The Problem with "God Bless America"

Jonathan Merritt interviews Stanley Hauerwas, a Christian theologian best known for his uncompromising pacifism:

JM: We’ve just finished celebrating the July 4th Independence Day. There were a lot of flags waving in and around American churches. Is this show of patriotism problematic, in your opinion?


SH: I’ve long said that flags being used in churches on the 4th of July is a form of betrayal. It is so because the flag represents for many a more determinative sacrifice than the sacrifice of Christ.

JM: What is your greatest concern for the church today, in terms of its relationship with the state? Any cautions?


SH: My greatest concern for the church today in terms of its relation to the state is quite simply idolatry. As I’ve tried to argue in my book, War and the American Difference, the deep problem is the Christian identification with America such that Christians are unable to distinguish the church from America. It’s an understandable confusion given our country’s history. But that doesn’t make it any less perverted.

My understanding of Christianity would forbid any but the weakest and blandest sort of patriotism, and many Christian theologians feel the same way. So does the papacy; the last pope gave several warnings about idolatry not much different from Hauerwas'. But millions of Americans seem to think Christianity and patriotism are almost the same thing. This troubles me because it implies that words can mean anything, and people can turn any teaching around to mean whatever they want.