Who Is The God In Whom We Americans Trust?

As  noted yesterday, I do not plan to participate in any so-called ecumenical National Day of Prayer tomorrow, regardless of where it is located. That's not because I'm unpatriotic or do not believe in prayer. It has to do with more basic beliefs.

We Americans have our own unique religion. That was recognized and lifted up by Robert Bellah's essay, "Civil Religion in America," published in the Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in the winter of 1967. Bellah starts,

While some have argued that Christianity is the national faith, and others that church and synagogue celebrate only the generalized religion of "the American Way of Life," few have realized that there actually exists alongside of and rather clearly differentiated from the churches an elaborate and well-institutionalized civil religion in America. This article argues not only that there is such a thing, but also that this religion—or perhaps better, this religious dimension—has its own seriousness and integrity and requires the same care in understanding that any other religion does.[i]

Writing against the background of President Kennedy's Inaugural address of January 20, 1961, Bellah continues,

It might be countered that the very way in which Kennedy made his references (to God) reveals the essentially vestigial place of religion today. He did not refer to any religion in particular. He did not refer to Jesus Christ, or to Moses, or to the Christian church; certainly he did not refer to the Catholic church. In fact, his only reference was to the concept of God, a word that almost all Americans can accept but that means so many different things to so many different people that it is almost an empty sign. Is this not just another indication that in America religion is considered vaguely to be a good thing, but that people care so little about it that it has lost any content whatever? Isn't Dwight Eisenhower reported to have said "Our government makes no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith-and I don't care what it is,"[ii] and isn't that a complete negation of any real religion?

Bellah goes on to quote from Benjamin Franklin's autobiography and George Washington's Farewell Address to point out that religion, particularly the idea of God, played a constitutive role in the thought of the early American statesmen. Then he continues,

What we have, then, from the earliest years of the republic is a collection of beliefs, symbols, and rituals with respect to sacred things and institutionalized in a collectivity. This religion—there seems no other word for it—while not antithetical to and indeed sharing much in common with Christianity, was neither sectarian nor in any specific sense Christian. At a time when the society was overwhelmingly Christian, it seems unlikely that this lack of Christian reference was meant to spare the feelings of the tiny non-Christian minority. Rather, the civil religion expressed what those who set the precedents felt was appropriate under the circumstances. It reflected their private as well as public views. . .  

. . . But the civil religion was not, in the minds of Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, or other leaders, with the exception of a few radicals like Tom Paine, ever felt to be a substitute for Christianity. There was an implicit but quite clear division of function between the civil religion and Christianity.

Read the essay yourself. I think Bellah is correct. We Americans do have a "civil religion" with some fundamental beliefs about us being God's chosen nation with a destiny to preserve and spread democracy in the world. Our president is almost our national high priest whose duty it is to call us as a nation to pray to "God" at least once a year. Further, we believe that "all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights" and have a right to equal protection under our laws. We sing "God bless America," and close our political speeches with that same phrase. We even put the phrase "In God we trust" on our money.

But who is this God in whom we trust? 

My allegiance is to but one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And when I pray I am guided by these words of my God, my Savior and my Lord,

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - Jhn 14:6 ESV

How then can I pray to some other God or gods or join in with those who reject my Lord and God? I shall pray for my nation. I do pray for my nation, but I will not pray to any other god than the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, regardless of what law is passed!

In Whose God Do We Trust?

I am continuing my reflections upon civil religion and how a Christian is to bear witness to his or her faith in a multi-cultural nation like the United States. Here we have no state supported or government controlled religion or church. This is forbidden by our Constitution. We are a religiously diversified nation—and by law intend to remain so. To define a church and other religious entities some of the IRS guidelines consider whether or not an institution has:

• a distinct legal existence and religious history,
• a recognized creed and form of worship,
• established places of worship
• a regular congregation and regular religious services, and
• an organization of ordained ministers

By no means does that define what is the church in terms of the Bible. Drawing upon the Scriptures Article VII of the Augsburg Confession defines the church like this: 

The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.    (See also The Apology, Articles VII and VIII)                          

Massachusetts Halfpenny 1787 

So we have two distinct definitions of church, one from the so-called Kingdom of God's left hand (the state or government) and one from the Kingdom of God's right hand (the Church). Under the first definition above a wide variety of organizations worshipping any number of gods may be called church—and are in the U.S.A. These churches include Muslims who worship the god Allah, Sikhs who vaguely call their god "Vaheguru" (Wonderful Master), Jehovah's Witnesses who deny the Trinity and Scientology with no set dogma of god. There are many others.

So in this nation with the motto "In God We Trust," we are forced to ask quite simply, In whose god do we trust? The god worshipped by some majority, by some minority group or does it even matter? Given this pluralistic situation we return to my closing sentence from yesterday's blog:

However, there are times and contexts outside the fellowship of believers when public prayer may not be appropriate.

We who worship Jesus Christ as very God of very God and Son of God, affirm that

. . . there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12 ESV

The basic guideline for all Christians therefore is that we are at all times to bear witness in word and deed to this Good News, this Gospel. We are not saved, will not be saved by Allah, Jehovah, Vaheguru or some unknown Higher Being. We cannot, we dare not and we will not compromise therefore on this issue. And we will refuse to suggest—even in our public prayers—that these other gods may or should be the object of our prayer. In that sense we are in the same position as were believers in the early church who were persecuted and murdered because they could not compromise by suggesting that Jesus was but one of a pantheon of many gods. Nor will we worship with any group of Christians whose public teachings compromise on the Gospel and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

With these principles to guide, each Christian and each Christian pastor must prayerfully ask himself if he is truly bearing witness to Jesus Christ and the Triune God by his prayers, his words and his actions.

Making The Good Confession

This week we're considering American civil religion , a phrase coined to describe the unique role that religion plays in America. The question before us is how does a committed Christian bear witness to his faith in that pluralistic context, how does he make the good confession?

The Apostle Paul writes the following words to young pastor Timothy about his calling to bear witness to his faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as his one and only Savior.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . - 1Tim 6:12-14 ESV

Note the phrase the good confession used twice by the Apostle. What is that? Paul explains what he means by referring to the Apostle John's record of what happened when Jesus was tried by Pontius Pilate, Prefect of the Roman province of Judea, after the Jews accused Jesus of doing evil by claiming to be the Jewish Messiah, i.e. king of the Jews (John 18-19). Pilate told them to make their own judgments. He didn't want to be involved. However, they said Jesus deserved to die because of his claims. Since Roman law forbad them from carrying out capital punishment, they wanted Pilate to do it. This led Pilate to call Jesus to stand for a trial before him.

So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 

Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”   

Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”   

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” 

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him." - John 18:33-38 ESV

Jesus openly accepted the title of 'king' before Pilate. This was why he was born. This was why he came into the world. But—and this is critical—his kingdom was not of this world. Here we come smack up against the Jesus' teaching of the two kingdoms. I wrote in detail about this in a series of blogs last August:

• Let Us Start To Talk About The Two Kingdoms 
• The Authority Of Secular Government
• Thank God For Good Government

As noted, Jesus was a king, but not a worldly king. However, Pilate was, with authority ultimately derived from above, from God (John 19:11). Jesus teaches that good governments must be respected. Good governments are God's gifts to preserve order and justice in a world that is ultimately under the rule of Satan, the god of this world (John 12:31,14:30; 2 Cor. 4:4).

Pilate at that moment represented such a government of law and order. The Jewish Sanhedrin on the other hand was operating contrary to its own nation's laws. The members of that worldly government—for that is what it was—were driven by greed, a desire for personal power, wealth and hate. As such Jesus' servants would be within their rights to resist that government's decisions, even with force if necessary.

So we come again to the question of how does a Christian make the good confession in a two-kingdoms world, a world that defies and despises Christ? Christ's followers are ever to bear witness to their faith in Jesus, the Christ, just as Jesus told his disciples after his resurrection.

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. - Luk 24:45-48 ESV

The Apostle Peter encourages us in the same way.

. . . in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, - 1Pe 3:15 ESV

But how do we do that in a pluralistic country like the United States where believers and unbelievers are mixed? Certainly we believers are prepared to work hand in hand with unbelievers to maintain the good and oppose moral evils such as drug abuse, abortion, euthanasia, pornography, child abuse and many other deviant sexual behaviors. There is, after all, such a thing as "civil righteousness," based upon the natural knowledge of God that comes through conscience and human reason. Civil righteousness recognizes the importance of obeying parents and rulers, honoring marriage, protecting all from harm and murder, and punishing those who steal and rob. We Christians join with unbelievers to promote and sustain such righteous acts.

Further we offer prayer for the well being of all, for our rulers and legislators, police and armed forces and all in authority. We even pray for our enemies. And we pray outside the context of the fellowship of believers. As we pray, we make it plain that we pray to the one true God. We confess openly that there is none other even as we pray.

However, there are times and contexts outside the fellowship of believers when public prayer may not be appropriate. More about that next time.

American Civil Religion—A Critical Examination

The religious diversity of America was obvious in the many gatherings connected with the  recent presidential inauguration weekend. Those events offered the world another example of America's civil religion. Wikipedia defines American civil religion  in this way:

American civil religion is a sociological theory that there exists a religion of the United States, a nonsectarian faith that has as its sacred symbols those of the polity and national history. Scholars have portrayed it as a cohesive force, a common set of values that foster social and cultural integration. . . . There is a viewpoint that some Americans have come to see the document of the United States Constitution, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights as being a cornerstone of a type of civic or civil religion.

A huge controversy arose within the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod over the practice of civil religion in the  9/11 Yankee Stadium worship service led by Oprah Winfrey. The controversy was taken up by many in the national media. The NY Times commented on the it under the heading: "Interfaith Is No Faith." The Rev. Charles Henrickson of St. Louis was quoted as saying,

"The gospel is not served, it is not confessed—indeed, the gospel is eviscerated—when Jesus Christ is presented as one of many options from which to choose on a smorgasbord of spirituality."

Did the Missouri Synod clergyman have a valid point? What does the Bible have to say about the question of civil religion, a question that continues to surface again and again in events like President Obama's recent inauguration. Mollie Ziegler was the writer of the NY Times article. She usually reports on the music industry from Washington. She is also a lay member of the Missouri Synod. The Rev. David Benke, president of the Missouri Synod's Atlantic District, took part in the 9/11 Prayer Service at Yankee Stadium. He was censured by the Synod for his actions. In defense of the Synod's censure, Ms. Ziegler wrote, 

Such renegade behavior runs against the grain of the Missouri Synod, whose system of belief is firmly grounded in Scripture and an intellectually rigorous theology. Preserving its doctrine is a key aspect of the faith. The synod was founded, as it happens, by German immigrants fighting ecumenicalism. In the early 19th century, the king of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm II, ordered Lutherans to pray and worship with Calvinists, as one. It was a popular edict among his subjects, swept up in patriotic feeling after the allied victory at Waterloo. But the church of Luther was unwilling to compromise its beliefs, even if those who resisted the edict faced persecution, including imprisonment. Lutherans emigrated to Australia, New York and Missouri.

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod's Commission on Theology and Church relations has published a white paper, Guidelines for Participation in Civic Events. In the next couple blogs I want to summarize that paper and offer a few of my own comments on the practice of civil religion. You may want to read the entire document yourself.