What is a Christian nation?

The debate goes on ad infinitum – is the United States a Christian nation?  A brief note in the May 19 issue of The Christian Century quotes Brian McLaren who wonders when it was the U.S. was a Christian nation.

“Was it when Americans wantonly killed native peoples, taking their lands and breaking promises to them?  Was it during the era of slavery or segregation, which were justified on biblical grounds?  Was it when the U.S. dropped the first nuclear bombs on civilian populations?  Or was it when the nation plundered the environment and turned a blind eye to torture?  Was it earlier this week when I turned on the TV or radio and heard people scape-goating immigrants and gay people and Muslims?”

 Perhaps the fact that more and more people raise these questions today is an indication that, despite the dwindling numbers, those who do confess the faith are more serious and intentional about it.  Could it be that we are more “Christian” as a nation today, not because we open the school day with prayer and a Bible reading; not because the majority of us attend weekly worship; not because a copy of the Ten Commands is posted on public buildings, but because more and more Christians understand that more important than rituals is the way we care for each other, and especially the “least of these.”  (See Matthew 25)

 The Constitution won’t allow us to be a “Christian nation” in a sectarian way, but there is nothing to prevent us from trying to “do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.”  (Micah 6:8)   It excites me that I find more Christians reflecting such concerns than when I first began my ministry.  My excitement is short-lived, however, having just read the report that “the religiously unaffiliated are the least likely (40 percent) to support torture, but the more you attend church, the more likely you are to condone it.  Among racial / religious groups, white evangelical Protestants were far and away the most likely (62 percent) to support inflicting pain as a tool of interrogation.”   (Leonard Pitts, Jr., The Miami Herald , May 6, 2009).  That’s my group.  Ugh!

 Speaking for myself, instead of saying “I am a Christian,” I prefer to say that I’m trying to become Christian.  It’s a journey, one on which some days we take two baby steps forward only to be followed by days when we take three giant steps backward.  As they say on the Fidelity Investment Group's commercials -- keep going, but STAY ON THE LINE.