Just a Form of Godliness

SCRIPTURE: People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. 2 Timothy 3:2-5 NIV

QUOTE: “The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just—a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.” – Abraham Lincoln, Address to Congress 1862

THOUGHT: Civil Religion is a fact of American life because of our founding, or at least it has been historically. A few examples might be the prayer before the football game in my hometown, the phrase “one nation, under God” in our Pledge of Allegiance (the “under God” added in 1954 in response to the Communist threat of the time), or the so-called “Washington National Cathedral,” actually an Episcopal Church in Washington D.C. that draws a quarter million visitors each year for its renowned architecture.

But Civil Religion is not the same thing as faith. There are plenty of people around who will invoke God’s name without knowing or loving God, holding to a form a godliness while knowing nothing of the power that comes from true relationship.

Lincoln’s comment to Congress (anticipating the Emancipation Proclamation) is a good example of Civil Religion amiss. Imagining that the United States will somehow solve its human rights crisis and be deserving of God’s perpetual loyalty and blessing errs into a type of nationalism that is idolatrous – the utopian idea that we could ever be flawless. We are an exceptional country in the flow of history, yes; a unique government built around a Judeo-Christian worldview. But even our Republic is far from perfect – as our Founders would robustly warn.

The core question, says my husband as we discuss the pros and cons of Civil Religion, is who do you worship? Do you worship your country or do you worship God and from that flows your citizenship, first in heaven, then on earth?

I am reminded of those bumper stickers, far and few between, that say, “America, Bless God” rather than the other way around. They’ve got it right. America, bless God, for he has been good to you. Bless God by becoming the people he has called you to be – salt and light to the culture around you.

PRAYER: God, as I try to love my country, and fight for what is right and good on earth, help me never lose sight of my citizenship in heaven, my loyalty to you, the form of godliness that does not deny your power. I worship you and pray for my countrymen to see beyond Civil Religion into your heart.