Sermon

A Christian Country?

The Rev. Jack D. Bryant

Hope Unitarian Church

April 24, 2005

First Reading: Matthew 22:15-22

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Second Reading: U.S. Constitution

Preamble: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article VI, Clause 3: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United State

Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Third Reading: Federalist Papers (No. 10) - James Madison

The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society. A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good.

. . .

The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source.

Sermon

According to some politicians America is a Christian country founded by Christians, founded for Christians and with the expectation that all who hold office will be Christians. You don’t have to be a Christian to be an American, but you’re not supposed to be able to hold office. You may wonder how such a position can be reconciled with the language of Article VI, Clause 3 that I read a few minutes ago as one of our readings, but the answer is easy. The prohibition against a religious test - according to proponents of America as a Christian country - is a prohibition against discriminating between the different sects of Christianity. You can be a Catholic, a Methodist or a Baptist - but you can’t be a non-Christian. To fully appreciate this argument you need to know something of its history. It is not a recent invention. Shortly after the United States Constitution was adopted in the late seventeen hundreds there was a movement to adopt amendments declaring the United States to be a Christian Nation. All the attempt failed. Some people, however, never give up.

A colleague of mine told me yesterday about her recent experience of being interviewed for a radio talk show. She was asked - as a minister - if it wasn’t true that America was founded as a Christian nation. She replied - correctly - that almost all those involved in the founding of America called themselves Christians, but that didn’t mean America was a Christian country. She went on to say that all of the founding fathers were white males. That doesn’t mean America is a white, male country. Of course, there are some people who believe it is a white, male country. Timothy McVeigh, who had contacts with the Christian Identity movement, for example, probably fits in that category. The Christian Identity movement and similar groups believe America is a white, male country. They are able to cite numerous quotations and events in support of their claims - probably more than those who claim America is a Christian country. Let’s face it, America’s history of slavery and racism provide an unsavory source of support for those who want America to be a racist country. But America is not the country of the Christian Identity movement and America is not a Christian country. Such claims are on the same level with denials of the Holocaust. And the emotional content of their claims reflects the same kind of anger, the same drive towards self destruction of hate groups around the world. What’s ironic is how such groups are inevitably the greatest enemy of what they claim to support. Let me give you a couple of example.

Do you remember the Intifada? That was the popular uprising by the Palestinians against Israel in the early and mid-1990’s. What was unique about it was its non-violence. It wasn’t completely non-violent. There was a lot of rock throwing, but compared to what had gone on before and what has happened sense, it was non-violent. The result was astonishing. Israel and the Palestinians moved to the bargaining table and genuine progress was made towards peace. It happened because the one thing the Israeli’s couldn’t cope with was non-violence. Then Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a Israeli religious extremist. What followed was an outbreak of violence that continued for a decade. Week after week, year after year there have been announcements of more suicide bombers blowing up an Israeli nightclub or bus station. And with each act of violence by suicide bombers who claimed to be Palestinian patriots, the cause of Palestine suffered - just as the Israeli cause suffered with each death of a Palestinian at the hands of the Israelis. The violence only began to abate with the death of Yasser Arafat.

The same pattern is being repeated with the violence in Iraq. Whether it is the daily killings on the airport road in Baghdad or bodies pulled from the Tigris River the killings continue. And more and more it is Iraqis, not Americans, who are dying. And those doing the killing present themselves as Iraqi patriots - much as the supporters of Apartheid long claimed to be patriots of South Africa. But the reality is the opposite of their claims. The genuine and most dangerous enemies of the Palestinian people are the suicide bombers who have been blowing up Israelis. The genuine and most dangerous enemies of Israel are its own religious extremist who have been building settlements in the occupied territories and killing Palestinians in reprisals. The true enemy of the nation of South Africa was Apartheid and its supporters just as the true enemy of the Iraqi people today will be found in the Islamic extremist who murder in the name of God with the claim that those they kill are God’s enemies. And now we have the same kind of arguments being made in our own country.

Today Senator Frist is scheduled to participate in a broadcast featuring James Dobson with the claim that people who oppose certain judicial nominees are “against people of faith.” This broadcast, with the Orwellian title of “Justice Sunday”, is co-produced by Mr. Dobson and a man named Tony Perkins, a former state legislator and candidate for insurance commissioner from Louisiana. Mr. Perkins runs a group called the Family Research Council whose primary purpose, as near as I can discern, is the spreading of homophobic propaganda and opposition to medical efforts to combat AIDS. The so called “Justice Sunday” program is just the latest example of politicians aligning themselves so completely with the agenda of religious groups that it is impossible to differentiate the two. And that is not by accident. It happens with the express claim that politics and religion are one and the same. To oppose a person on a political issue is to attack that person’s religion. Any disagreement, therefore, becomes religious intolerance. It is an argument on par with those that deny the Holocaust. And the great irony, of course, is that such arguments are the greatest threat to Christianity in the history of our country.

America is not a Christian country. The truth of that statement is unchallengeable. Those who argue for that proposition simply pick and choose isolated statements and deeds while ignoring the ninety-nine percent of the historical record that unambiguously demonstrates America is not a Christian country. But most important of all is to understand why ours is not a Christian country and not a Christian government.

Those we call the founders of our country were almost uniformly Christian. And the ideals they cherished have theological roots - theological roots that come out of our own religious tradition. It is good to remember that the first democratic election on the North American continent took place in First Parish of Salem, Massachusetts, a church that is today one of our sister congregations. And Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom did not hesitate to invoke God as the source of our inalienable rights. But in the next phrase Jefferson said governments were instituted by men - today we would say people - to protect those rights. Jefferson proclaimed himself a Christian in the only true sense of the word - a true sense that James Dobson and Senator Frist would not recognize as Christian, but Jefferson’s words none the less. As Christians they wanted to ensure they would have the right to practice their religion pursuant to their conscience. They realized the best way to do that was to have a government that wasn’t a Christian government. They also recognized the danger of sectarian violence.

A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice . . . have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good.

. . .

The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source.

They realized that nothing was more certain to destroy the country than for one particular sect, one particular religion to degenerate into a political faction able to dominate the entire country. An essential purpose of our Constitution, of our entire form of government, was to prevent any sect or religious group from being able to claim that the country was created for their purpose. Madison realized that anyone making such a claim - James Dobson and company being modern day examples - were the greatest threat our country would ever face. And more to the point, those making such claims would be the greatest enemies of Christianity in particular and religion in general. If you doubt the later I direct your attention to Europe, a continent filled with magnificent and empty Cathedrals. The great Cathedrals of Europe are hundreds of years old. They sit mostly empty except for the occasional ceremonial event. There is no demand for the building of new cathedrals in Europe - or churches of any kind. But in America today, the America of separation of church and state, the America of judges and people that are supposed to be enemies of people of faith, religion flourishes and the building of churches is an industry unto itself. Strip away the rhetoric and look at the reality and you can see for yourself who the real enemies of people of faith are. America is not a Christian country, but it is the most religiously active country in the world. It is the most religiously active country in the world because of the separation of church and state, because we have judges who do not call James Dobson or Senator Bill Frist before making decisions. And we will continue to be a religiously active country - and I am sure overwhelmingly Christian - unless Senator Frist and James Dobson have their way.

There is of course, a delicious irony to the current controversy. Those who want to revise history and turn us into a Christian country are found of quoting all sorts of people out of context. But the one person they are careful to avoid quoting is the best known Palestinian peasant of all time.

‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’

Why aren’t James Dobson and Senator Frist quoting Jesus? Because if you look closely at Roman coins you will often find the words divi filius next to the image of the Emperor, divi filius being Latin for son of god. The Roman Emperors liked to think of themselves as sons of god and those who opposed them as the enemies of god. It was the perfect blending of religion and politics, the same kind of blending together beloved by James Dobson and Senator Frist. The same kind of perfect blending of politics and religion that led the Rev. Billy James Hargis to campaign for the impeachment of Earl Warren on the grounds he was a communist. The real reason, however, wasn’t Warren’s imaginary communism, it was his rulings against segregation and for civil rights - the unforgivable sin of the 1960’s. Read the rhetoric of the radical right from the 1960’s and you will find religious figures such as Billy James Hargis standing shoulder to shoulder with politicians such as Governor George Wallace against the evil of activist judges. Hargis, in his own words, complained of the "collapse of moral values" brought about by a "powerfully entrenched, anti-God Liberal Establishment." Does this sound familiar? It should, because James Dobson and company are the direct descendents of George Wallace and Billy James Hargis. The only difference is that today’s unforgivable sin is homosexuality. The current “collapse of moral values” in our country is being caused by Square Pants Bob. Thank goodness for people like James Dobson and Senator Frist who are here to protect us from such demons.

By proclaiming America a Christian country what they are actually doing is taking upon themselves the title of divi filius, they are deifying themselves and their political agenda so that anyone who disagrees with them becomes the enemy of God. And anyone who is the enemy of God is subject to the death penalty - which explains and justifies - according to their rhetoric - the recent murderous attacks on judges and their families. They are just getting what they deserve, because, to quote Tony Perkins, one of the organizers of “Justice Sunday”, judges pose "a greater threat to representative government" than "terrorist groups."

How serious are they about claiming the title of divi filius? If you go to the website of Tony Perkin’s Family Research Council you will see a picture of a young man holding a bible and a judicial gavel. The caption says, “We should not have to choose between public service and faith.” Our own coinage today says, “In God We Trust.” I think it’s time for someone to show those coins to people such as Mr. Dobson and remind them of the words of Jesus. I think they need to be reminded that to be a Christian means to be a follower of Jesus. The great enemy of Christianity in the fourth century was the Emperor Constantine who turned Christianity into the religious bureaucracy of the Roman Empire, ensuring that Christianity would never again question or challenge Rome. It was also an act that completed the transformation of Christianity from the religion of Jesus to the religion about

Jesus - a religion that made the actual words of Jesus an embarrassment. The great enemies of Christianity today are those such as James Dobson who want to turn it into the lap dog of our government, who want our judges to be hirelings who never question or challenge.

Thank God we are not a Christian country. But thank God we are a religious country, a country whose constitution was designed and crafted to ensure that government and religion are separate, separate so that religion could flourish with a diversity of sects - including room for those who don’t believe at all - to ensure no one particular group would be able to dominate and control and oppress our country as a whole, separate so that Judges can rule from their benches and religious leaders can stand in free pulpits and criticize our elected officials by name without fear of a lynch mob organized by the likes of Billy James Hargis, James Dobson or Tony Perkins.

Amen.