I saw this going around facebook today:
It says: “If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”
Putting aside the irony that this was posted by someone who in the past has openly opposed social programs, it’s nice to see that even conservative Christians are thinking about this.
I almost shared it with my facebook friends, many of whom are Christians, just to help spread its message around.
But, then I stopped and thought about what else it’s saying: we are a Christian nation.
We are not a Christian nation. We are a nation where the majority religion happens to be Christianity.
For that matter, those folks who self-identify as Christians don’t even all share the same definition of Christianity. Many of them don’t even consider others of them Christians at all!
Then, there’s the fact that a lot of people are ChINOs – Christians in Name Only. If you ask them their religion, they say, “Christian.” If they need something or are nervous, anxious, worried, or scared, they’ll pray to get the emotional benefits of “putting it in God’s hands.” But, when it comes down to it, they have never thought critically about what they really do believe, and they don’t really believe in the particulars of the Bible.
But, even if there really are a majority of Americans who are in fact Christians, that does not change the fact that we are not a Christian nation. We are a nation of religious freedom. We are a nation of diverse beliefs. We are a nation where the thoughts, feelings and opinions of an atheist are just as “American” as anyone else’s.
You appear not to realize that Colbert is playing a character, his actual politics are quite liberal.
Yes, thanks, I do realize that. I am not sure why you say that I appear to not know that, or what bearing it has on what I’ve said here. Would you like to elaborate, or were you just sharing that information?
I don’t think you get the point. It’s not that the US is actually a Christian nation. It’s the fact that many Christians in the US claim that it is. They claim to worship a Jesus who clearly was a friend to the poor and are part of a religion that clearly started out focused on helping those who were the “least of these,” but then at the same time these people don’t want to help the poor, either arguing that they shouldn’t have to pay for people who are “too lazy to help themselves” or otherwise saying that it would be “socialist” to do so. That’s Stephen Colbert’s point, he’s not arguing that the US is in fact a Christian nation.
Yeah, I did get the point. I said that I liked the message, that I almost shared it with my Christian friends, and that it was ironic that it was posted by someone who openly opposes social programs. I obviously got it.
I don’t think you get my point. Every time someone uses the phrase “Christian nation,” it gives credence to that notion, which many people believe and say with all seriousness. I do not see value in perpetuating that idea, so I decided to call it out, instead.