Reflections on Being American and Being Content
July 4th has just passed, and it has me in the spirit of thinking about America. I love July 4th and the celebration of Independence Day. I love being an American, and I am thankful that my ancestors left their native lands to come here. America is not a perfect country, but it sure is a blessing to live here.
With access to constant social media and a 24-hour news cycle telling us all of the “bad” that is happening, it can be easy to forget that the place we live is actually pretty darn spectacular.
I always have a ton on my mind when it comes to American politics and history. In this post, I want to reflect on some things that I think are worth remembering when it comes to America: reasons to be proud of our (imperfect) American heritage and why Americans can be proud to be Americans.
Note: For my non-American readers, there is stuff in here for you, too!
1. America’s Christian Heritage
America is, without a doubt, a nation founded on a Christian understanding of reality. The overwhelming majority of our founders were themselves Christians or friendly deists. They understood the importance of Christian moral norms and obligations as a foundation for society. They understood that a culture must have a shared religion in order to give it shared values.
Unlike many nations, which come about organically based on common location and genetic heritage, America was founded upon philosophical ideals and an intellectual heritage. If you understood the Great Tradition or were willing to follow those who did, you could find yourself a place in the American Experiment.
Throughout most of world history, it was assumed that only the elite could rule. The American Experiment was an attempt to allow the average person to have a say in governing themselves and to participate in governing the country. In one sense, the American Experiment was an attempt to give people the freedom to “do as they ought to do.” This move toward common governance was, in many ways, drawn from the Christian notion of the “Image of God;” people were all made in God’s image, and thus had equal capacity to rule. Further, all people are sinners and thus all need a structure to keep their sins in check. No one was ontologically excluded from governing, and no one was above reproach because of Original Sin.
Historian Miles Smith points out that this sort of system works because, by and large, the people of America shared Christian presuppositions about the world. Beliefs about right and wrong were generally a shared experience among Americans; their shared Christianity, even if muddled by denominationalism, gave a shared foundation for determining law and social behavior.
Now, lest someone think I am merely anachronistically importing my own religion into the fabric of American history, I encourage you read the 1892 supreme court case Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States. This case notes that America was started as a nation based on a Christian understanding of reality. This understanding reflected a certain openness to denominations and allowed for disagreement, but the foundational thread was decisively Christian.
As such, unlike nations that adopted Christianity, America was conceived as a fundamentally Christian nation, and that is something to rejoice in. Our prayer today should be that we, as a society, return to our Christian roots.
(Note: I am not advocating for so-called “Christian Nationalism.” This is not because I agree or disagree with the use of the term but, as Miles Smith notes, the term has no agreed upon definition, and usually functions as a political sounding board rather than any kind of substantive position. Let my statements above stand for themselves.)
2. Contentment and The Jeremiah 29 Principle
Another reason to be grateful for America is that God has placed us in America. Whether or not you feel particularly proud of America’s heritage, if you are American, you should desire the flourishing of America. God, who ordains all events in all of history, has placed us all in this nation for his purposes. At the bare minimum, we should be grateful that God, in his goodness, has placed us here.
The Bible also gives us a pretty good standard for understanding our relation to the place God has put us. In Jeremiah 29, God is speaking to the Israelite people who have been exiled to Babylon. Rather than telling the people of Israel to resist Babylon or to despair over the loss of their home, in this chapter, God tells them to pray for Babylon’s flourishing. God tells the people to build houses, plant crops, and ask for the LORD’s blessing on the land…and all of this in the land of Israel’s enemies.
In other words, God tells the people of Israel to pray for the flourishing of the place they are in, even if they don’t want to be there. Why? Because God has placed them there! If Israel was meant to pray for the flourishing of the place they were exiled to, how much more should we pray for the place we were born to?
Whether you think America is the greatest place on Earth, you think it is going to hell in a handbasket, or something in between, the most important thing to remember is to be content in being here. God, in his great wisdom, has placed you in this place at this time. Following the Jeremiah 29 principle, this means that you should pray for America, its leaders, and its people to flourish. Make this place your home and invest in the community. Pray that it will follow the way of Jesus and submit to his rule and reign. Be joyous, content, and grateful that God has placed you in this place.
I certainly don’t think that America is perfect, but I do think it is a pretty good place to live. I am glad the Lord has placed me here. Even when I find myself disagreeing with my political leaders (which happens often) I pray the Lord help me be content in this place and that my homeland would flourish.
Let us be grateful that God has placed us in a home with Christian roots. Let us pray that our nation would turn to the Lord and that it would flourish.
Additional Reading:
Religion and Republic by Miles Smith
Absolutely 💯 on point 👉