Is America a great nation?
I hear many people wanting to talk about how America was once great and is now not great, or how America has fallen from greatness. And I'm left to wonder, how do you define greatness?
Possible answers:
Economy. Gross national product, exports, per capita income, upward mobility, strong middle class, low income inequality, employment, low inflation??
Military strength. Largest army, most advanced weapons, plenty of nukes in the silos, winning the wars the nation chooses to fight?
Is it defined by following a moral code, or by religion? Is it because America is good? Being a "Christian nation", whatever the hell that means? Leading the world in the new morality, treating everyone with equality? Holding on to the old morality? More progressive? More socialist? Less progressive? Less socialist? Low crime? High adherence to a religion "and I don't care what it is"
To those who claim that we were born a Christian Nation, although I understand your arguments in favor of that, I have to question how deep the Christian ethic sunk in, in a nation whose history is splattered with the blood drawn from the whip on the back of the black man, and the blood of the red man as we crossed the borders and broke every treaty we made with them.
I think America's value as a nation has to do with its commitment to spread the gospel and support of Israel. As we do less of both, I think the consequences are evident. However, we were once great. We have done great things, but not perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your last paragraph, but I think God's mercy has been evident. Lincoln was one such agent of God's mercy.