Apparently President Obama has cancelled the National Day of Prayer. Christians everywhere are up in arms over this oppression. Allow me to throw in my two cents: I'm glad he cancelled it.
In the past few years, the National Day of Prayer has been reduced to symbolic deism. Official events (i.e. the National Day of Prayer Breakfast) have not been conducted in the name of Jesus Christ, in fact, prayers offered on the National Day of Prayer are not directed to Jesus at all. For fear of rejecting another faith or giving offense, prayers are offered up to an ambiguous, unnamed heavenly deity. Since that is the case, I support the cancellation of an event that is no longer about the Christian God.
My second reason for supporting this move by President Obama is that America is not a Christian nation, and anyone who still believes this nonsense is fooling themselves. Nothing about the way we operate as a nation (whether our economic system, our foreign policy, or the nuclear weapons we maintain) is characteristic of Christian love. Since that is the case, I am happy to further the distance between our nation and the triune God. The more separated church and state become, the better our Christian witness (as the Church, not as a nation) can be. I want my faith to reflect my God, not my nation. I want my life to be a testament to the grace of God, apart from the actions and policies of the country I live in.
Don't misunderstand me: it is right to pray for our nation, for our leaders, for our national authority. It is also appropriate to plead to God for forgiveness for the ways this nation has taken advantage of our position and power in the world. Despite the cancellation of the National Day of Prayer, I do encourage my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for this nation. Pray to the one true God, pray for President Obama, pray for blessing and forgiveness, but don't pray your prayers in the name of the state. Pray because you are a Christian and you believe that God is sovereign over all nations. Pray that Obama's administration would allow the Church to act like the Church apart from the state's power and authority.
My patriotism is subservient to my relationship with Jesus Christ. Always.
EDIT: President Obama has not cancelled the event, simply scaled back the government's participation in it. My feelings on the topic stand unchanged.
1 comment:
AMEN!! You have clearly articulated my feelings exactly. I used to get defensive when people said the US wasn't a Christian nation. But God does not need the backing of the United States to be powerful. And the United States, while founded on some biblical principles and some Christian people, is not God's favorite country. Americans are not God's chosen people. The hard part in this for me is thinking about this in terms of voting. If America is not a Christian nation, can it still enforce Christian morals? This is a crisis, because our founding fathers did have a biblical basis for many of their laws and ideals. Now, what foundation can our country stand on? America needs Jesus... but Jesus does not need America.
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