What Does It Mean for a Christian to Love America?

It is a question worth asking, especially in a time when love of country is so often confused with loyalty to power, silence in the face of injustice, or unquestioning devotion to a flag, a party, or a leader.

As Christians, our loyalty begins with a confession that shapes every other allegiance we hold. It is the greatest commandment over our lives. It is to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. It is that love that shapes and expresses that our highest citizenship is in the Kingdom of God.

In fact, we pray it every time we say the words Jesus taught us: "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Those words are clearly not an escape from this world, they are a calling deeper into it. To pray for God's will on earth is to long for a world where every person has enough. Enough food. Enough shelter. Enough safety. Enough dignity. It is to remember that that we are not just praying for ourselves, but for the human community, "give us this day our daily bread."

It is to long for clean food and water that can be trusted to continue and clean air that can be breathed. It is to long for justice where there is oppression, freedom where there is bondage, healing where there is suffering, and hope where there is despair.

It is to believe that every human being bears the image of God and therefore possesses a sacred worth that no government, economy, ideology, or empire can take away.

For Christians, love of country must always be shaped by that vision of love. Which means loving America requires more than celebrating its triumphs. It requires telling the truth about its failures.

The prophets loved Israel enough to confront it and rebuke it when needed. Jesus loved Jerusalem enough to weep over it and lament over its injustices. Love that refuses honesty and truth is not love at all.

This is why it is important to remember that this land was loved long before it was called the "United States." Indigenous peoples cared for these rivers, plains, deserts, mountains, and forests for generations before European settlers arrived. Their stories, cultures, and communities are woven into the very soil beneath our feet.

To love America is to remember that history. To honor those who called this place home first. To tell the truth about the suffering they endured and the resilience they continue to embody.

To love America is also to remember that much of its wealth was built upon stolen labor and stolen lives. Black men, women, and children were bought and sold as property while helping construct the economic foundations of this nation. Their labor enriched a country that often denied them their humanity. Yet through unimaginable suffering, generations continued to fight, create, build, hope, worship, organize, and dream. Their fingerprints are everywhere. Their contributions are woven into every chapter of the American story. Black history is American history.

And to love America is to remember the immigrants. The refugees. The laborers. The dreamers. The families who crossed oceans, deserts, and borders carrying little more than hope. Generation after generation, they helped build cities, farms, businesses, schools, churches, and communities. They enriched this nation with languages, traditions, ideas, and gifts. They made America stronger not despite their presence but because of it. Immigrants are not a threat to the American story. It is the American story.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a group of people dared to declare that tyrants should not rule over human beings. They insisted that liberty was worth risking everything for. That conviction helped shape the core identity of this nation. It remains one of the most powerful ideals in our history.

But history also reminds us that freedom proclaimed is not always freedom practiced. Even as liberty was celebrated, Indigenous communities were displaced. Even as independence was declared, slavery endured. Even as rights were championed, many were excluded from them, especially indigenous peoples, people of color, women, and immigrants. The American story has always contained both aspiration and contradiction. Both courage and failure. Both freedom and oppression.

Today we face another moment that demands such truth telling. We are witnessing renewed threats to democratic institutions. We are seeing attacks on the dignity of vulnerable people. We are watching the concentration of power in ways that should concern anyone who values freedom.

We are seeing fear weaponized against neighbors, immigrants, journalists, educators, and political opponents. We are watching economic systems enrich the powerful while many struggle to survive. We are witnessing environmental destruction that threatens future generations and the creation God entrusted to our care. And perhaps most troubling of all, we are watching all these things justified in the name of Christianity.

This is why Christians must speak clearly about Christian nationalism. Not because we hate Christianity or America but because we love them both enough to speak up when they are being misused and abused.

Christian nationalism is not patriotism. Patriotism loves a country enough to help it become better. Nationalism demands devotion and treats any criticism as betrayal.

Patriotism seeks the common good while Nationalism seeks dominance. Patriotism values freedom while Nationalism requires unquestioned conformity.

Most importantly, Christian nationalism asks the church to place its hope in earthly power while Jesus calls us to place our hope in the Kingdom of God. That is why Christian nationalism is both un-American and un-Christian. It betrays America's highest ideals by undermining liberty and equality. And it betrays the Gospel by confusing the cross with the sword, service with domination, and discipleship with power.

The good news is that Christians are not called merely to oppose tyranny. We are called to embody a better way. The way of Jesus.

Jesus announced good news to the poor. Freedom for the oppressed. Release for the captive. Recovery for the broken. His ministry was not detached from the realities of injustice. It confronted them directly.

His every act of mercy challenged cruelty. Every act of healing challenged oppression. Every act of inclusion challenged exclusion. Every act of love challenged fear. Following Jesus means joining that work.

It means resisting every form of tyranny that diminishes human dignity. It means defending the vulnerable. It means protecting freedom. It means seeking justice. It means loving all our neighbors as ourselves. It means refusing to surrender either our faith or our democracy to those who would exploit them for power and wealth.

As we mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, perhaps the most patriotic thing we can do is not merely celebrate the nation we have been but recommit ourselves to the nation we still hope to become.

A nation where liberty belongs to everyone. A nation where justice is not reserved for the powerful. A nation where every child can flourish. A nation where truth matters. A nation where freedom is protected. A nation where dignity (and healthcare) is universal. A nation where compassion is strength. A nation where hope is stronger than fear.

And as Christians, may we remember that our love of country is ultimately an expression of our love for our neighbors, all our human neighbors. May we seek not the greatness of an empire but the flourishing of all people and our planet. May we love this nation enough to tell the truth about it. May we love it enough to challenge it. May we love it enough to serve the people who call this nation home. And may we love it enough to help it become more just, more merciful, more compassionate, and more free.

For that is what citizens of heaven have always done wherever they find themselves on earth.

May it begin with us.

A happy, safe, and grace-filled Independence Day weekend to you all.