On Faith & Patriotism: A Message to the Church on the Fourth of July

July 3, 2012 By 6 Comments

As part of our conversation on the new book Reborn on the Fourth of July: The Challenge of Faith, Patriotism and Conscience by Logan Mehl-Laituri, we invited several prominent Christian thought-leaders to offer a message to the church on the Fourth of July. They considered: how should our faith inform our patriotism?

Here, author and  pastor Roger Wolsey reflects on the tensions between loving God, and loving Country.

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Check out more “Messages to the Church on the Fourth of July,” from Brian McLaren, Lisa Sharon Harper, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Callid Keefe-Perry.

What do you think:  What does it mean to love God and love Country?  How does your faith affect your patriotism?

 

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About Roger Wolsey

Roger Wolsey is an ordained United Methodist pastor and the author of "Kissing Fish: christianity for people who don’t like christianity" http://www.progressivechristianitybook.com

  • http://www.progressivechristianitybook.com Roger Wolsey

    On a related note, here’s a recent blog that I just discovered re: the appropriateness of national flags in Christian worship spaces: http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/2946/$globals-%3E%7Burl_base_members%7D/members/$globals-%3E%7Burl_base_members%7D/members/

  • Cynthia Beard

    Very thought-provoking. This is my theory, re: patriotism, violence, etc. Our nation’s psyche is almost inextricably bound to violence because of our violent birth and the violence that we as a nation participated in subsequently (i.e., slavery and the Civil War). We had to make a conscious, collective decision to turn away from violence, or we will continue to repeat cycles of destructiveness. Same is true with France from the French Revolution onward.

  • roger flyer

    Christian just war theory!?

  • http://www.progressivechristianitybook.com Roger Wolsey

    Roger Flyer, agreed, I’m not personally in favor of that rather Romanized development in Christian history. I personally feel that nonviolence is essential to following Christ — however, I wanted to convey a somewhat moderate voice in order to help more folks reconsider their commitments and allegiances to Church and State. In Pax Christi. – Roger

  • Pingback: Brian McLaren: A Message to the Church on the Fourth of July