How Christianity Can Heal the Nation

The cross here is higher than the flag:  The right relationship.

July 4th. A day we celebrate overthrowing the government and, of course, breaking all its laws in the process. The colonists basically broke into someone else's house and kicked them out. Or maybe it was their house all along. Confusing, isn't it?

That gets us off to a shaky start and erodes the moral credibility of our nation—but there is a way to make it right! I'll get to that in a sec. Before we can do that, the first step in overcoming sin is to admit it.

We should hold the following truths to be self-evident:

* Our nation was conceived by violently overthrowing the government and breaking all its laws.

* It was settled by the systematic method of ethnic cleansing of native people—a process which never fully ended.

* It was built by establishing the apartheid state of chattel slavery, the disparity maintained still by segregation and mass incarceration.

* America has been a haven for tired, poor and huddled masses of immigrants, who are thrilled at the opportunity but make every excuse in the book to close the door tightly to anyone after them.

* It's citizens celebrate freedoms at home but suppress freedoms and disrupt nations abroad.

So now I hear "we're a nation of laws." We are on pretty thin ice to make that claim, if you ask me.

I think that's why so many Americans are terrified that immigrants are going to "break in, invade the country and take it over." I hear that kind of rhetoric all the time. Those words seems to be on the paranoid fringe that don't match the on-the-ground reality of actual immigrants if you get to know them. 

So where is all this paranoia coming from??  It all makes sense when you understand the dynamics of karma. The Biblical way of saying this is "you reap what you sow." It's cause and effect. 

We're basically afraid that everyone else is going to do to us what we have done to them. Psychologists call this "projection."

You see this not just with immigration. Other examples: Remember all the paranoia surrounding how our first African-American president was supposedly going to "forcefully take away everyone's guns"? I also hear the same baseless fears today when people think that Muslim immigrants are going to "force their religion on us" and "establish Sharia Law in the U.S."

Remember, it was the white Americans who disarmed African Americans. It was Christian settlers who imposed Christianity on the land (and still continue to do that in the name of religious liberty).

We've done a poor job of owning up to any of this. We don't take responsibility for our actions. We don't repent, confess, make amends and offer restitution. We've done very little of any of that, and what we've done has always been the bare minimum, and on top of that we only do it while kicking and screaming through the whole process (see the Civil Rights movement for ample examples). Yet, repentance, confession, and restitution are the pathways to freedom. Only when we do that will we be free.  This is the truth that will set us free, if we accept it.

This is where Christianity can help the nation heal. It has language and tools found in few other place. It speaks of this dirty word called "sin." It calls us to seek truth and it tells us that the truth will set us free. It has a process of confession and renewal, through God's grace. It can help us see the light and repent. Other religions and faith traditions can also be a partner in this good work as they have insights and credibility to share along these lines, as well.

This is the true path to freedom.

This is the true path to freedom.