Charlie points to an article that Eric found by Brent Laytham, author of God Is Not: Religious, Nice, One of Us, an American, a Capitalist , which Charlie has just read.
I thought of Patrick Miller’s recent pamphlet on the first commandment. In The God You Have he differentiates between loyalty to others and obedience to God. Loyalty, he says, may appropriately be given to spouse, family, neighbor or country. It roots in and expands on the fifth commandment. Obedience, on the other hand, belongs to God and God alone. It is rooted in the absolutely fundamental claim of the first commandment. First commandment first; obedience before, beneath and beyond every loyalty. The problem with Miller’s categories is that, in Caesar’s hands, they can too easily become a distinction without a difference. In the U.S. there is assumed to be a smooth fit between discipleship and killing. That assumption, held so easily and unreflectively, trespasses against our obedience to God alone. I wonder whether my questioner understands that for descendants of Jeremiah and followers of Jesus, obedience to God may require us to refuse the state’s claim to our loyalty. Does the Department of Defense grant that my fundamental obligation is not loyalty to country but obedience to God? I doubt it. In such circumstances, where Caesar cannot distinguish between our proper subjection and our ultimate allegiance, it may be best to say bluntly, “A loyal American? Of course not. I’m a Christian!”
This last point from the above: “In such circumstances, where Caesar cannot distinguish between our proper subjection and our ultimate allegiance, it may be best to say bluntly, “A loyal American? Of course not. I’m a Christian!” is close to what I see Bonhoeffer doing in Germany during the rise of the Nazi regime, and as they , for Bonhoeffer, show some pretty clear signs of abuse of power from the get-go.
This is where I can make the most direct and appropriate link between our situation today as BushWorld impinges upon this quesiton of loyalty. For sure, the levels of evil cannot be equated, but “level” is not what interests me so much as the question of ultimate allegiance. Ultimate allegiance to God requires a refusal to cede that allegiance to any encroachment by the state. I picked up Bonhoeffer back in post Nov.2 becuase I wanted to know something more about how this political awareness dawned upon him. No matter what the extent of evil that propogates, the tragedy of six million Jews, added to the other millions of civilian casualties during World War II, simply does not negate nor render inconsequential the tragedy of Iraq, the tragedy of Bush’s aggressive tipping of the economic balance or “full-steam ahead” capitulation to the whims of corporate America is simply not “covered” by appealing to “well, that was so much worse, there’s no comparison”. JUst as obedience was called for in Nazi Germany, so obedience is called for in a Bush America (and surely, in America under “other than Bush”, which has never really operated as a nation truly “under God”. I had just typed, “never truly been a nation under God”, but I changed it to “never really operated as” , since it is actually true that America is “under God”, but BEING under God and living as such are two entirely different things. God IS the ultimate author and soveriegn over history. America and ALL nations are truly “under God”, and it is the curch that is called to witness to that fact by her life.
