SUNDAY MORNING SERMON

SUNDAY MORNING SERMON

"YET IN THROWING OFF THE YOKE OF AN INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH, THE NEW NATION (United States), GRADUALLY DEVELOPED INTO A KIND OF CHURCH ITSELF. PATRIOTISM BECAME A FORM OF RELIGIOUS DEVOTION. THE FLAG WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A TOTEM. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS CAST AS A COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND HIS NEW CHOSEN PEOPLE. THE CONSTITUTION TOOK ON THE PATINA OF DIVINE SCRIPTURE.
FROM MANIFEST DESTINY TO THE WAR ON TERROR, THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE HAS ALWAYS BEEN INFUSED WITH A SENSE OF SACRED PURPOSE, A CONVICTION THAT AMERICA'S VALUES ARE GOD'S VALUES, MEANT FOR THE WHOLE OF THE WORLD."

Beyond Fundamentalism, Reza Aslan

AND SO, THIS IS WHAT WE GET. CHARLESTON. OKLAHOMA CITY. YOUNG MALES, RADICALIZED BY RIGHT-WING POLITICIANS AND PARENTS INTO BELIEVING THEY ARE CARRYING OUT THE WILL OF GOD BY KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE. THE WHOLE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN FOR THE PRESIDENCY WILL CONVINCE YOU OF THIS. IT IS A COSMIC WAR, FOUGHT IN THE NAME OF GOD, NOT UNLIKE THE TERRORISTS WE SO MUCH FEAR. IT IS HOME-BRED, AND RESTS SQUARELY ON THE BACKS OF THE NRA, RIGHT-WING POLITICIANS, AND PARENTS WHO TEACH HATRED TO THEIR CHILDREN. IT WILL TAKE A CONCERTED EFFORT TO BEAT THIS HOLY ARMY. BUT THRU COMPASSION, COMMITMENT, NONVIOLENCE, AND LOVE, GOOD WILL PREVAIL.