Reconciling Our History

The Fourth of July is usually a day of picnics—hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill; potato salad and potato chips; red-white-and-blue desserts. We gather with friends and family. We enjoy a day off from work. And the day usually culminates in fireworks displays. Kids always think these are the best part of the day. The loud and colorful pyrotechnics are our way of saying “Happy Birthday” to this nation we live in.

I grew up celebrating with picnics and fireworks. When I was a kid, the Fourth wasn’t much more than a day  of food and swimming and having fun. As I grew up, I was taught to celebrate how great the United States is, to show my loyalty and gratitude without question. It was easy to do when I didn’t understand the whole story.

Now my feelings about the Fourth of July are mixed.

I’m grateful to have been born and raised here. I’m glad to know the freedoms of living in a democracy. I hope for the courage the signers of the Declaration of Independence had as they, British subjects, committed treason in hopes of building a better world for their children.

As I celebrate, however, I also choose to reflect on the context in which that declaration was signed. While watching the 2016 “reboot” of the miniseries Roots, I was struck by one scene (it starts at about the one-minute mark in this video) in particular. As an enslaved black man drives his white master, they meet another white man who informs them that the war (what we now call the Revolutionary War) is over. The white men celebrate together, the master even shouting, “Long live freedom” to the delight of other white people.

The irony of this moment is cruel. White men fought for the freedom they wanted while denying it to black men and women kidnapped from Africa. And these same white men were seeking to build a new country on land stolen from indigenous people.

I was homeschooled for most of my elementary school years. The history books we used focused on the faith of the United States’ founding fathers. We learned about how God blessed their efforts because of that faith. I even remember reading stories about how God used the weather to help the Continental Army win certain battles. It felt good to believe God loved the people of the United States enough to be involved with the birth of the nation.

Now I’m not so sure.

First, does God favor some nations over others? The Old Testament writers tell stories of God choosing and blessing the nation of Israel in particular. But mixed in there is this promise: “and you will be a blessing to others” (Genesis 12:2 NLT). By the end of the New Testament, the phrase “God’s people” is defined more broadly as those who believe Jesus is the Son of God. This group is made up of people from many places as the message of the gospel goes out “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NLT).

I’ve heard people compare the United States to Israel, calling it God’s chosen nation. The United States is not Israel; the church is Israel, “a chosen people…God’s very own possession” (1 Peter 2:9 NLT). If God is with and for his people, and his people are in many different nations, why would he choose to bless one more than another?

Second, does God bless actions that do good for some while harming others? As they worked to create a democracy that would benefit white people, the founding fathers, these “men of faith,” stripped non-white people of their dignity in both word and deed. The United States of America was built on the backs of slaves as native people were killed and removed from their ancestral lands so white people could live there instead. The Declaration of Independence calls these native people “merciless Indian savages.” The Constitution initially defined a black person as worth three-fifths of a white person.

How could God possibly condone actions such as these?

Perhaps God experienced the same cognitive dissonance I experience now when I reflect on the birth of this country. Did he watch this all unfold with a mix of joy and dread? Did he cheer for the good decisions and weep over the evil?

I struggle to reconcile the good things with the bad. It’s a tension that can’t be resolved without giving in to either blind patriotism or total cynicism. This unresolved tension is uncomfortable but necessary.

For me, managing this tension is a matter of faith.

I choose to celebrate the aspects of U.S. history in line with what God has shown me about loving others—justice and freedom from oppression and the opportunity to be their whole selves. But I also lament for the wrong that was done then, and I lament the ways these wrongs persist even today. I choose to live in the tension I feel about this country. I believe this is part of what it means to be someone who aims to follow Jesus while also living in the United States of America.

Katie Mumper is a daughter, sister, friend, writer, and singer. She loves Jesus, music, books, and great TV shows. Because she’s far from perfect, she is grateful for God’s grace in her life. She writes with the hope that others might be encouraged to let God make them new as well. You can read more of her work at beautyrestored.me.

Photograph © Chinh Le, used with permission