I doubt it. The scriptures are fairly clear on the matter. But isn't this more indicative that USA is becoming a more ungodly nation than many of its leaders would care to think. We should be expecting ungodly practices in an ungodly nation.
As someone who is pretty familiar with the history of my own country, I think it's pretty safe to say that the US has never been what one might call "a godly nation". From the Atlantic slave trade, the genocide of Native Americans, to Jim Crow, to segregation, to the fighting unjust wars.
If you want to know the "moral strength" of a society, you have to look at how that society treats "the least of these".
What has been the historic treatment of minority groups and the poor in America?
The answer to that is that it's been extremely poor.
Those who imagine a bygone golden age of a great, godly American nation are looking through the rose-tinted lenses of privilege and power. Which, if we read the Bible, we should know how God thinks about those things (answer: not much).
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Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it." - Ezekiel 16:49-50
The ancient Jewish sages explore the abominations and depravity of Sodom in several ways,
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There are four types of character in human beings: One that says: “mine is mine, and yours is yours”: this is a commonplace type; and some say this is a Sodom-type of character. [One that says:] “mine is yours and yours is mine”: is an unlearned person (am haaretz); [One that says:] “mine is yours and yours is yours” is a pious person. [One that says:] “mine is mine, and yours is mine” is a wicked person." -
Mishnah, Avot 5:10
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The Sages taught: The people of Sodom became haughty and sinned due only to the excessive goodness that the Holy One, Blessed be He, bestowed upon them. And what is written concerning them, indicating that goodness? “As for the earth, out of it comes bread, and underneath it is turned up as it were by fire. Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold. That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon’s eye seen it. The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor has the lion passed thereby” (Job 28:5–8). The reference is to the city of Sodom, which was later overturned, as it is stated thereafter: “He puts forth His hand upon the flinty rock; He overturns the mountains by the roots” (Job 28:9).
The people of Sodom said: Since we live in a land from which bread comes and has the dust of gold, we have everything that we need. Why do we need travelers, as they come only to divest us of our property? Come, let us cause the proper treatment of travelers to be forgotten from our land, as it is stated: “He breaks open a watercourse in a place far from inhabitants, forgotten by pedestrians, they are dried up, they have moved away from men” (Job 28:4).
Rava taught: What is the meaning of that which is written: “How long will you seek to overwhelm a man? You will all be murdered like a leaning wall or a tottering fence” (Psalms 62:4)? This teaches that the people of Sodom set their sights on property owners. They would take one and place him alongside an inclined, flimsy wall that was about to fall, and push it upon him to kill him, and then they would come and take his property.
Rava taught: What is the meaning of that which is written: “In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they know not the light” (Job 24:16)? This teaches that they would set their sights on property owners. They would take one and they would give him balsam, whose smell diffuses, and the property owner would place it in his treasury. In the evening, the people of Sodom would come and sniff it out like a dog and discover the location of the property owner’s treasury, as it is stated: “They return at evening; they howl like a dog, and go round about the city” (Psalms 59:7). And after discovering the location they would come and dig there, and they would take that property.
The Gemara cites verses that allude to the practices of the people of Sodom: “They lie at night naked without clothing, and they have no covering in the cold” (Job 24:7). And likewise: “They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox as a pledge” (Job 24:3). And likewise: “They trespass; they violently steal flocks and graze them” (Job 24:2). And likewise: “For he is brought to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb” (Job 21:32)." -
Talmud, Sanhedrin 109a
I only offer this as helpful ancient context. Consistently the sins of Sodom are described as the sins of a people who were blessed with prosperity and food, but who mistreated the poor and the needy; and who would go out of their way to cause more harm.
Why did God destroy Sodom? Because they had been blessed with so much wealth and yet they kept all of it to themselves, the rich got richer, the poor got poorer, the hungry were not fed, and they mistreated and abused the poor, the hungry, and the visitor.
This is why in Genesis the story of Sodom comes immediately after the story of Abraham's hospitality. Visitors came to Abraham, and Abraham welcomed them and prepared a lavish feast for them, making them honored guests that were taken care of and well fed. In contrast the Sodomites sought to violently attack the visitors coming to Lot. The Sodomites would choose to act worse than brute beasts toward visitors than to simply provide any semblance of hospitality.
So, as I said earlier in my post, if you want to know the moral strength of a society, look to how that society treats the least of these--how it treats the poor, the outcasts, minorities, and strangers.
-CryptoLutheran
