Broken America

I was raised in the same way as many of my age peers when it comes to how we think about America.  We were raised to think of ourselves as the good guys.  The guys who fought on the side of truth, justice and the American way (whatever that means).

In my lifetime, the nation has engaged in activities that could call into question whether or not we are really the good guys.  The Vietnam War, Jim Crow laws, the Kent State murders, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, the Watergate scandal, the Iran-Contra scandal, the war in Iraq, those are just a few.

And there has been a lack of progress that could call into question whether or not America is one of the "good" guys.  Stalled civil rights progress, pay equality for women and minorities, a high infant mortality rate, terrible gun violence, a ridiculously high incarceration rate, poor education systems, failure to provide necessary and appropriate veteran services for those we have damaged by sending them to war, a sampling of a longer list.

And yet, through all that, I listen to Americans say we are a good and great nation, and argue that we should embrace that we are a Christian nation.

I continue to cling to the idea that there are more people who want to do good than people who want to do bad both in the world and in America.

Unfortunately, there is a very loud and vocal contingent of Americans who support what I feel are bad things.  And the worst thing about these Americans is that most of them profess to be Christians.  There is support for torturing prisoners.  There is support for turning our backs on the current refugee crisis and closing our borders to Syrian refugees.  There is support for de-funding Planned Parenthood, which provides birth control and cancer screenings to thousands of Americans.  There is support for repealing the Affordable Care Act, leaving millions of Americans without health insurance.

Torture is not Christian.  Torture does not fit into any dialogue where Americans are the good guys.  Torture is evil.  There is not a spin that makes torture acceptable.

And there is one aspect of allowing and supporting torture that I have not heard anyone address.  What damage do you do to the person administering the torture?  How does someone who has sacrificed their humanity to the point that they can torture a fellow human being ever interact appropriately in society again?  Do they become just more of the human refuse in America that is already uncared for?  And may I add; many of whom are military veterans?

Caring for refugees and the unwanted and unloved is a primary duty of Christians.    Christians are not supposed to be afraid to love; we are supposed to choose love and service and allay our fears with trust in the Lord.

Christians are supposed to care for the sick and the needy.

I'm at the point where I really could care less if people want to be filled with hate instead of love.  If they want America to turn into a hate mongering self centered nation, I can fight them, but I can't stop them.

But I'm sick and tired of hearing people full of hate and fear and possessing a loud and regularly repeated desire to hurt other people call themselves Christians and America a Christian nation.

America is not even a "full" democracy anymore; we have been downgraded to a "flawed" democracy.

The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one.  Until those of us in America want to be the good guys again commit to truth, justice and the American way, and commit to calling out those who would spew hate and division, we are a broken America.  We are not acting like the good guys.

I still believe there are more people who want good and who do good than there are people who want bad and who do bad.  It is time for us to get noisy.