July 4, 2005
“There is a newly diagnosed disease spreading throughout America. I call it “Christo-phobia”. It is a form of schizophrenia, a disease the dictionary defines as “withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations”. This national tragedy results from the growing desire, indeed the need, by many to deny our nation’s spiritual roots. The disease is spreading to our legislatures and courts, where ruling after ruling and law after law attempt to prove we are NOT a Christian nation. We cannot display the Ten Commandments in government buildings, we cannot place the cross on public grounds, we cannot pray in our schools, and we cannot speak the name of Jesus Christ in public forums, lest we offend someone.
Please understand, I affirm the freedom OF religion, the right of people in all faiths to worship in America as they choose. I even affirm the freedom FROM religion for those who elect no religion at all. I would never want to offend anyone who does not share our Judeo-Christian heritage. At the same time, I would never expect anyone to deny me the Judeo-Christian heritage upon which this nation was founded. I do not see, nor do I expect, to find Saudi Arabia apologizing for being Islamic; Israel apologizing for being Jewish; or Italy apologizing for being predominately Catholic. Yet the United States seems to have a huge spiritual identity crisis. We are spiritually schizophrenic, withdrawing from the reality of who we are.
My parents taught me “Never forget where you came from!” I know a few folks who left Yazoo City, took on the “airs” and dialect of New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. They live in fear someone will learn that they came from humble beginnings. Heck, I am just a Yokel from Yazoo, saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. I am proud of who I am and where I came from, both geographically and spiritually. Too bad our nation seems to be forgetting who we are and where we came from.
In our attempt to become “broad minded,” I fear we have become somewhat “flat headed”. We redact (re-write) our heritage, saying the founding fathers were “just Deists” and, therefore, all this “Christian stuff” tied up in our history is misguided. How foolish! The Spanish and Italian explorers came to this continent to bring Christianity as much as to find new worlds. The Pilgrims and early settlers came to these shores to escape religious persecution and find the freedom to worship as one chooses.
General Michael Dickson, my great-great-great-great grandfather, was one of the fifty-five delegates and alternates who assembled at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774 at the request of Benjamin Franklin for the Continental Congress; the Colonies’ first attempt to unite for political and religious freedom. I fear Grandpa Dickson, along with fellow delegates George Washington, John and Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and John Jay would roll over in their graves if they know how far we have deviated from what, at great personal peril, they set in motion.
Finally, I believe church and state should maintain a respectable distance form each other. However, no where do I see that church and PATRIOTISM should remain separate. It’s time we Christians awake from our sleep, stand up, affirm and advance the great heritage that our founding fathers passed to us! “I’m proud to be a Christian American!”
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