This past semester I took a class that was very, let's say, awful. Unfortunately, this was a religion class called, "Church and World."
This class was boring and not informative at all for me. That is, until we started reading the book, "The Myth of a Christian Nation," by Gregory A. Boyd. When we began this book, being a staunch supporter of the separation of Church and State, I was ready to go. I wasn't disappointed.
The main argument given by Boyd was that Christians are part of two Kingdoms: The Kingdom of the World, and the Kingdom of God. This dual-citizenship is difficult because of what Jesus told Pilate in John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world..."
How do we, as citizens of both kingdoms act? We are not fully citizens of the world if we have a citizenship in the kingdom of God. And we cannot have that full citizenship of God if we are so bogged down by the goings on of the kingdom of the world. How do we balance this out?
I truly believe that the United States of America, where my citizenship of the world belongs, is in no way a Christian nation. Yes, the majority of the people in America may be Christian, but that number is drastically dwindling every day. The fact that America is not a Christian nation makes it so much more difficult when caught in between these two kingdoms.
It is not like Christians need to ignore secular society completely, that would irresponsible citizens of the world. And it would be wrong also to impose kingdom of God aspects on the entirety of America, for that would be irresponsible as a citizen of God (I cite here the Vatican II document Dignitatis Humanae, The Declaration on Religious Freedom). This declaration states (paraphrasing of course) that there are many ways to the one Truth, but imposing religious belief on a subjugated people is not one of those ways. If oppressed with religion, man is not truly enlightened.
This brings me back to my original point: Life is tough, being a Christian in a secular society such as ours. To make it through we must live as Jesus taught, we must vote our conscience, and we must not impose religion on anyone, especially in the free nation such as our own.
This class was boring and not informative at all for me. That is, until we started reading the book, "The Myth of a Christian Nation," by Gregory A. Boyd. When we began this book, being a staunch supporter of the separation of Church and State, I was ready to go. I wasn't disappointed.
The main argument given by Boyd was that Christians are part of two Kingdoms: The Kingdom of the World, and the Kingdom of God. This dual-citizenship is difficult because of what Jesus told Pilate in John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world..."
How do we, as citizens of both kingdoms act? We are not fully citizens of the world if we have a citizenship in the kingdom of God. And we cannot have that full citizenship of God if we are so bogged down by the goings on of the kingdom of the world. How do we balance this out?
I truly believe that the United States of America, where my citizenship of the world belongs, is in no way a Christian nation. Yes, the majority of the people in America may be Christian, but that number is drastically dwindling every day. The fact that America is not a Christian nation makes it so much more difficult when caught in between these two kingdoms.
It is not like Christians need to ignore secular society completely, that would irresponsible citizens of the world. And it would be wrong also to impose kingdom of God aspects on the entirety of America, for that would be irresponsible as a citizen of God (I cite here the Vatican II document Dignitatis Humanae, The Declaration on Religious Freedom). This declaration states (paraphrasing of course) that there are many ways to the one Truth, but imposing religious belief on a subjugated people is not one of those ways. If oppressed with religion, man is not truly enlightened.
This brings me back to my original point: Life is tough, being a Christian in a secular society such as ours. To make it through we must live as Jesus taught, we must vote our conscience, and we must not impose religion on anyone, especially in the free nation such as our own.
No comments:
Post a Comment