*Sightings* 7/19/10

Jesus and America

— Martin E. Marty

 ¢â‚¬Å“If you would like to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, Call Need Him
Ministry. ¢â‚¬  That invitation appears at the bottom of a full-page Hobby Lobby
ad that ran in scores, if not hundreds, of newspapers a fortnight ago,
appropriately on the Fourth of July. More prominent was the motto in the
middle of the big page, in bold type: IN GOD WE TRUST. The juxtaposition
of the Jesus-invitation and the America-claim inspires some
reflection. Nowadays, writers have to  ¢â‚¬Å“declare an interest, ¢â‚¬  so I ¢â‚¬â„¢ll declare mine. I  ¢â‚¬Å“came to
know Jesus as Lord and Savior ¢â‚¬  on February 26, 1928  ¢â‚¬“ at baptism  ¢â‚¬“ and grew
a bit in that knowledge as years have passed, so the phrase is fine with me.
As for  ¢â‚¬Å“In God  ¢â‚¬ËœWe ¢â‚¬â„¢ ¢â‚¬ ¦,” I am never sure how inclusive the  ¢â‚¬ËœWe ¢â‚¬â„¢ may be. From
what I ¢â‚¬â„¢ve read of the Hobby Lobby people, I am not sure non-Christians or
the wrong kind of Christians would be included, but we can generously treat
it generically, keeping the boundaries vague.

Around the bold motto are portraits of four founders of the United States,
all of whom trusted in God, however defined  ¢â‚¬“ and they did their own
defining. (In smaller print under them, without picture, is also a word
from former President Ronald Reagan, but let ¢â‚¬â„¢s stick to the founders ¢â‚¬â„¢
point.) George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin
Franklin all receive three- to five-line spaces for testimony connecting God
with  ¢â‚¬Å“all nations ¢â‚¬  (Washington), with  ¢â‚¬Å“a moral and religious people (Adams),
 ¢â‚¬Å“a people ¢â‚¬  and  ¢â‚¬Å“my country ¢â‚¬  (Jefferson), and  ¢â‚¬Å“the affairs of men ¢â‚¬  plus  ¢â‚¬Å“an
empire ¢â‚¬  (Franklin). The Hobby Lobby people have enough integrity not to try
to smuggle in a reference to Jesus as Lord and Savior in the  ¢â‚¬Å“Founders ¢â‚¬  part
of the ad.

Bloggers, as you can easily find, are passionately pro or con the idea of
the ad. I, for one, would argue that this is a legitimate way to witness: not
through privileging Christian testimony, but by letting free marketers in
religion use non-coercive, non-governmental instruments. The fact that this
kind of ad is quite rare, however, illustrates why the courts get so many
cases dealing with Jesus in the civil realm. The  ¢â‚¬Å“Christmas wars ¢â‚¬  are not
about cr ƒ ¨ches on the 30,000 lawns of a city, but on the 300 square feet of
everybody ¢â‚¬â„¢s  ¢â‚¬Å“civil space ¢â‚¬  on the court house lawn.

The rest of the controversy deals with the four founders and their
faiths. Many bloggers quote fake lines or distort what was said, in efforts to
 ¢â‚¬Å“Christianize ¢â‚¬  the big four. That won ¢â‚¬â„¢t work. And contenders against them
often make the mistake of trying to fit the four into a groove called
 ¢â‚¬Å“Deism. ¢â‚¬  They did have many things in common with Deist belief. If Deists
had a church, Franklin could have served as a creed-maker. Unitarians did
have a church and Jefferson let his contemporaries know that he felt at home
there, where Jesus was not Lord and Savior but a humanist-ethicist ¢â‚¬â„¢s dream.

It ¢â‚¬â„¢s wiser to keep Founders ¢â‚¬â„¢ beliefs vague, as they did. Jefferson once
told the Delaware Indians it ¢â‚¬â„¢d be nice for them to know about Jesus ¢â‚¬â„¢
religion, but dropped the subject after one line. The Founders all believed
that morality was important for the republic  ¢â‚¬“ of course!  ¢â‚¬“ and some of them
sometimes linked  ¢â‚¬Å“morality ¢â‚¬  with  ¢â‚¬Å“religion, ¢â‚¬  still in that vague way. Franklin
wittily ducked the Jesus-as-divine question, but believed in God the way  ¢â‚¬“
oops!  ¢â‚¬“Deists did. Bottom line: Let Hobby Lobby invite you to Jesus. It ¢â‚¬â„¢s
a free country. Let their ads help them swell the coffers of newspapers,
which desperately need advertisements. And we keep enjoying a republic
where debates over religion, God, Jesus, and the public order can so openly
occur.

*For Further Information*:

Click here to watch Glenn Beck discuss George Washington’s faith with Peter
Lillback, author of the bestselling *George* *Washington’s Fire: *
http://www.arlingtoncardinal.com/2010/05/19/glenn-beck-endorses-book-george-washingtons-sacred-fire-book-climbs-from-450000-rank-to-1-in-books/

*. *

Martin E. Marty’s biography, current projects, publications, and contact
information can be found at www.illuminos.com.

*Sightings* comes from the Martin Marty
Centerat the University of
Chicago Divinity School.

Attribution

Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author
of the column, *Sightings*, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of
Chicago Divinity School.

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And now, visit here for the religious affiliation of the Founding Fathers