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Last week, I introduced some ideas that might have been challenging. That’s part of my schtick. I like to poke and prod, and in that prodding, I hope that truth might come to light. But, as I reflected, I realized that I might have pulled my punches just a bit too much. I looked back at how my heroes responded in times of tumult, and I decided I wanted to be more like them, using my voice to pursue justice rather than sitting on the sidelines in a comfortable, gilded sanctuary. The stakes are feeling too real for polite religiosity with no fangs. I’m coming to play today.

I speak directly to those whose faith has become interwoven with the policies and procedures of the current administration. I speak to those who believe God’s hand is guiding Donald Trump and those serving at his pleasure. I speak to all those who believe that the most Christian response to perceived social ills was to support and elect a convicted sexual abuser with a documented history of deception and malfeasance that rivals the most successful enterprise of organized crime. I speak to you, and ask you to once again consider the question, “Who owns your soul?”

When I see followers of Jesus Christ who have traded his Lordship for patriotism, I wonder what happened that made them trade their primary allegiance for something subordinate and artificial. Truly, the impulse to trade spiritual fidelity for nationalistic identity is an affront to the Crucified God, in whose humble self-sacrifice humanity became intrinsically, inextricably unified: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

A Christian’s identity simply cannot be rooted in citizenship to any nation-state, entities which, more often than not, thrive because of their willingness to use violence to secure their power. As St. Peter has said, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

Followers of Jesus are subject to this truth and take for their instruction Jesus’ teaching on serving two masters: “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Though the context of this teaching is a discourse on wealth, the core teaching is clear: allegiance belongs to God alone and cannot be shared.

Followers of Jesus take as their mantra the Gospel proclamation ‘Jesus is Lord.’ Where once the phrase ‘Caesar is Lord’ resounded through the streets of the Roman Empire, heralding the majesty of the Emperor, the early Christians subverted this phrase as they recognized the fundamental inability of a Christian to offer meaningful political allegiance to any earthly power.

Followers of Jesus take as their example and guide Christians from the first centuries of the Common Era. When faced with an order by the Emperor Decius to burn incense before images of Roman deities and the Emperor himself, thereby solidifying their allegiance to Roman power, many of these earliest Christians chose to face death rather than compromise their allegiance to Jesus. Pope Fabian, who once lived at peace alongside the Roman hierarchy, was one of those martyrs. Knowing that allegiance to Jesus could be shared with no other, he finished his life in prison for refusing to offer obedience to the Emperor.

For Christians living in 21st century America, the cost of discipleship is not as life-threatening as it was for those early martyrs. National allegiance isn’t demanded at marble altars with incense and prayers. And yet, the same basic question remains: How can one offer unquestioning and unconditional allegiance to a nation-state and still hope to make good on the promise of singular allegiance to Jesus? What image has pride of place upon the altar of our hearts? Is it Jesus, or is it an American flag?

To say all of this is not to advocate for the withdrawal of Christians from the United States of America. Rather, it attempts to point out the obvious: citizenship in a nation-state cannot be on equal footing with one’s Christian identity. One needs to look only at the manipulation of national identity under the Nazi regime to understand the absolute danger of privileging and sacralizing national identity. The German Church forsook its commitment to the Crucified God precisely because of its commitment to Nazi ideology and the adherence to the idea that God had called Adolf Hitler to act on God’s behalf.

Again, I’m not advocating for Christians to refuse engagement with the social locations in which we find ourselves. When the laws and policies of the society run counter to the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ, it behooves a Christian to work for their repeal. From petitions to polling places, we must strive to make our society more just and more dignified for all, especially for the marginalized and mistreated. But in doing so, one must not succumb to the idolatry of American exceptionalism as a driving force for our desire to see justice prevail. Far too often, I hear Christians hoping for the reclamation of the American soul. It’s happened in our most recent presidential elections, and it will indeed happen again.

I am not interested in the reclamation of the American soul. America was a nation birthed in blood, racism, and theft. It has no soul to reclaim, for it had no soul to begin with. I am interested in dignity, justice, and inclusion because they are values that are consistent with the witness of Jesus Christ. My social location is the United States of America. My allegiance is to Jesus Christ. I cannot, and will not, offer my allegiance, conditional or unconditional, to a nation-state that has proved time and again that it is fundamentally uninterested in the dignity of the poor, the non-white, and those unwilling to offer obeisance to the false idol of unquestioning patriotism.

In these dark days, what is needed most is not the shining light of idealized American liberty. We need the light given off by those who are aflame with the seditiousness of a Christian social ethic willing to confront the State.

To close, I offer a section from ‘Declaration of Sentiments Adopted by the Peace Convention, Held in Boston in 1838’. It was written by and for Quakers, from whom those who claim allegiance to Jesus Christ have much to learn:
“We cannot acknowledge allegiance to any human government…. We recognize but one King and Lawgiver, one Judge and Ruler of mankind….
Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind. We love the land of our nativity only as we love all other lands. The interests, rights, and liberties of American citizens are no more dear to us than are those of the whole human race.”
Chris Adams is the Rector at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Washington.