B184. The Last Fourth of July?

Yesterday I saw a man sitting outside the post office, carrying a large wooden cross that was draped in a flag. This is "Christian Nationalism," a dangerous political wolf disguised in church sheep clothing. We can love our faith, and we can love our nation, but when we allow the two to become one, we invoke the destruction of them both.

248 years ago today, the 13 American colonies declared themselves a separate nation independent from the British Empire. My dear friends and family, if we do not wake up from our in-fighting and work together to save the Republic we love, it might never reach its 250th birthday. Our nation has never been at such a dangerous point.

We must listen to each other, really listen, especially to those outside our chosen boxes (church organization, political party, news sources, etc). We must acknowledge that none of us understands all that's happening. We must realize that Christian Nationalism is our common enemy and has orchestrated for its own power our animosity toward each other.

Hard truths: The extremist political machine we call Christian Nationalism has successfully taken control of evangelical Christianity, a strategy it began in the 1970s, and in more recent years the Republican Party. The evangelical church now makes up 1/3 of the now Christian Nationalist controlled Republican party and is being used by it. "Christian Nationalism" is politics. It is not Christianity. Neither the Republican Party nor the Evangelical Church resembles the party or church I knew in my youth. It grieves my soul.

We are distracted now by Biden's age. It is an intentional distraction, one of many. If Biden is unable to fulfill his duties, he will be replaced, and our democratic republic will go on. We will continue to celebrate our nation's birthday every 4th of July, and we will continue to hold elections in which we all can have a voice. This is not what Christian Nationalism plans for our nation.

We have 4 months to come together to save this country we love. 4 months and 2 days will be too late. This July 4, remember January 6. Remember the Holocaust. Remember school and church shootings. Remember the pledge of allegiance, the patriotic songs we love, and the pride of our shared rights and freedoms. Remember the Jesus of the Gospels. Remember when we, you and I, did not think of each other as enemies but as friends, as cousins, as siblings. This July 4, we must come together, focusing not on two men, but on one democratic republic, one nation indivisible, for the loss of that nation is the very real threat to us all.