{"id":53123,"date":"2023-08-11T21:45:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T21:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/forusa\/?p=53123"},"modified":"2023-09-11T14:16:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T14:16:53","slug":"god-versus-the-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/forusa\/2023\/08\/god-versus-the-group\/","title":{"rendered":"God versus the group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cO say can you see\u201d stood in the place where God should be \u2014 and it didn’t wave but passively stood, planted and seemingly unmovable, across from the Christian flag that is also red, white and blue. This is the scene in so many Christian houses of worship across the country. It not only serves as a reminder to the congregants that they are in America, but quietly and effectively offers the assertion that America is a Christian country, founded on Christian principles and being a good American necessitates being a Christian. Or, in the synagogue, two flags often stand on the bimah, an American one and the Star of David \u2014 confirming not only American loyalty, but loyalty to another country and to another political ideology. These symbols are not too subtle, and the implied message is God and country\u2026and country or countries are on the same level as God.<\/p>\n\n\n

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According to all our theologies there is no god greater than God, and we share a timeless struggle against idol worship in all its manifestations. We caution against worshipping money and riches, against pride and arrogance; we call for humility and the extension of love to our neighbors down the street and across the globe. We pray to keep God before us and above us, and seek to be accountable to that God. We strive to create a synthesis between our daily living and our worship, and seek to allow nothing to supplant the prominence of God in our lives. Yet on these altars, these places that are set high and represent the loftiness and sacredness of God, stand symbols of nationalistic pride. They are placed in the place where the spirit and concept of God alone should reside, and we are therefore declaring that God must share sacred space with nationalistic symbols of pride, arrogance and militarism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some would suggest that this is simply patriotism. But patriotism placed on the altar alongside the conceptual sacredness of God is the height of idolatry, and in Christian text we are taught \u201cNo one can serve two masters\u2026\u201d (Matthew 6.24) Messages conveyed in sacred settings subtly and yet strongly enculturate participants without people even realizing that their thinking and perspectives are altered in the environment by the images, words and other expressions presented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been fierce arguments about the gender and race of God, because religious culture has usually asserted the maleness and whiteness of God. In the Black church, for example, there has been a reticence to allow a white Jesus to collect the dust of obsolescence. The reason is that people have for centuries seen images of a white Jesus, and that image has been affirmed by the brutality, colonialism, and cultural construction of white supremacy. The late feminist theologian Mary Daly wrote in her famous book \u201cBeyond God the Father, Towards a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation,\u201d \u201cIf God is male, then the male is God.\u201d She outlined the issue of images and language, and discussed how we are captive and alienated because of those images and expressions. In the same way, the church\u2019s portrayal of God (Jesus) as a blond, blue-eyed European for so many years has impacted the human psyche. To paraphrase Mary Daly, \u201cIf God is white, then white is God.\u201d This would be an adequate and fair translation of Daly’s logic orientated towards race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n