalism of the past months and years has left me wondering if making that commitment was the right thing to do. For all the tensions that it has caused, maintaining a conscious effort to separate church and state seems to be a better approach, this side of glory, than any overtly Christian nation that I have learned of through history. At the same time, I am thankful for the opportunities that being in the US has afforded me in my life, and I look forward to full participation in the life of the country going forward. (I already managed to vote in the primaries for the first time ever!) Admittedly, my first 4 of July as a citizen was pretty low key-I posted a flag photo as my FB image and we grilled burgers for dinner. I wanted to hang up our US flag outside today, but my family (all of whom are born citizens) talked me out of it! I guess my problem is that I love God, but am finding it hard to love my new country. At the same time, love for neighbor is grounded not in how good the other people are, but that they are all people and image bearers of God.