\n<\/p>\n
America is not in the Bible. <\/p>\n
In no way, shape, or form.<\/p>\n
Not a hint. Not a whiff. <\/p>\n
America is not in the Bible, not even here: <\/p>\n
\nIf my people<\/strong>\u00a0who are called by\u00a0my\u00a0name humble themselves, pray, seek\u00a0my\u00a0face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. <\/p>\n
2 Chronicles 7:14<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This verse gets cited a lot in American politics<\/a>. But \u201cmy people\u201d refers to the people of Judah<\/strong>, the survivors of the 6th century BCE Babylonian Exile, who have returned to their homeland and are humbly seeking God to rejuvenate their kingdom. <\/p>\n
This passage has nothing to do with America or any political entity other than the ancient theocracy of Judah.<\/p>\n
It is not proof of God\u2019s stamp of approval on our political actions, no matter how many speeches end with \u201cGod bless the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
It cannot leap over the millennia and simply be mapped onto American democracy.<\/p>\n
It is not a blueprint for how to ensure that God will \u201cMake America Great Again.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is not justification for privileged Evangelicals to impose their moral vision through political means.<\/p>\n
It is not an invitation to perpetuate tribal thinking and see ourselves as closer to God than, say, Canada or Mexico.<\/p>\n
If anyone wants to bring this passage into the present, let it be on the level of their own lives and the life of their church (if I may restrict my comments to the Christian tradition).<\/p>\n
See this passage as a call for followers of Jesus and public Christian leaders to be humble, pray, seek God\u2019s face, and turn from their wicked ways. Let it be, in other words, a call to inner spiritual transformation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
When that inner work is taken to heart, it will be hard indeed to see how anyone could ever countenance thinking that the Infinite Creator of the infinite cosmos could be pinning the divine hope on one small landmass in the western hemisphere that decides to write itself into an ancient Jewish story.<\/p>\n
If America is found anywhere in the Bible, it is by analogy. <\/h2>\n
And we are not the hero of the story.<\/p>\n
We are Rome.<\/p>\n
The Roman world had a policy of \u201cMake Rome Great Again\u201d\u2013or perhaps better \u201cKeep Rome Great Always\u201d\u2013and that vision was supported by the always unhealthy alliance of \u201cGod and Country.\u201d <\/p>\n