Faithless In America

"Listen to me, you coastlands, hear this, you distant nations! The Lord called me before I was born, while in my mother's womb He named me. . . And now the Lord says, who formed me in  the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength-- He says, 'It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.' "  --[Isaiah 49: 1-2, 5-6].

When I was a little girl, Sundays were a sacred time, set aside for church and family.

We went to church every week. Afterwards, all the aunts, uncles, cousins, my parents and sibling would gather at Grandma's house. She would cook a big meal, everything from scratch, including home-baked pie or cake for dessert.

Then, when I turned fourteen, my grandparents gone, my aunt and uncle moved away, we abruptly stopped going to church. I will never forget that first Sunday when I asked my mother eagerly if we were going to church?

She said to me sternly, "We don't do that any longer." It was then I started hearing that religion "was the opiate of the masses." Believing in God was for the losers who were incapable of succeeding on their own.

I cannot tell you how bereft I felt. It was as if I had been plunged into a black hole. I also felt betrayed. You mean, all that stirring verse about God being present, and everything being right in the end in His Universe, was one big lie?

No God ?-- then, no Peace, no Hope, no Justice. The way I saw it, if the humans alone were suddenly in charge, the world was in big trouble.

This is but the experience of one little girl, who grew to inhabit a sad wisdom, of what it feels like to have no Faith.

Since then, this waning of our Faith has overtaken America itself as a country.

America was founded on religious freedom. Our Declaration of Independence says, "All men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these, Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Our currency, and our courthouses, declare, "In God We Trust."

Reminiscent of Isaiah 49: 6, [ "I will give you as a Light to the Nations"], our Statue of Liberty is engraved with the famous poem by Emma Lazarus: "Give me your tired, your poor, your hungry, yearning to breathe free. . . I lift my lamp beside the gold door!"

At the founding of our country, George Washington said, "It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible."

Benjamin Franklin siad, "I was never without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that He made the world and governed it by His Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing of good to men; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished and virtue rewarded either here or hereafter."

Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, said, "In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for it, we could not know right from wrong."

President FDR said, "No greater thing could come to our land today than a revival of the spirit of religion -- a revival that would sweep through the homes of the Nation and stir the hearts of men and women of all faiths to a reassertion of their belief in God and their dedication to His will, for themselves and for their world."

John F. Kennedy said: "Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking [God's] blessings and His help, but knowing that here on earth, God's work must truly be our own."

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Remember, if I am stopped, this movement will not stop, because God is with the movement." And, "Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned with that now. I just want to do God's will."

TODAY, I cannot imagine a public figure or politician talking like this! It would be shocking if a politician spoke this way. Indeed, the words would make national headlines, as a scandal.

In an article entitled "Civil Religion in America", 1967, Robert Bellah, the author talks about how, even in secular and public life, there has always been a simple version of Religion guiding us. What he calls The Civil Religion in America assumed that 1) there is a God; 2) there is a life to come; 3) there is a reward to virtue and a punishment to evil; 4) there is value in fighting against religious intolerance.

What I am stunned at today is that our society seems to no longer hold these precepts as automatically understood.

Consider the words of Hillary Clinton, about the religious voter: "Deep-seated 'cultural codes', religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed." As if we could change God's Word?

Consider the words of Donald Trump: "The religious right adores me, by the way." As if people of Faith are nothing more than a "special interest group", or a demographic.

I feel like that little girl again, bereft because her church was taken away, and because her Faith in all things sacred was denied.

As you watch the Presidential Inauguration this week, keep your eyes fastened on the Bible used to administer the oath of office. Listen to the oath itself and see whether the new President will swear to uphold the Constitution, "So help me, God."

IF we, as a Nation cannot even stipulate that there is a God, that there is a life to come, that there is value in fighting religious intolerance, then WHY are we going through the motion of a President swearing on the Bible, and saying, "So help me, God." ??

[Related Postings: "Freedom of Religion",  3/7/12; "Free to Believe", 7/3/15.]

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2017.