A recent study stated that four in ten American adults felt that our culture was losing its identity. But what does that mean? Polls by respected organizations state that many of us feel our religious beliefs are in conflict with the “mainstream,” leaving us to define what that word means. What is clear, whether we are progressives, evangelicals, or even nonbelievers, is that many are disaffected with the direction of American society.
The one thing these studies point to is that a deep divide exists in our society, however, largely along partisan lines although there are some religious divides, primarily between conservative/evangelical Christians and either progressive Christians or other religious groups, such as Jews, Muslims, or those espousing no religion.
With bitter memories of religious wars, our Founders decided it was best that there be a clear separation of church and state. Religious liberty did not come cheap with some colonies driving out religious dissenters. Shouldn’t our American identity reflect the struggle for religious liberty and diversity?
Prayer for the Day
We come in a time of fear, O God, fear of losing what we have,
Our way of living, our comforts, our possessions;
We come in a time of change, O God, change we do not understand,
For it swirls around us, engulfing all that is familiar.
May we come in a time of hope, O God, hope for the future,
But which opens to us a vision of peace,
In the name of the One who is the voice of hope,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
White evangelical Protestants are more likely than any of the other religious groups in this analysis to say the government should stop enforcing church-state separation.
Pew Research Report, March 2024
Precisely because we are not a people held together by blood, no one knows who an American is except by what they believe. It's important that we do know our history, because our history is the source of our Americanness.
Gordon Wood, historian
In everything, do to others as you would have them do unto you; for this is the law and the prophets.
Jesus in Matthew 7:12