Just when I thought it wasn’t possible to wrap the American flag around the cross any more than we already have, I just heard about the brand-new American Patriot’s Bible.  It pretty much made me want to puke right away.  Here is the publisher’s description:  ”THE ONE BIBLE THAT SHOWS HOW ‘A LIGHT FROM ABOVE’ SHAPED OUR NATION. Never has a version of the Bible targeted the spiritual needs of those who love our country more than The American Patriot’s Bible. This extremely unique Bible shows how the history of the United States connects the people and events of the Bible to our lives in a modern world. The story of the United States is wonderfully woven into the teachings of the Bible and includes a beautiful full-color family record section, memorable images from our nation’s history and hundreds of enlightening articles which complement the New King James Version Bible text.”

This must include quite a selective reading of US history.  While there are many wonderful achievements that we can be proud of, we also have to remember that there’s an awful lot of repentance that still yet needs to be done.  As long as we continue to candy-coat our nation’s history, we continue to jeapordize not only our moral integrity but also our future.  As Brian McLaren recently commented:  ”When we in the US flatter ourselves with a mythologized national identity — seeing ourselves as the Chosen Nation, as Nature’s Nation, as a Christian Nation, as a Millennial Nation, and as an Innocent Nation — we make it more likely not only that we will behave unjustly, but that we will be ignorant and un-self-aware as we do so…When people tell me that we are or have been a Christian nation, I want to ask, ‘When?’ Was it in the colonial era or during westward expansion, when we began stealing the lands of the Native Americans, making and breaking treaties, killing wantonly, and justifying our actions by the Bible? Was it in the era of slavery or segregation, when again, we used the Bible to justify the unjustifiable? Was it in more recent history, when we dropped the first nuclear bomb and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, when we overthrew democratically elected governments in the Cold War era, when we plundered the environment without concern for the birds of the air or flowers of the field, or when we sanctioned or turned a blind eye to torture earlier this decade? Was it earlier this week, when I turned on the TV or radio and heard people scapegoating immigrants and gay people and Muslims? … Yes, our founding fathers (and mothers), even those who were Deists and not traditional Christians, drew deeply from their European-Christian history and heritage. Yes, our nation, like every nation has much to be proud of in our heritage, and I’m sure there are elements of Christian virtue to be found in nearly every neighborhood from coast to caost. But no, it would be inaccurate to look at American history and say it consistently and accurately has reflected the ethic of Jesus or even the highest ideals of the Christian religion. I don’t say this to downgrade America, but rather to uphold my belief that the label “Christian” means more than we have understood it to mean … and that in its best sense, a humble, Christian ethic upholds the motto “e pluribus unum” by respecting all people of all religions as neighbors and as equal bearers of the image and love of God. … In fact, I would say that the more we claim America is a Christian nation, the less we uphold the highest ideals of both authentic Christian faith and authentic American democracy.”

Publications like The American Patriot’s Bible draw me to what Rob Bell and Don Golden wrote about in Jesus Wants to Save Christians:  “When the commander in chief of the most powerful armed forces humanity has ever seen quotes the prophet Isaiah from the Bible in celebration of military victory…is this what Isaiah had in mind?” Jesus’ followers are all too often “claiming to be the voice of God, but they are speaking the language of Caesar and using the methods of Rome, and for millions of us it has the stench of Rome.”

Enough already with all the idols!

A nice blog post on all of this (by Greg Boyd) can be found here.