It is so easy to be cynical in this hyper-partisan period to see “the other” – whether it is the other political side, another religious side, another racial side, it doesn’t matter, as “the enemy,” forgetting that Americans are not each others’ enemies. When 18-year-olds stormed the beaches of Normandy, they didn’t worry about who was Jewish, Christian, Republican, or Democrat – they were Americans. Somewhere along the way, we lost that.

I sure hope it’s not that we don’t have a common enemy outside the U.S., though some might point to winning the Cold War as the beginning of the shift. Having no outside enemy to find, some of us looked inside.

I fully admit that I slumped when I saw the beginning of the above tweet and saw the pastor of what looks like an Evangelical church. I expected to hear what amounted to a Trump speech in disguise. Against my cynical expectations, I got the opposite along with a sense of shame.

Pastor Loran Livingston spoke out strongly against the “Trump Bible” published with Lee Greenwood, a Bible meant to raise money for the Trump campaign and one that includes the American Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance, and Lee Greenwood’s iconic Proud to Be an American song.

You can get one for $60.00.

In short, Livingston’s message is one that believers and non-believers should take to heart. The Christian Bible belongs to Jesus and his faithful, while the Constitution et. al., belongs to all of us as Americans. One should not mix the two – a lesson I need to take to heart as much as anyone.

But Livingston says it better:

“Some of you bring politics into the church. You think that politics is spiritual stuff. Politics is of this world.

One is reminded of the stories of pastors talking about why congregants are complaining about “woke” teachings at church with the retort, “these are literally the words of Jesus Christ,” only to hear, “Well that doesn’t work anymore.”

You think it’s your duty to be political about this, that, and the other. No, your duty is to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, body, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Don’t be talking to me about my spiritual responsibility to vote. I don’t have a spiritual responsibility to vote. I have a civic privilege.

Again, believer (and I am) or not – this is what this country was founded on: the idea that your religion belongs to you and you alone, no matter the religion, but we all share our civic duty, even as we disagree. The principle is never more powerful than when one pledges their loyalty to the Constitution even above the country. Countries fail. The Constitution has a legal means by which to change it or even start anew. It is the rule of law. Ultimately, Americans pledge to that rule of law, not a country, person, state, or city. It cannot fail. Only we can.

As for answering to a higher authority, some of us do – but only in accord with the one below. The law is written so as to not be incompatible.

Don’t be telling me that voting is spiritual. See, that’s what happens when you don’t read and pray. When you don’t read and pray, you say, wow, there’s a Bible out now that includes the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Isn’t that wonderful? No. No, it’s disgusting. It’s blasphemous. It’s a ploy. Are you kidding me? Some of you are so encouraged by that?

Let me tell you something. The gospel is not an American gospel. It is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, you don’t have to be a believer to believe in this message. The Constitution and civics are a consistent commitment among inconsistent faiths and even inconsistent civic policies and parties. Our Constitution allows one to find one’s own path to whatever one seeks.

It is blasphemous in the truest sense of the word to believe that your faith, politics, or religion is the only “right way” – and that’s a bit hard to swallow as a liberal who writes about conservatives.

But here is something easy to swallow. If a foreign nation attacked tomorrow – we’ll use China as an example, I would bet anything that all political leanings would drop – for a time, at least – as everyone bands together as Americans, rich and poor, Christian and Jewish, black and white… If only it didn’t take a common enemy. If only we could do it out of common commitment to countrymen.

Pastor Loran Livingston tore the church up with this one. pic.twitter.com/jwG9A0fkFL

— Howard Henderson (@hhendersonphd) April 22, 2024

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Jason Miciak is Executive Editor of Political Flare and Editor at Large at Occupy Democrats, he can be reached at [email protected]