Better Than That

When I wrote my first opinion piece for the Courier, I said we weren’t a Christian nation, as the Constitution may have been based on Biblical values, but it was not based on the life of Jesus Christ. Most of our Founding Fathers were Deists, meaning they did believe in God, but they did not believe in Jesus. They specifically did not want an established national religion, adamantly wanting every citizen to be able to believe and worship as they chose, and to not be punished for their choice of religion (or even no religion).

I received some feedback disputing this. Many people still insist that the United States is a Christian nation. I’m not seeing much evidence of this claim in the wake of of the terror acts recently committed in Paris and elsewhere. What I am seeing and hearing are very un-Christian attitudes. People here seem to want to deny a helping hand to the refugees who are desperately trying to escape war and persecution going on in their home countries. Our citizens are filled with fear and anger. They also want to fight back, not seeming to care if innocent people are killed along with the actual extremists. They don’t seem to be able to see any difference between the jihadist terrorist and the everyday Muslim seeking a safe place to live.

Now, I’m not the best Christian by any means. I have doubts. I’m flawed and sinful as well. But it seems to me that Jesus taught that the meek shall inherit the earth. He taught love thy neighbor as thyself. He taught do not kill. He taught that “even as you do to the least of these, so too do you do to me.” He taught turn the other cheek. He taught forgive seventy times seven. He taught the parable of the Good Samaritan.

The Bible teaches us that God so loved the world (not just the United States) that he sent his only son to save us all. The Bible also says he who is without sin may cast the first stone. The Bible says to not judge, and yet this Christian nation is doing a lot of judging.

I’m not willing to give up my constitutional rights out of fear. I’m certainly not willing to have our country brand an entire group of people a la Hitler’s branding of the Jewish people. I’m not willing to have our country decide which places of worship are allowed to remain open.

Have we learned nothing from history? Are we doomed to repeat that terrible chapter? I fear for all our souls if we go this route. I have always thought we were better than that.