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| American Flag displayed at Howard County Vietnam Veteran's Grounds, Greentown, IN |
One of my favorite memories was sitting in the living room in '75 and '76, watching CBS and especially being interested in the short segment "200 Years Ago Today..." Just as impactful was seeing a sign on a door of a business in beautiful downtown Cottonwood, AZ during that time, which read "200 Years ago today, on this very spot, not a thing happened."
A few years later, I saw a news special on New Year's Eve, 1979 looking at the decade of the 70's, and covering three events that defined that decade. Those were, I believe, the covert war in Laos (I could be wrong about this one), the resignation of President Nixon, and the celebration of the Bicentennial.
Fast forward half a century. I'm still around. But do I see the same attention given that they did 50 years earlier? Do I see "250 Years Ago Today" on TV? No. Thought that might be because I don't watch TV. Neither do I see signs letting you know that nothing happened on that spot 250 years ago.
I'll admit that I don't feel the same jubilation because I'm not where I see it promoted. Nothing got me excited about it. That fact depresses me: I do want to be celebrant of the mile stone (I've heard some state that in 200 years after becoming free, a nation returns to slavery; I don't remember who said this, but I'm glad that hasn't happened at present time.)
Let me bring up a question, though. Is it possible that many have been deceived into believing our country existing isn't necessarily a good thing? Could it be the unsettledness due to the division in the country that makes the possibility of civil war exists, one where a person will unfriend you because you vote for the wrong candidate, or where someone is considered not having anything worth saying if they they call those who aren't legal residents of this country illegal and who think law enforcement officials should enforce the law? Could it be that we've been bullied and are afraid to speak out and think that our race or religious convictions or gender or gender identity disqualifies us from expressing our views? Could it be that we're afraid we'll be called Christian nationalists if we hold to conservative views?
Is our nation perfect? Uh, the nation is made up of people - are any of our citizens perfect? We have errors. Yes, I see Christian Nationalism (as opposed to Christian Patriotism) as a problem. But it's not the only problem - Progressive Christianity is one I fear just as much.
Lifeway Research has put out a couple of polls recently for U.S. Protestant pastors, with slightly different angles. The first question was if it was important to incorporate patriotic elements into worship services on the 4th of July weekend. The second was whether their church should do something special to commemorate our country's 250th birthday on July 4th, 2026. Yes, both are similar, but the first talks about patriotic elements and the second sees it more something special to point out the milestone.
Results?
1st Poll - Should the Church incorporate patriotic elements into worship?
- Total Agree 45%
- Strongly Agree 16%
- Total Disagree 53%
- Strongly Disagree 29%
- Not Sure 2%
2nd Poll - Should the Church commemmorate the nation's 250th Birthday?
- Total Agree 50%
- Strongly Agree 16%
- Total Disagree 47%
- Strongly Disagree 19%
- Not Sure 3%
One item that did make me smile. Google is our platform, and for a week or two the Google home page had a soccer themed artwork on their logo. The 3rd and 4th of July? They had a patriotic theme. I'm grateful for that. The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site was open, but I don't know if they had anything special. Also, the Indianapolis Zoo had a special today, with admission for $17.76. I wonder what the animals did to commemorate the event.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the 250th anniversary and its celebration. Is it like having a Semiquincential party and nobody came?
NOTE - Question in title and in concluding sentence inspired by my friend Robert Roberg titled "What if They Had a War and Nobody Came?
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