The word of God to a nation’s uncaring leaders:
“Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe ourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.
“Therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock.”
— The prophet Ezekiel (Ez 34:2-4, 9-10)
My wife and I have been church exiles (self-imposed) for several years. Recently we started attending an Episcopal church here in Bellingham. The Episcopal Church is a branch of the Anglican communion world-wide, having split off from Anglicanism as a result of the American revolution, but remaining very much Anglican in theology and practice.
Max walked into the women’s shower room at the city’s recreation center. When he started taking his clothes off, the several women there quickly dressed and fled.
In my previous post, I argued that it is misleading to describe America as a Christian nation, because (1) the writers of the Constitution explicitly intended the fledgling nation they were creating to be a secular (i.e., non-religious) nation that did not favor one religion over another, and (2) from a biblical (i.e., Christian) point of view, there is no such thing as a Christian nation; never has been, never will be.
In a recent email conversation with a friend, the question arose: “What’s wrong with calling America a Christian nation?” Today’s post came out of that conversation.