Luke 12:49-59
July 18, 2010
‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
‘And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? Thus, when you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle the case, or you may be dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.’
Back in 2003 I had an experience in a local church that raised my hackles. In July of that year I took a short sabbatical to write part of my book, Becoming a Blessed Church. As I often do when I’m on vacation, or not at Calvin Church on a Sunday, I’ll visit another church, just to see what others do. That particular Sunday, the Sunday of the 4th of July weekend, I decided to visit a large, non-denominational evangelical church. The service was quite a production, with red, white, and blue everywhere. In the front of the church, which was set up like an auditorium, had a stage with a band, along with two large PowerPoint screens on the right and left of the stage. The screens had film clips of waving American flags, and every once in a while a picture of a bald eagle would replace the clip.
Everyone was welcomed to the service, and then we stood and started singing “America the Beautiful,” with some modifications. After each verse, the band would stop playing and an actor in period costume would walk to the front of the stage and talk to the audience. The first one was an actor dressed as Thomas Jefferson, then next one dressed as Abigail Adams, and a third one dressed as Ben Franklin. Each one pretty much said the same thing, with minor variations. Basically what they said was this, “When I helped found this country, I founded it in faith. I founded it on the words of the Bible. This is the Word I founded the country in. This is the Word I believe in. And this is the word I stake my life on.”
Listening to each person speak made me squirm. I wanted to shout out to all the people, “Listen, people, you aren’t sheep. What they’re telling you isn’t true! They’re manipulating you!” I was irritated. Does it seem somewhat odd and perhaps heretical that I would want to scream this. What’s wrong with what the actors said? Didn’t Jefferson, Adams (well,… John Adams; I’m not sure what role Abigail had), and Franklin found the country on the Christian faith, and wasn’t the Bible central to their lives? The answers? No, they didn’t,… at least not in the way suggested by these actors, and yes it was.
As the well-known U. S. Senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, once said, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.” This church was creating their own facts. Unfortunately, too few Americans today understand the faith of our Founding Fathers enough to know the difference between fact and opinion.
The fact is that the faith of the Founding Fathers was very much like that of the original colonists. They did not all share the same faith. In fact, they did not all share the same belief that they were Christian. Some didn’t really consider themselves Christian at all. Others saw themselves as Christians, but others as less than Christian. What makes it even more complicated is that many Founding Fathers adopted a faith that wasn’t completely Christian in the way we consider a faith to be Christian. And the funny thing today is that Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Ben Franklin, are often considered by modern evangelicals to be Christian, despite the fact that if these three were alive today, they would be considered heretics by those same evangelicals. Why? Because Thomas Jefferson, the Adamses, and Ben Franklin weren’t necessarily Christian. Let me share with you what they believed.
Thomas Jefferson’s Faith:
Jefferson was officially an Anglican, and when he worshiped, he worshiped in an Anglican church, but that doesn’t mean that he accepted Anglican beliefs. In fact, Jefferson’s theology and beliefs were much closer to Deist and Unitarian than to Christian. He did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, God incarnate, or the Messiah. Instead, he believed that Jesus was a great teacher of moral and philosophical truth. He believed that Jesus was the greatest teacher ever, but he did not believe in any of the miracles the gospels report. So Jefferson would not have believed in the virgin birth, the healings, feeding of the 5000, or the resurrection. The foundation of Jefferson’s belief was in the power of reason. He believed that true religion was one of reason rather than of revelation. That’s different from us. We believe that through Christ, and the writers of the Bible, God’s will and truth have been revealed. Jefferson believed that God’s will could only be reasoned out and that scripture was the work of flawed men who probably messed up God’s truth. As a result of his uncertainty about religion and its impact on reason, he founded the University of Virginia to be a college that was intentionally not affiliated with any church. If Jefferson were among us today, would we consider Jefferson to be a Christian?
Looking at how Jefferson treated the Bible, it’s hard to believe so. Jefferson struggled so much with the gospels, he decided to do something about it. He took several copies of the Bible, and using a razor blade, cut out every miracle story or part that he thought improbable. Then he rearranged them all so that they read in chronological order, creating one super-rational version of the Gospel. To get a sense of what this might of have done to the Bible, he took out whole segments, such as half of Mark 4, 6, 7, 8, as well as all of Mark 5 and 9. Is that the act of a Christian? I’m not pointing this out as a way of denigrating Jefferson. I think that he was one of the greatest men to ever live, and I do believe that in his own way he was a man of faith. I just don’t know that he was Christian, and if he wasn’t, can we say that he founded the nation as a Christian nation?
Benjamin Franklin’s Faith:
Like Jefferson, Franklin’s faith and belief were much closer to Deist and Unitarian than Christian, although he hid it better. Has raised as a Puritan, but later became an Anglican, despite rejecting most of Christian doctrine and belief, other than a belief in God and God’s providence. His theology and beliefs were much closer to Deist than to Christian, believing that God’s truths can be found entirely through nature and reason. He rarely disclosed his own personal beliefs, but when it came to Jesus he mainly saw him as a great moral teacher whose teachings had been corrupted by centuries of interpretation. He attended worship regularly at Christ Church in Philadelphia, but was reluctant to commit to any one religious view. According to John Adams, Franklin, ever the diplomat, was so good at hiding his own beliefs that Presbyterians thought he was one of them, Anglicans one of them, Congregationalists one of them, and Unitarians one of them. If he were with us today, would we consider Franklin to have been a Christian?
John Adams’ Faith:
Adams was raised as a Congregationalist, but later became Unitarian, rejecting most of Christian doctrine and belief, other than a belief in the essential goodness of God’s creation. His theology and beliefs were a combination of Deist and Unitarian. He tended to characterize it as a belief in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount.
He did not believe that God intervened in life, and he rejected the Trinity, but did believe in life after death. This is very different from what we Christians believe in. We believe that God does intervene in life, which is why we pray for healing and other concerns. And we believe in the Trinity, although I know that many of us struggle with that concept. Again, knowing what we know about Adams, can we say he was a Christian? In his case it’s easy to say that he answer is “no” because he was a Unitarian. Unitarians, while emerging out of the Christian faith, is not Christian faith.
So, getting back to our overall question, if we are going to say we are a Christian nation, are we sure the Founding Fathers were Christian? Certainly many of them were. In fact, a fair number were Presbyterian and Anglican pastors. But looking at the most influential, there’s a real question. Add in George Washington, who refused to take communion in worship, and James Madison (the principle writer of the U.S. constitution) who had strong Deist leanings, can we say that any of the most influential founding fathers were Christian as we define Christianity?
One thing also is clear. If you delve into their beliefs, they were clearly in favor of not making this a Christian nation. Many of the Founding Fathers had a deep, deep suspicion of the State and Church. Why? Because they knew that in Europe pastors were paid by the state when they served in state churches. And each country had a declared state religion. In England it was the Anglican Church. In Scotland the Presbyterian Church. In France, Italy, and Spain the Roman Catholic Church. In Norway and Sweden the Lutheran Church. And in these countries the state paid the salaries of pastors. So the Founding Fathers’ question was whether these pastors served the state or God. Also, they had seen how the establishment of one state religion led to the oppression of others, and they cherished the American colonial experiment of free exercise of religion. They believed in this idea so much that the very first amendment to the U. S. Constitution was a very simple, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” You see what their very first concern was? It was that the government should not establish a religion, or get in the way of people’s freedom of religion.
So, now that I spoke last week about the colonists’ faith and today about the Founding Fathers’ faith, what do I believe? While I am a Christian, and while I believe that life without faith and God becomes increasingly selfish and hollow, I also recognize that a true faith only comes with a choice, not compulsion. To declare our country to be a Christian nation, and to enforce it with some sort of governmental backing, would actually lead away from what we really want. You see, true faith only forms when it is done through free choice. Having the state enforce religion doesn’t lead to free faith chosen by choice. It actually has the effect of pushing people away from religion and faith by pushing them to do what they don’t want to do. For instance, growing up I went to a private elementary school where psalm reading, hymn singing, and prayer were part of our every morning assembly. I hated it. It started the process of turning me off to religion that culminated in my leaving the church at age fifteen. For some reason, going to church as a child didn’t have the same impact. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that I knew that it was the appropriate place for prayer.
My point is that when we talk about things like putting prayer into our schools, be careful what we wish for. We are asking the government to enforce what we are called to do. It doesn’t necessarily lead to free choice of religion. One of the things we do at Calvin Church is to teach prayer, scripture, and the practice of faith, but we do it in a way that we hope leads to a mature, free choice when teens become adults. Sometimes it doesn’t, which is sad. But we recognize that people are free to reject what we offer. For good or for bad, we don’t run after people who reject the church, mainly because we want this to be a place of choice, not a place that has to convince people to be here.
Think of your own faith. What have you believed because it was forced on you? I’m not just talking about religious beliefs. I’m talking about political or any other kinds of beliefs. Do you believe what you believe because someone, especially the government, said that you must do or believe this? Again, this is my problem with both the topics of school prayer and Ten Commandments in courthouses. I believe that if we are asking the government to step in and intervene on our behalf, we’ve become lazy. I am very much like the Founding Fathers. I don’t want the state enforcing my faith. I’m wary of it because I don’t think they’d do a good job of it. I think we’re better at it.
Also, if schools did enforce school prayer, who would be leading it? What kind of Christian prayer would it be? Would it be an evangelical one emphasizing who is saved and who isn’t? A Roman Catholic one, praying for the pope and the area bishops? Would it be a Pentecostal one, asking God to give everyone the gift of tongues? Would it be a Presbyterian one? Would it be a Mormon one? Or would it be a Deist, Unitarian one? Not all Christianity is alike, so which Christian prayer would it be?
Also, when I hear people say that we are a Christian nation I get nervous because I know historically what happens when governments establish and support particular religions. I look at the state of religion in Europe, and it is abysmal. Something like 30% of all Americans go to church on Sunday mornings. Not a great percentage, until you compare it to Europe, where between 3% and 5% go to church on Sunday mornings. That’s the impact of state religions. Back in 1996 Diane and I visited Scotland. While sitting in a pub attached to the inn we were staying in, I had a conversation with a man stopping by for a drink after work. Eventually he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was a Presbyterian pastor. He pushed back slowly and cocked his head. Then said, “I don’t think I’ve ever met a pastor before. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve met anyone who’s gone to church before.” Surprised, I asked him, “Don’t people go to church here?” He said, “I’m not sure, but I don’t know of anyone. I’ve only seen the insides of churches on television, myself. I’ve never been in one.”
I believe that the U.S. is the most religious nation in the world because of our freedom. But take away that freedom and would we be that religious?
With all this said, I don’t want to leave the impression that I therefore believe that religion and faith should be kept out of politics and government. While I don’t believe that the state should establish religion, I do believe that religious thought should absolutely be part of our political establishment. This is the second half of the First Amendment. I don’t want the state to establish religion, but I do absolutely want the free exercise of religion (including atheism, which is a religion, since it is a practice regarding the place of God and religion in life) in all spheres of American life, including politics. This is very much in keeping with the Founding Fathers’ beliefs. They may not all have been Christian, but they were all religious, and they brought their beliefs, practices, and faith into the public sphere. Jefferson may have been a Deist, but those Deist beliefs shaped the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and his presidency. Who knows what Washington was, but he brought his faith into his command of the American Army. Madison was officially an Anglican, who was trained under the Presbyterian John Witherspoon at Princeton. You may not know this, but part of the model for the U. S. government is based on the Presbyterian system of checks and balances. We always balance laity and clergy in our church, both locally and at higher levels. We have equal levels of clergy and elders at higher levels of government of our church, and in times of dispute all clergy (and elders, when applicable) are guaranteed a fair jury trial. In the U.S. government the president is checked and balanced by Congress and the judiciary in much the same way.
Ultimately, I believe that we are not a Christian nation, but we are a nation of Christians, living in a country that was founded on Christian ideals. This country is richer when our Christian faith is brought into our governing, and poorer when people try to bring government into our faith. I am very much like the Founding Fathers.
Each of us is free to believe that we are a Christian nation, but I think we have to be careful about getting what we wish for; because the Christianity we might get in our nation may not be the Christianity we believe in.
Amen.
