From “Worth Fighting For: Finding Courage and Compassion When Cruelty Is Trending” by John Pavlovitz
Part of the default background operating system that’s running churches and propelling political campaigns and directing hearts is the idea that God favors the United States of America and the gospel was written in red, white, and blue. If there’s a single exegetical error most responsible for distorting the message of Jesus and for producing unloving disciples in the United States in the past 250 years, it’s likely this belief that the United States is or should be a Christian nation. This distorted theology is so prevalent in American Christianity that if we remove the flag-waving, border-defending, proud-to-be-an-American firework fervor from many Christian people’s belief systems, there’s not much left.
The problem with all this is Jesus himself. He apparently had very little interest in such geographically determined supremacy or birthright blessings, or in the accumulated power that has proven to be such a seductive selling point to so many of his followers. He talked of the last being first, of becoming servant of all, of laying down one’s life for one’s friends. He wasn’t in the business of nation building but community making, not about consolidating wealth but spreading it around and making sure no one went without. The core of his teaching was the greatest commandment (not the greatest suggestion) to “love your neighbor as yourself” – and that designation of “neighbor” had nothing to do with geography or nationality but with shared divinity-reflecting humanity.