On May 17th, there was a Prayer Rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. with the goal of rededicating our country to be “one nation under God.”  

Now to be clear, I’m all for a nation dedicating itself to the work of God.  The trouble comes when the definitions of prayer, God, and religious freedom are generated by people with a political agenda that would leave Jesus scratching his head.

It seems to me that anytime you have a “national” prayer event, you need to keep in mind that there are 342.5 million Americans today who come from many, many different backgrounds and religious traditions.  Honoring that diversity has to be foundational.  The National Prayer Rally, however, was strictly Christian (of a certain brand) and consequently excluded millions of Americans right off the bat.  

There were also strong overtones of hostility toward the separation of church and state.  Presumably this was because eliminating that bedrock idea would help define which “God” our nation is “under.”  Right now, the only way for that phrase to resonate with everyone is for it to apply to every American’s image of God; from Christian fundamentalists to Native American indigenous religions.  That’s a real problem for those organizing rallies like this.

Removing the separation of church and state would help their agenda but it would also be disastrous.  Not only would allow the state to dictate policy to religious communities but it would also create a de-facto state religion of the government’s choosing.  And we’ve seen how well that works in other parts of the world.  

To the thousands who joined the Prayer Rally on May 17^th there is only one true religion and that is Christianity but it is not a Christianity that many of us in the United Church of Christ would recognize.  It is a Christianity that considers other faiths to be simply wrong at best or in need of removal at worst.  Tragically, to those with no religious affiliation, this has become the face of our faith because it finds validation from those in power.

This is why, more and more, Sunday mornings here at FCC have become a time to recover our collective sanity, to remember that you can only warp the concepts of right and wrong so far before they snap, and to celebrate a God who created all religions, all people, and all cultures with beauty and something valuable to offer.

If you work to silence diversity and dehumanize the “other” –all in the name of serving God– you will quickly find that you are serving a very small and very angry “god” who has no time for empathy let alone love and may well reflect what you see in your own mirror. 

God help us if we are ever reduced to “living under” such a “god.”