FameBright
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- Jan 20, 2021
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Very informative. Thank you!The phrase "American Christianity" means more than just Christianity in America. It refers to a peculiar and particular way in which Christianity often exists within the context of American culture, politics, and the ways in which America-ness intersects with Christian-ness.
Here's an example of "American Christianity": About 15-20 years ago I was in a debate with my dad. I asked my dad a question, I asked him "Which is more sacred, the Cross or the American flag?" And his response was that they were equally sacred. That, in my mind, encapsulates the problem of American Christianity, and why "American Christianity" is peculiar, weird, and in a deep state of spiritual decay.
The other example I think about comes from a story told by Eberhard Bethge, one of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's students, close friend, and later biographer and responsible for the publication of most of Bonhoeffer's writings. Bethge, in the 1970's visited the United States, and was invited by Jerry Falwell to his church in Lynchburg, VA. When visiting Falwell's church, Bethge and his family noticed a blending of American patriotic symbols and Christian language and symbols. It was something Bethge was taken aback by, it shocked him. Because the last time he saw that kind of blending between nationalistic symbols and religious symbols was Germany in the 1930's. And he was disturbed by the idea of Jesus Christ being transformed into a kind of "American Jesus".
American Christianity--and I say this as a Christian in America--is often at best weird, and at worst idolatrous and blasphemous.
-CryptoLutheran
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