Fighting for the Soul of America

One year ago, our nation’s capital was besieged by a political rally that became violent as it unfolded.  I have lived in the Washington D.C. area most of my adult life and being a retired civil servant, I take great interest in the events involving the city and our nation’s capital.  When the political rally held on January 6, 2021 turned ugly, I watched in utter horror and disbelief at the explicit news coverage.  After prolonged viewing of all the various video recordings of the day’s events from many angles and perspectives, I was left with an observation regarding the people of faith.  There were several instances in which I could hear in the various videos expressions like “God sent us!”, “We are following God’s will!”, or “We are fighting for God’s leader!”.  At some angles or views, a cross that was being carried in the vicinity of the violence could be seen. In the above photo that was broadcast on MSNBC you can clearly see a sign on the capitol steps that day stating, “Jesus I trust in you.”  I am not suggesting this was a religious movement or that a significant number of folks on the mall that day were making a profession of faith in any way.  But I am certain that there were a few folks there that day that felt their actions were in line with and or justified by their faith to some degree.  This is hard to imagine except that all things considered the idea is not too far from the concept of burning a cross on someone’s lawn in the name of God.  In my opinion, for contradictions of faith like this to occur, first one would have to ignore the many scriptural references to submission to authority (i.e., Romans 13:1-3, 1 Peter 2:13-14).  Causing property damage to Federal buildings, hurting law enforcement personnel physically and causing the deaths of several individuals cannot be construed in any way as submission to authority.  So, the question is how does someone of faith get to a place or position that is so obviously opposed to the fundamentals of one’s faith?  I believe it is an issue of the integrity of one’s faith versus the compartmentalization of one’s faith.  Integrity of faith requires there be no divisions or gaps in our faith between our faith’s fundamental beliefs, the motives of our heart and our actions.  They all should be continuous, like an unbroken line.  Compartmentalization of our faith is when we manage our faith in isolated areas, separating our motives from our actions. 

The constitution of the United States guides the formulation of actions, procedures, and policies necessary to keep our democracy functioning as designed.  Like any complex organization, system or organism there are certain processes or support functions more critical than others.  If certain key functions are lost to our democracy, it becomes non-functional and no longer has the ability to govern as effectively as it did and in some extreme cases not at all.  Our democratic election process is one such process that is critical to the functioning of our democracy and is defined by our constitution.  Once this critical process is interrupted our country is no longer functioning according to our designed process by the constitution as a democracy, so the question then is what has our country become?  The simple answer is that at the instant when the constitutional election process is broken, we have changed from a democracy to an autocracy.  We have instantly changed from a balanced government consisting of an executive, legislative and judicial branch headed by an elected executive to a government with one person in charge and a legislative branch which lacks autonomy.  In that moment all the blood that has been shed over the years in the spirit of preserving our democratic way of life has been in vain.  Here is the point that I want to make as a former pastor in a faith community and a former federal government civil servant.  If our faith has directly or indirectly made us complicit in a crisis like this that causes the destruction of our democracy protected by the same constitution that protects our freedom of religion, then we have truly lost our way as a nation and a people of faith.

Some have characterized that our nation is in a battle for its soul. We often interchange the words heart and soul as to mean the center of ones being. In this case I believe the metaphor is referring to the center core of the democracy of our nation. What makes our way of governing distinct from all other nations of the world? It is the nature of our free and open elections of our leaders. Other nations have similar processes, but they are not free. They have controlled outcomes. The minute we interfere with our free election process with have lost control of our democracy. We have lost control of the heart and soul of our nation.

There are strong political forces in our nation that are driving the polarization of our faith communities.   While the results of this polarization seem beneficial to some it comes at great cost to people of faith.  To align ourselves in political actions with those who show no evidence of faith in their lives leads to the loss of our identity as a people of faith.  Scripture describes the people of faith as “salt and light”.  Those metaphors imply we of faith provide the seasoning to the distasteful areas of life and provide the ability to see in the dark recesses of confusion.  When we align ourselves with the dark and distasteful, we lose our identity.  We can no longer be distinguished from the people without faith.  Our faith is being offered as a sacrifice on the political altar of power and control.  I contend our faith is too meaningful and valuable to be offered up so cheaply. I believe that at the heart of the polarization of our faith is an identity problem and that our faith communities are in desperate need of a new identity.  In short, I believe faith communities can and should continue to honor and respect their distinction of beliefs, ceremony and perspectives from other faith communities.  But I believe for the most part the faith communities of today are devoid of an experiential faith. Experiential faith is at the intersection of the natural with the supernatural when the people of faith interact with the God of their faith.  In that environment hearts, minds and attitudes are changed.  Views take on different perspectives.  Priorities change.  I believe that experience of interacting with God is needed for our faith communities in order to break free from such influences as “polarization” that exist today.  I believe the future democracy of our nation depends on it. People of faith must rise up and act in that faith if our nation is to prevail as a democracy when this battle for its soul is over.

(For more information about assembling in faith and experiencing God see Part 4 of my writing “Evidence of Things Unseen”.)