I was always proud to be American.<\/p>\n
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Not in the strange dogmatic way some Christians have become proud of being American. Those Christians seem to think Jesus and the American flag are one and the same. That God has specifically blessed our country because God prefers our country to others. I do think we are particularly blessed to live in this country, but I\u2019m pretty\u00a0sure it\u2019s not a matter of God\u2019s preference for the United States. Or for me, for that matter.<\/p>\n
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On the other hand, many followers of Jesus say I should have no allegiance; that I should not pledge to the flag or protect its boundaries, and I\u2019m not sure I buy that either. If America is anything to God, my guess is it\u2019s a beloved \u2014 if very broken \u2014 freedom experiment. A place where\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n At least ideologically speaking. You know. In our heads, that\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n We are not just permitted, but expected, as Americans, to stand up for injustice. To do so, then, is simply to practice good stewardship of the beautiful bounty we\u2019ve been given, having been placed here in this land.\u00a0This is why I don\u2019t support flag burners. Not here in the States, anyway. I admit to a visceral reaction when I see people burning the flag, and I know that this is probably conditioned. But my intellect rebels against this act, too. You see, I am a result-oriented kind of person, and I think flag burning is just a stupid waste of time and energy.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I mean, here you are, in an incredibly free country in which you have the right AND the responsibility to speak out about what you see is wrong. Anyone can go and start a PAC or a non-profit group to right a wrong, with a little work, maybe a good lawyer and some discomfort. One of the special things about our country is if you don\u2019t like something, you are empowered to change it. Flag burning, by contrast, seems lazy. At the very least, you could spend that time visiting a senator\u2019s office or feeding a hungry person.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And this is why I\u2019ve always been proud to be American, why I have felt a tug in my heart whenever I imagined amber waves and purple majesties. Our sense of self, at its core, has usually leaned toward good.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, we have always been broken. Our goodness often leans more toward white American Christians than anyone else. We have had our share of atrocities and I do not intend to minimize them. Indeed, I try to use my voice to highlight them. From our Native tribes, to the African people we kidnapped, murdered, tortured, enslaved, and currently kill or imprison at an alarming rate, to the way we have objectified and legislated women\u2019s bodies, to any of the other injustices we have perpetuated, we carry shame. There are some tarnished\u00a0stars on that flag draped around our shoulders, to be sure.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But the thing that makes me proud to be American is that always, somewhere, you could find a blessed resistance to evil. Somewhere there were always people doing good, and we had the words of our founding documents to back us up. Even if our founding fathers did not practice what they preached back when they wrote those words, they had the basic principles right, and progressives could use them to win the battles of social justice as the years wore on.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There have always been a few scrappy Americans willing to point out where we\u2019re messing it up. And that\u2019s what makes American great, even when we are broken.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\nprimarily white males<\/del>\u00a0people can truly utilize every ounce of potential that God placed in them. Where we could work out grace by being different together. Where we could live out the freedom to praise and worship our God as we see fit, and let others do the same.<\/p>\n