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Office Hours: God and Country, Part 1 of 2
People say that America was founded on Christian principles. But were the founding fathers actually Christians? And even if they were, what about today's culture? Many people claim to be Christians, but their faith is pieced together and not necessarily based on the Bible. How should we talk about this important issue with those around us? Professor Theophilus dives in.
Like all Office Hours dialogues, the following conversation is fictional, but the idea was suggested by fragments of real conversation as well as an actual letter from an Office Hours reader.
"Hi, Professor T."
I glanced up. "Hello, Peter. I see that you're wearing your Koheleth expression this morning."
"What's Koheleth?" He plopped into a chair.
"Not what, who. It means 'The Teacher' or 'The Preacher.' A title given to the fellow who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes."
"The one who talked so much about weariness and vexation of spirit?"
"That's him."
"I didn't know I had a look, but that's a pretty good description of my mood."
"What are you weary and vexed about?"
"I think I'm caught in the middle. Can I tell you about it?"
"Sure."
"Some of my Christian friends say America is a Christian nation. And they think that's a good thing. OK?"
"I'm listening."
"When I said something about the country's Christian past to Professor Thanatos, he almost foamed at the mouth. He said America was a product of the Enlightenment, not Christianity. The Enlightenment wasn't about faith but about naked reason. His phrase. And he debunked all the Christian-sounding lines from the Founders that my friends are always quoting at me."
"Yes, that's Professor Thanatos. Go on."
"Then yesterday, the subject came up with some different friends. One guy — he's from overseas — said he thinks America is a Christian nation. But he thought that counted against Christianity!"
"Did he say why?"
"Yes. I thought he'd complain about 'neo-colonialism' or something, but he's not a left-winger. What he meant was that the morals of Americans are sleazy and debauched. Just look at all the porn, he said."
"So what do you think?"
"Well, this is where the weariness and vexation come in."
"You're not answering me, Peter."
He burst out, "Why should any Christian support America? And how can one possibly state that America is a Christian nation?"
"Would you like to elaborate?"
"Well, look. I can think of only three ways to justify the notion that a country is Christian: The beliefs behind its political system, its national identity, or its demographics. Should I talk about them one by one?"
"Sure. Begin with political beliefs."
"OK. The fact is that our system is agnostic. On purpose. We leave it up to the individual what to believe about religion or philosophy. We even think that's one of the strengths of democracy. And democracy is nihilistic. It doesn't matter what you believe — if you can get the votes, you win, and that's that. Now that I think about it, maybe the system isn't agnostic. Maybe its based on idolatry. We have a god all right, but its a false god — the majority. What do you think, Prof?"
"Tell me about the other two ways first."
"Yeah, OK. The second was national identity. I didn't buy everything Professor Thanatos said, see? Sure, not all of the Founders were Christians. Jefferson believed in God but not in revelation, and there's a pretty good chance that by the end of his life he didn't believe in God either. Or take Benjamin Franklin. Yeah, he believed in a god. He believed every solar system had its own god. But that kind of god isn't God, if you know what I mean. Weird. Still, it's just as obvious to me that a lot of the Founders were Christians, or anyway that they thought they were, and that most of them did think America is a Christian nation."
"It sounds like you think the nation did begin with a Christian identity. What is your problem, then?"
"The problem is, so what? Each generation has to work out its own identity, right? The present generation might accept the views of past generations, but it might just as easily reject them. Suppose it chose to reject them. I might wish that it accepted them instead, but I couldn't say people have a moral duty to believe like their ancestors did. If that were true, then nobody should ever convert. I'd have to condemn Christian missionaries."
"I see. Tell me about the third way."
"Did I say there was a third way? What was it? Oh, yeah. Demographics. Characteristics of the population. All right, so we do have a lot of self-proclaimed Christians in America. Scads of them. All of the surveys show that. But the emphasis should be on 'self-proclaimed.' They make Christianity up as they go along. They even think they have a Christian right to make it up as they go along. I know a guy who says he's Christian but believes in reincarnation. I know another who says he's Christian but doesn't believe in sin. A girl in my Con Law class calls herself Christian, says she believes in the Bible, but says she doesn't believe in God. No kidding. I said to her, 'But the Bible itself talks about God. How can you believe in one but not the other?' Remember, she wants to be a lawyer. She answered, 'I think God is a legal fiction.' Do you see where I'm going, Prof?"
"I have a pretty good idea."
"I figured you would. If the majority were Christians in the orthodox sense, things would be lots different, wouldn't they? For one thing, abortion wouldn't be legal. And the Evil Party wouldn't be in control of Congress. I'm not saying the Stupid Party would be. We'd have different parties."
"And that brings you back to where you started, doesn't it?"
Peter said, "You mean — ? Oh, right. Political beliefs. I talked about that. So what do you think about all this, Prof? Am I right?"
"You haven't finished telling me what you think, have you?"
"Haven't I?"
"I don't think so. You had two complaints, not one. The first was how anyone could possibly state that America is a Christian nation. You've talked about that. The other was why any Christian should support America. You haven't talked about that yet."
"Oh. I guess not. Let me do that."
I suggested, "Start by telling me what you mean by 'support.'"
"I mean 'defend.' I mean 'fight for.' Professor T, I've heard over and over from my Christian friends that because America gives us the freedom to practice our faith, we ought to fight for it. Like, really? Just as I said before, it only gives us that freedom because it's officially agnostic. Not because it believes in something. Because it doesn't believe in anything. Hey, it also gives pornographers the freedom to peddle their wares, like my friend said. And it gives abortionists the freedom to lure women into their lairs and stick knives in their wombs."
"I understand."
"Wait, I'm not finished. So much for the 'freedom to practice our faith' part. I still haven't talked about the 'fight for it' part. That doesn't make sense either, at least if we believe the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus seems to command that we not fight at all, for anyone. Or take His sacrifice on the Cross. If that's the example we ought to emulate, then it seems we ought to be doing the opposite of fighting for the nation."
"You've lost me again. What do you mean by the opposite of fighting for it?"
"I mean that Jesus seems to have mandated a completely inverted power structure, Prof. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. One based on non-resistance. He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword. Right? Right? What Jesus set up was the Church, not the Nation! Not only does the Church seem to survive without any practical freedoms, but it actually thrives under persecution."
Peter came to a stop all at once. I think he was embarrassed that he was becoming excited. "Sorry," he said.
"Don't stop," I answered. "You've laid out your case logically, and I think you're right to want to get to the bottom of things."
"It's just that everyone says something different," he said. "I have to know. If I'm going to follow the truth, I have to find out what it is."
"Let me ask you a question, Peter. Do you believe everything that you said?"
"Prof, I don't know what I think. I'm not just playing devil's advocate. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I believe what I said. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays I don't. Sundays — I don't know what I think Sundays. Can you help with any of this?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"Tell me what you think. I guess I'm not really asking 'Why support America.' What I'm frustrated about is the arguments I've heard from other people. My real question is more like, 'Has anyone thought seriously about whether a Christian can support his country?' I mean without leaping to the conclusion that God and Country must agree."
I smiled. "Pitch me a hard one, why don't you."
C O F F E E S H O PHe answer, "You're the one who says stuff like 'Ask me anything.'"
"I didn't come up with that title. My editor did."
"But you accepted it. All right, I'm asking. Are you going to answer?"
NEXT MONTH: THEO'S ANSWER
Professor J. Budziszewski is the author of more than half a dozen books, including How to Stay Christian in College, Ask Me Anything, Ask Me Anything 2 and What We Can't Not Know: A Guide. He teaches government and philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin.
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