United States of America – More Untied Than United?

This beautiful image from Jacquie Lawson's e-cards
reflects the joy of celebrating our nation's birth.

Back in my newspaper days I once published a photo of someone’s tattered American flag, offering the editorial opinion that flying our star-spangled banner in such condition was disrespectful, and it should have been replaced by one not worn and torn. Fast forward to today – we might conclude that flag would be more reflective of the state of our nation.

With the 250^th anniversary of its founding just three years away, the United States of America appears in some ways more untied than united. I remember the 1960s, when our country endured great tensions over the Vietnam War. However, the schisms plaguing our country today seem even greater. The art of political compromise is often referred to as “reaching across the aisle,” but that aisle has become more like a chasm in many respects.

 

So, here we find ourselves with another Fourth of July/Independence Day celebration amid great societal and political disarray. How do we respond? How should we respond?

 

Since I was born on July 4^th, “a real live nephew of my Uncle Sam” as the song goes, for a long time I thought the fireworks and celebratory hoopla were intended for my benefit. Of course, that wasn’t the case, but I grew up proud to be an American, a patriot. Today the term “patriot” has been disparaged in some quarters. There are those who, despite enjoying the benefits of living in the ole U.S.A., express their disdain for it – our history, social customs and mores, even our form of government. 

Nevertheless, I remain – to borrow the words from the Lee Greenwood anthem – “proud to be an American.” And I hold out hope that perhaps our nation can again return to its glory days. However, that will require a lot of work, blood, sweat and tears, much like those invested by hardy citizens in decades past.

 

We might start by revisiting “the basics.” In our Declaration of Independence, ratified on July 4, 1776 by 13 colonies that became united states of America, it states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness….”

 

The focus these days seems to be on the words “equal” and “rights,” with considerable debate about what those mean. Rarely do we dwell on the significance of “endowed by their Creator,” or the assertion in the preceding paragraph about “the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.” 

 

John Adams, the second President of the United States and one of its founding fathers, declared, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Many other founders expressed similar conclusions, that a religious foundation and reliance on God were essential for guiding the republic the Declaration and U.S. Constitution were establishing.

 

When I was going to grade school in the 1950s and early ‘60s, each day started with the Lord’s Prayer, a brief reading from the Bible – usually from the Psalms – and the Pledge of Allegiance, which included the phrase, “one nation under God.” In those days the greatest problems in the schools were throwing paper spitballs, running in hallways and chewing gum. In the early ‘60s, however, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled prayer and Bible reading in public schools were “unconstitutional.” Decades later, absent any intentional acknowledgement of God, our schools are filled with violence, drug abuse and other forms of mayhem. Might there be a correlation?

 

We seem to be seeing the warning of Proverbs 29:18 fulfilled on a daily basis: “Where there is no vision the people run wild.” Another translation expresses it, “Where there is no [prophetic] revelation, the people cast off restraint.” Can we deny this is happening?

 

It’s not a popular sentiment in our age when so many seem defiant in their belief that “who needs God?!” But I would contend there is but one answer to that question, both individually and as a nation: We all do! We have God’s promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

 

If only we, on this time of celebrating the anniversary of our nation’s independence, would indeed humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways. Perhaps then we would see God graciously bless America as He has in years past, bringing healing and restoring unity.