Harbinger, whom I just discovered via JesusPolitics, has much to say about Civil Religion, and becries the loss of prophetic voices within mainline Christendom (and MAINSTREAM Christendom, which includes non-denominational masses that are a dream come true for the Bush administration, becuase they can be run without heirarchies that often tend, in mainline circles, to have a faithful few of their “bishops” and leaders that proclaim dissent as a Christian responsibility.

Harbinger: In the beginning was America, and America was with God, and America was God

civil religion leads to a weak ecclesiology, since if America is God’s agent and the primary locus of divine activity, there seems to be little role for a church, except as a cheerleader and chaplain to a supposedly “christian nation.” The result from all of this is bad politics and and an inability for the church to assume its mission of faithfulness to Jesus Christ. At the end of the day, ethnocentric policies are granted divine authorization and legitimation.

So crucial in our post 11/2 world, more than ever (since it ALWAYS been a legitimate role for the Church, but the level of Church alliance with Empire in the US today makes it CRITICAL for the survival of the Church as “faitful remnant”) is this ability to stand apart from the deceptions of EMPIRE. When Empire begins to enlist Churches in its support, and political leaders like Delay and others mouth pious theocratic platitudes, and Churches say that “this election is a clear choice between evil and good” (read: Bush is the obvious Choice), then it is more citical than ever. No, check that. It is more obvious than ever; it should awaken us to the insidious deceptions employed by those in power to keep this to themselves. Bush has brought this out into the light to an extent, by their brazen, arrogant, manipulative use of language, imagery, and media.