No Wonder People Get Mad At Christians!

Did you ever have one of those epiphanies where once the light went on, you had a little more understanding and maybe compassion for someone you disagree with?  I had one of those while reading Robert Jewett’s book, Mission and Menace.  It is a fascinating journey through the history of the US and highlighting how religion, mainly Protestant Christianity, has shaped our country- and not always in a good way.  It is easy to read the book and think, “Oh those nutty Puritans, how could they really believe they were the New Israel?  Those silly Fundamentalists, how could they think the Scopes trial and their anti-intellectualism was a good idea?” 

I was reading along until I hit something that made me stop and think.  It is the fact that in the 1950’s “under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” was added to our currency.  In the 1950’s!  I guess I had thought that these two insertions of “God” into our American Culture had been there from the beginning.  I never questioned it.  Jewett argues these phrases were added to symbols of our national identity as “Declarations of faith…viewed as forms of piety that would guarantee victory in the Cold War.” (p. 256) “Under God” and “In God We Trust” became “in your face” statements to the atheistic communist nation states the US was in conflict with.  They were statements saying, “We believe in God and He is on our side.” 

Now that I know this, it is easier to understand why people protest these insertions of God into our American Culture.  I used to think, “Oh just leave them alone; the phrases are a part of our tradition.”  In actuality, they aren’t.  I now understand where the parents who don’t want their kids to say “under God” in the Pledge are coming from.  There is a bit of ridiculousness about it now.  And if I am offended at someone not wanting to pay homage to my God reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or in the design of our money, what does that say about me?  What do I think these elements really mean?  Am I giving in to the myth of American Exceptionalism?

Is having God’s name on our currency a good thing anyway?  I’ve heard in sermons that it is a reminder of who we should truly trust in rather than money, but part of me also feels it tarnishes the name of God.  Isn’t there something in me that thinks that because God’s name is on the dollar, he’ll bless it?  How Deutoronomic!  How Puritanic!  And I’m sure in 50 years or so somebody will be reading another book thinking, “Oh those crazy American Evangelicals, did they really think they were more chosen and blessed because they used God’s name on their money?”