After listening to John McCain's acceptance speech I found myself more concerned than ever for the spiritual welfare of the supposed moral leaders who are willing to support him. They will understand my concern if they are willing to give more than superficial thought to the tenor of his speech when it comes to what many of them profess to be the most important issue in human life – the relationship with Almighty God.
His first reference to God seems harmless and respectful enough, until we reflect on the use he makes of it:
We believe everyone has something to contribute and deserves the opportunity to reach their God-given potential; from the boy whose descendants arrived on the Mayflower to the Latina daughter of migrant workers. We're all God's children, and we're all Americans.
In what sense is it true that the Latina daughter of migrant workers is an American? McCain surely knows the difference between "migrant" workers and "immigrant" workers. His implied grant of U.S. citizenship to "all God's children," without regard to their status under U.S. law may seem like innocuous generosity until we realize that it implies an utter disregard for the sovereignty of the American people. Sovereignty matters because, according to the founding principles of our liberty, "all God's children" are entitled to government based upon the consent of the governed. Granting citizenship without regard to the laws that reflect the consent of the people disregards this most basic right. McCain appears to invoke the name of God in order to assault the sovereignty of the American people. We could give a more charitable interpretation of his words were it not for his leadership in the effort to pass laws that grant citizenship to "migrant workers" without due regard for their legal or illegal entry into the United States.
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Despite this evidence of disdain for American sovereignty (or perhaps because of it), Sen. McCain takes great pains later in his speech to convince us of his great love for America.
I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's.
What is most significant in this catalogue of motives is the decided lack of any reference to the basis for American decency. He refers to faith in certain attributes of the American people, but he never so much as hints at any ground or basis for these attributes. Americans are human beings, as flawed as any others. Faith in our flawed humanity seems inspiring only as long as we forget that some of those flaws have produced terrible injustices, including the long nightmare of slavery and racial discrimination in the United States. Blind faith in ourselves offers no basis for dealing with this reality, especially in an era when those flaws have produced a holocaust claiming the lives of millions of our own innocent offspring.
The founders of this nation did not share McCain's blind faith in flawed humanity. Neither do I, or any others who rely, as they did, upon Divine Providence rather than false declamations of merely human decency and wisdom, reeking with prideful suggestions of human self-sufficiency. They did not trust to human decency except in the presence of the acknowledged truth of God's established will for justice in human affairs. They put their faith in God first, and in the American people insofar as they are formed by their acknowledgement of His authority. The self-evident truths produced by His authority define the cause of liberty that is "an idea, a cause worth fighting for."
Without this solid grounding in respect for God's authority, love of country risks betraying us into the kind of patriotism that has no regard for truth, no regard for justice, no regard for the God ordained worth of innocent humanity. Such is the kind of patriotism that fueled the rabid aggression of the German people in the 1930s, or the conquering armies of ancient Rome.
The peroration of Sen. McCain's speech confirms these ominous suggestions of human self-idolization.
I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need. My country saved me. My country saved me, and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her for as long as I draw breath, so help me God ...
I'm going to fight for my cause every day as your president. I'm going to fight to make sure every American has every reason to thank God, as I thank Him: that I'm an American, a proud citizen of the greatest country on earth, and with hard work, strong faith and a little courage, great things are always within our reach. Fight with me. Fight with me.
Fight for what's right for our country.
Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.
Fight for our children's future.
Fight for justice and opportunity for all.
Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.
Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.
Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.
Sen. McCain assumes a pose of humility as he disclaims the anointing of history, but in doing so he exalts history to a position our heritage reserves for God. He aims to stir patriotic pride with the claim that his country saved him, but he thereby neglects to acknowledge the role God must have played in that salvation. He speaks of "what's right for our country," thereby neglecting our country's obligation to respect the transcendent right established by God's will. He invokes God's service in the fight for our country, but with no clearly stated acknowledgement that our country must deserve that help by its obedience to God. Unfortunately, from beginning to end McCain's references to God cast God in an instrumental role, as the servant of human purposes rather than the sovereign master of all. There's a difference between accepting God's usefulness and truly acknowledging His authority.
The supposed leaders of the moral constituency who have committed themselves to McCain's candidacy will doubtless cling to his references to God and faith as drowning people cling to the remnants of their broken vessel. His speech may have been the modest appeal to patriotism it was made to seem. Or it may have been a carefully framed and manipulative departure from the God-centered faith of our heritage. Unlike John McCain, I am not comfortable speaking as if history will be the judge, and then slyly suggesting that as the makers of history we have no judge but ourselves. I stand rather with the American founders such as Thomas Jefferson, and I "tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever …"
As for the notion that Obama makes McCain look good: Someone should tell Sen. McCain's supporters that his mask is slipping. If both ultimately abandon the standard of God's authority, are they so different after all?