And they are unconsciously so blinded by Americanism that they unthinkingly dismiss anything in the words of Jesus Christ or Church teaching that challenges their faith in America, in its exceptionalism and goodness.
I stumbled across this quote on a Catholic site, referencing a certain type of Catholic, in the context of their support for a particular Presidential candidate. The warning here, of course, is not just for Catholics. Such thinking--perhaps our nation's besetting sin--is commonplace across the American religious landscape, Orthodoxy included.
The article can be found here.
4 comments:
Ethnophyletism was pronounced a heresy because of the eastern Church's identification of "race" and faith. Perhaps America will become the next "Orthodox national heresy": politicophyletism.
Sometimes people confuse the flag and the Cross.
I recently took part in a synchroblog, and I think I was the only non-American to do so. I remarked afterwards that the synchrblogs and the invitations to them seemed to have become too US Centric. An Australian agreed with me, and we were roundly attacked for being mysogynist!
This American exceptionalism seems to be rife, but if one points it out, one is accused of being anti-American. Yet your blog seems to be free of it, it is not a universal characteristics of Americans or American bloggers. So if I haven't already invited you, I'd like to invite you to take part on a synchroblog on theology and human rights on April 26. Hope you can join us.
"Sometimes people confuse the flag and the Cross."
And some countries have a flag with a cross on them (double the confusion!!)... although most of them are nowadays super-post-Christian (to the max)
Perhaps in these years of global belt-tightening the US could exchange all that chest-thumping jingoistic exceptionalism into a little more humility and thankfulness to the Almighty who has blessed the country so richly in the past.
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