aussie rules, vegemite, kanagaroos and Holden Cars

I was born in Melbourne Australia in 1949. I'm proud to be Australian, and I have a huge Australian Flag tattooed on my arm celebrating my homeland. I love Australian Rules Football, Vegemite sandwiches, Kangaroos and some Holden cars (the small, fuel efficient ones).

My father was a Yank, which means that I carry a US Passport, too. I get the same chills you do, when I marvel at men on the moon, troops in Kuwait, improbable Olympic gold and the pure character of many Americans.

Jesus never married us to our cultures/nations. Patriotism is not a necessary part of the Christian life. Jesus said give Caesar his due (non-revolutionary statement); give God His due (revolutionary because no one other than Caesar should be getting anything).

Samuel Johnson said that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," and certainly scoundrels have sold the Church the idea that the US is a Christian nation with Christian forefathers and an innovative Constitution that uniquely guarantees religious rights. No country is Christian; there is no spiritual Israel; most politicians are corrupt, happily manipulating issues in a way that makes action by Christians necessary to rescue "our way of life," by get their politicians elected.

Certain ideas will never be true: "Christian nation," "the right side in a war," 'swearing allegiance to God" when bearing arms.

Christians can choose to participate in Caesar's world as much as they want to, understanding that what is required of them by God is to pay taxes and obey the nation's laws (as they don't conflict with God's commands about helping the poor and needy and making disciples). The Church needs to filter what comes back from deep immersal in the culture ( especially from law enforcement and the military) so that it is not hypnotized by the National Anthem.

We could actually start that filtering by taking the US flags down in churches. The Church has fought the State over slavery, voting rights, prohibition and unpopular wars in the past. We are not a political party, but a moral free agent, encouraging unity and facilitating the pursuit of good policies/actions. We have 60 million people who can be plugged into these good things (environmental, reproductive, AIDS support, racial reconciliation, rescue of distressed schools, intervention with at risk youth). We are not the state, and we would be about our business whatever government ruled from Washington.

If I can stop thinking about all the great things Ian Thorpe did for Aussie swimming in the 2004 Olympics, then we can dim the lightning bolt cracking by the 41 year old women trying for gold at Beijing. Olympics time is one big patriotic blow out. Maybe American Christians should look closely at all the people and countries God loves.

Exactly as much as He loves us.