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John M. Buchanan
Broad Street Presbyterian Church

Columbus, Ohio

Religion and Patriotism
Amos 7:10-17
Acts 5:12-29
July 6, 1975

It has only been within the past decade or so that a

sermon on Religion and Pestetdam has become difficult to

preach and potentially controversial | With some notable ex-
oe i a Se

Psa

ceptions the climate intthis nation for years was one quiet

congeniality between Church and state: | so congenial, in fact,

| iieiaiedell

that the sociologists announced that a new kind of religion

was born - American Religion - in which love of God and love for
—_—, a Ty —————

country became somewhat synon ous. \ To be an atheist was

to be un-American, subversive.\ To dissent from Government
ae Ee

policy, or to be obnoxiously critical of the nation was to be

un-Christian. \ In a book entitled Politics, Poker and Piety,

s tislinieneaitneiiaied

A Perspective on Cultural Religion in America, Wallace Fisher

wrote, |The Church in America has never faced up to the. .

elemental conflict between prophetic Christianity and pragmatic

en

politics. . & The Church. . « On Occasion must be at odds with
any state, even the democratic state. | For almost two centuries

the majority in America have assumed that their national state

upholds Goa. | Witness the Civil War, in which each side claimed

the support of the same God.\ Until recently, except for a

minority, American churchmen have not faced the possibility of

Sie.

having to chose between God and the state,'Uj(p. 19-20) \ er
\wieace wre tercsloly vincas Whe Ae vary Ss sy TN
-aAWwere man \oe Ga corFlich between meAl (oaths. te Our eden te Go ie niov s
Those are difficult words: But the fact of the matter i anaianea

is that in the past decade a significant number of Christian
Eee — Bre) ed

Americans felt the necessity of chosing.\ The two issues which

=... asinine
or — =

provided the context were Civil Rights and then the War in

Len

VAT VGE eticy ee LittQ. be

Indochina. Fer—reasons of chnistian conscience. peepnetew
- wert enrane
éhewkem: other people &ebt=—erb-eneted.irontheim=Ghureckes because

the Church at times seemed to be sympathizing with those who

were eenkéwerebhersbeuey Cn ing in illegal protests or resisting
the draft.\ The result was that for a lot of Americans, Religion
tinal eee SS Ree . ie 7

and Patriotism, became the focus of very heated debate, recrimi-
nations, charges, suspic cion and general discomfort. \ People be-
Nerve
}
came waempys, defensive.|\ If you flew the flag in Church someone

| en)

was bound to call you a superpatriot, more interested in American

Religion than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. \ If you didn't fly

the flag someone was bound to infer that your loyalty was suspect:

We ae

an altogether unhappy state of affairs which made not discussing

ES ee ee ET

Religion and Patriotism the prudent position for the clergyman

who valued his job security.

Yn We € > * ~)
This morning, however, I should like to discuss esilahaalia

uinwotnnem , looking forward to a Bicentennial year during

which we will be ene about our relationship to. our nation
aS:

with some On| \ and I should like to begin by relating
three brief vignettes which will define the dimensions of the
Oe. ssoc .

a “Jeroboam

Vignette number 4: | The time is 750 p.C. | Vereowern II

was King of Israel, reigning in a rare era of peace and prosperity.

ee

But all was not well within tsrae1.\ The rich were exploiting

Denia

the poor || the market place was corrupt \ religion was popular

but ineffective in promoting justice. | And along camg_a_man
ke ie eae Se. ee ee wel\- ‘eern
by the name of Amos who believed that the V@xheieme of his beloved
T _ -

"Let

nation depended on things like integrity and justice.
ened — ey

justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-

le Soe
flowing stream"; he thundered. ai 5:24). |e People
= page 2 -

sort if tale Religiom ond gel tes don & Wh i

athe
didn't much vine weemdnsoueabia, One of the court chaplains ran to the
King saying, ["Amos is conspiring against you. . . the country
cannot bear what he is saying.""| And to Amos himself he said,
| "Be off. . . Off with you Judah. . .never prophecy at Bethel,
for this is the King's sanctuary ,"' (Amos 12-13) -, the Israeli

equivalent of tne (‘America, Love it or Leave it" bumper sticker. \

Vignette suber two. \ one time is the first Century, the
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place Jerusalem: Pius government Roman \ A man by the name of
a=

Simon Peter got himself arrested for teaching something about

LL a. ==

the sovereignty of Jesus Christ.\ The government had ordered

him to stop on the grounds that what he was saying was subversive -
Es = a TS. SF eee Pas 7

which, in fact, it most certainly was if Caesar alone is soverign.

When he was arrested a second time he was told, \!'We expressly

en ——-

ordered you to desist - and what has happened” You have filled

Jerusalem with your teaching." |To which Peter responded with

be |

characteristic bluntness \rwe must obey God rather than men. pets 5:

Mn ey,

28-29)

Amos was exited. | Peter was flogged for that particular

Gre

infraction. | But the issues B® the same.\ To whom does one owe

—— ee en 9

ultimate allegiance’ Gan aman be a loyal, patriotic citizen

Er,

of his nation while reserving his ultimate allegiance for God

a rome ee

under whose sovereignty even the nation falls and by whose Justice

even the nation must be Judged?

Vignette number three.\ The time is the eighteenth century.

—— aan ee a

The place, Great Britain' s thirteen colonies in the new world.

TSG ow Se,

Many of the people who had come to the colonies were Englishmen,

La iten |

page 3

Pcs beans -

Scots, trish. \ tany of them were Calvinists - Presbyterians \ Part
—T, wet

of the reason they were here was that they had been persecuted for
=

their reli ious convictions and practices, winehquneieubeskicbesminsm .
—— A oS

Some of them, by no means all, had a vision of a new society in

which h_men would *' free to express their religious convictions

as they saw fit.| They didn't like totalitarianism: they didn't
| i

| aaamniaeaee a a J

like taxation without representation: \ some of them, out of their

ba NTIS fre aes ed

Calvinistic theolo ogy, were beginning to believe that individual
ss PAP ibe eee Se = _. _

people had God-given rights. Some of them were moving in the

a] fier. on
direction of treason, insurection, revolution.
—c “ow = =e

George Duffield, pastor of Third Presbyterian Church,

Philadelphia, was such an ardent revolutionary that the British

a

p\aced
. fal a price on his head. | One man who, was a regular member of
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etal

his congregation wrote to his wife in 1775, |r have been this

es (Siemans serene

morning to hear Mr. Duffield. . . the cler are ywat now

beginning t engage in politics, and they engage with such a

fervor that will produce wonderful resuits.'| The man was John

We 8 et

i ala a —

Adams, writing to his wife Abigail (Presbyterians and the American

Revolution p 382-3)

In Hopewell, New Jersey, on April 23, 1775, etter hearing
: ; "feos gulpi¥

word of Lexington and Concord, the minister said} |"The red —s

= aoe

are mudering our New England _brothers \ Who follows me to Boston?” |
ed

a

According to ome record, every man answered. fiisterde Marker,

a a

Old Hopewell Church (Baptist) “y

In Trenton, the minister of the First Presbyterian Church
—a a _ ; =

raised a regiment of 100 from among his congregation and led
tiie! rg

them into battie.| That church was held in such contempt by

a =——"-—

page 4

sctimeatertet
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the British that they used it later as a stable \ An interesting,

if irreverent, anecdote is that after the Battle of | _Lrenton the

congregation allowed the bodies_of | Hessian mercenaries to be

opt,
buried in the church yard in a far, unmarked corner.
arAer Vena, devoake Gad @ cWwse vote,

One of those Hessians wrote in,a.letter, ["ca11 this war,
dearest friend, by whatsoever name you may, only cali it not

an American Revolution. It is nothing more nor less than an

Trish- Scotch, Presbyterian, Yrebellion. "\Cob.cite. p 303)

fn > ace eatetat es eR

And in 1776, a Dr. Ingles, Anglican Rector of Trinity

Church, New York, wrote in his diary, \"I do not know_one
Presbyterian minister, nor have I been able, after strict in-

quiry, to hear of any who did not by preaching and every effort

in their power promote all the measures of the Continental

Congress, however extravagant." |(see A Brief History of the

Presbyterians, T. A. Toetscher)

Can a person love God and country? | can he be religious

—
and patriotic? | our Presbyterian forefathers answered that

iahmaniiaiea ened al

attirmatively. \ But the subtlet an their pogition - which we
must never forget - ‘cine the legal authority, the government,

eect

was British \ Before one became an American Patriot one had to

rer ana

decide to be subversive ‘\ ana we should never fail to appreciate

the pain | that decision must have cost them. \ they were called

ao

traitors.
overs.

eo oy

Religion and Patriotism? | xt_a21_ depends on how you define

Patriotism.| What those early Presbyterians had to decide on the

way to becoming revolutionaries is that there is an authority

higher than the state:\ in Peter's fo mula, \"We must ohey God

rather than men." | And it is the beauty and uniqueness of our
nage 45 /

nation that this sentiment - so new - so radical - was built
mmm RET ty ares

right into the system | of government produced after the revolut . ion.” ;-

fhe Constitution ,\ the Bill of Rights, \and the continuing process

by which the courts of the land define and redefine the sacred

fr mineoal

rights of individuals.

History had taught the founders of the Republic that govern-

ments inevitably infringe on what they judged to be ‘unalienable

rights") that political systems invariably usurp individual

rights rather than protect them.

Der ead

Their Calvinist theology taught them that while men were

created to be_ tree, they are 2180 hopelessly self centered and

eet

hungry for power. \ writing in A. D. Magazine last year Michael
wT
Novak ut it succintly, The secret wisdom of our founders in
1789 was that they did not trust the goodness of the American
people, their elected representatives, the courts, the press,
aint shale As a

or the President. \ 9 They didn't trust t_anybody .\ American Democracy
is built on the premise that human beings are too corrupt to

trust."| (A.D. June 1974)
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Thus, the system em they created included checks and balances
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to assure that power is evenly distributed and never available
Ys

6p pre esive'\
to be used aexteeenrcuucdls
Aad

against the people.

Their Presbyterian heritage had produced, one hundred years

before at the Westminister Assembly, the radical idea that a

person's conscience was sacred, and that no earthly authority

has the right to dictate the content of a person's conscience.

And so religion is not even mentioned in the Constitution: and

page 6

when it appears in the first amendment it is o@ a restriction

on the power of the state to establish religion of any kind,

or to prevent its free exercise. of pwire ©
eaaiieeaeiiiiaimaiiiiaas ; be Uae Skeles
calle

What all of that means is that in the new radical experiment ®
men would be free to be religions or not religois when and how,
and to the degree they chose \ Although it took two hundred years
a

for the idea to include Black Americans, Es means that individual
ed i rt ell ne 7

people are to be respected, and that they have God-given rights

of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness however they chose

So

to define that. \ tn terms of common life it means that men ae

eS Se

free to digagree with their covernnent,\ free to_live here and

enjoy the rights and privileges of ca tizensrip even if they don't
Cons shed

léve the nation: \ tree to oppose the ee authorities

ae he

in orderly ways so long as they do not advocate the violent

overthrow of the system.

Some of the ideas behind the revolution were universally

————

accepted:\ others were advocated by a liberal minority. Some

=

wanted another monarchy: \others were so afraid of centralized

qu ee

government that thgy advocated a loose confederation of soverign

states | But in it all the idea was being born that the individual

i —"— 8
deserves to be tree, \ that conscience is ~_ sacred and that liberty

is so precious that governments ought always to protect it, par-

ticularly when liberty is used in ways that are offensive to the

majority.

History teaches the rightness of that idea. | On the editorial:

page of last Sunday's New York Times James Reston Bind the

a) ee

fragile state of democracy in the world today. Aid on ihe same
Tia

ho i i ee.

page 7

(& AosieWn Qv iney ~ ak Tne Wome of hL “Wevelukinn | __owserved “i T+ TH wwew

easier resto m ol bert from fu wy we ako __ \icewyseuswess than

Powe frown ewelling inde Aycenny and OPPTE SSI Om « (x Pledge A\\e5 taane al
é

Poul M. inéar, |
page Tom Wicker lamented the all too familiar abridgement of
oa Se ;

liberty in India, in the name of national security. ©
iit

History hemches that patriotism is at once one of man's

noblest and also most destructive emotions.\ When Patriotism

—————————

becomes a corporate extension of egotism — what we Presbyterians

See Sl

know as original sin - it quickly becomes very dangerous |\ Fascism

———__ —_- [a

is often the result. \ the Nazis were masters at it. \ They ‘fanned
worn ER

SRR ge

the flames of nationalism until people believed that they were

ial

invincible and had the right to invade and conquer and exploit.

i

And it emerges in our nation when the Super-patriot suggests

that we should conduct our international affairs on the basis

of national prj ide. \ That: s not patriotism \ wet is quike Simply a
corporate G Geng Fi cardio a Cdl al Sim «

oes a

Religion and Patriotism? \can a person _who has given his

~

allegiance to Jesus Christ be a patriotic citizen? ee

a a Ue) RE Sha eer egy

is affirmative: \ wholeheartedly affirmative \\ I believe we not

=|

only can, but should, love our nation in three precise ways.
=_——s ji mm ——. —"s i | iin =A

I think we can love our country in gratitude and appreciation.

I don't think we have to be apologetic or defensive about it.

I think we ought to be grateful for the standard of living our

system has made possibie.\ I think-we ought to be grateful that

ita

we slept last night without fear: \ that we can buy two newspapers

this morning, one of which is wildly enthusiastic about the
Republican | Party and the other of which is totally commited to
the Denccratic Party. \ 1 think we ought to give thanks that we
will vote in November and that our vote e will count.\ 1 think

we ought to be > grateful for the incredible beauty and resources

et ae ee

of this 1and)\ for its pluralistic _population, its ingenuity.

McGeorge Bundy said it wll in a commencement address at the

a
oe

page 8

jad

te
gat
ginal’

University of texas: | bie cannot deny our failures ... nor is

such denial in our national tradition. \ we cannot deny ~- indeed

we must strongly affirm - our Limitations. | But. we are the

sneered

same people that in a generation have twice helped save the

SS

freedom of Europe, that have been first among the nations in

the struggle to ward off worldwide nuclear catastrophe, \that

Dl ial =

have shown ourselves ready to respond, time after time, to
leadership that appeals to our practical generosity." (New

York Times 6/29/75) Patriotism begins in gratitude.

Second, Patriotism demands that people who love their

country be critical of it when it falls short of its

—

Plato saia, [a life without criticism is not worth living."

So it is with our pation. \ To love it honestly is to acknowledge
wee MME Be conan jarani

—-—

its imperfections and failures. \ To love it honestiy is to take
—ao nm nice

its agony seriously. \ In fact, to dissent and to digagree is

to put into practice the highest ideal any government ever

ventured. | That is why, several years ago, the pregs and the

york bloga’ by some Governmente | ethee tah
churches, were so adament about theTeffortTto equate dissent

submits its government to the most sarching of criticism, pub-

urna

lically, openly and without fear. \ Were the early Christians

aerate ame

said, j"Jesus Christ is Lord"{they were tacitly dissenting from
aa ee renee ener
the imperial sovereignty of rome .\ Our system apvites that and

Patriotism

never to sacrifice it.

Finally, Patriotism demands involvement for reasons that

= rd SA : ak, 0 \ ;
are more than sextish:\ reasons that arefreligious. | Fox the
—o L2LOUS ue 72

welfare of people, o : : .
Gee POP » our brothers and sisters, is determined not

page @g

often in the sanctuaries of churcht’but in halls and councils of

government.

The apocryphal story is told of Benjamin Franklin on the
eo sorta aaa :

rt i

day the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia finally ad-

journed. | Franklin was old and sick} He was carried through
oe en ete : Pier i ee =

4

the large crowd waiting outside. A womas_asked, \"Dr. Franklin,

is it finished?" (rit is,"\|he said. \'put Dr..Franklin, will it
Sanibel ‘\ = Miioscnace ca eiietisanieeeimite

r=
work?" (That madam", he answered, \'is entirely up to you."

‘iiiceninecieiaad

That's where it Lies. | It is up to us.\ We have come this
—-arere, tient il _ al

= \ Siete

far because people have become_involved, have cared, and have

welcomed the responsibility of public service, public office,
public participation. | Nothing is more destructive of our system

cael. oo ievespmsiae
than blase' cynicism about the political process; \or that*dis-
Bs etiam Plies be

nt tna mam

missal of politics as dirty business and politicians as oppor-
——s | aint ee

tunists.

In Trenton, where I visited recently, there is a monument

to the important battle in which Washington surprised the Hessians, 4
eer “The cite ce Awe Dis Wo ners bloc

. * “ ng <swea fer bLreedwm —- me ik Oo
after his daring Delaware River CPOneing.\ The—menument—is—in twe
poseidon : enim
ja

ow

the-me-detco—of—a grimy, crowded, crime ridden, sis," There -
drama\it a — re — jp oo

infreliéf - for people with the courage to see - is the délemma.
eens Cn ee] Se ee

As I looked at it I could not help but recall words of T. S. Eliot

I had read and never forgotten, \"This is not what I meant at all.
— zs 7 Pa al- quote
This is not it at all." | Back in my study I looked #t up and found

ooo’

it in a speech of the late Robert F. Rennaay. % He said, \"If we

be deere

fail to dare, if we daimot try, the next generation will harvest

the fruit of our apathy - a world we did not want - a world we

did not chose - but a world we could have made better, by caring

for the results of our labors. \ And we shall be left with the

nage 10

hollow apology of T. 8. Eliot, (omnis is not what I meant. This

is not it at all. ) I know that you do not mean to _leave this

seer aie,

kind of world to your children. \ But if you do not care, who will?"

been
Oo, we pepe a year of celebration ;|2 year in which
yene rake _
we will Yewembuermte the past and, hopefully, contemplate the

af ove cepulelse
future fie us move into that year with the noblest patriotism,

acknowledging that our ultimate Allegiance is to Jesus Christ,

ers

and that the freedom to give that allegiance to him is what, it

means to be an American. | tet us move into the Bicentennial year

—

with an honest love for our country: \1ove that is grateful, \1ove

eT

that wants the nation to be more than at is 1s, \roye that sees

the vision - the dream - and is willing to care and risk and

be involved. Ore wee So “heh whak we \a awa are
Laas be yresed Your ck Varew Cara. there cla laren .

AWA 44

O God, you are the creator and father of all men. You
alone are the sovereign Lord of all nations. Bless, not with
favoritism, but with equal and just mercies, our land. Through

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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