(Ir)religiosity

I have written a post on this day the last two years.  My feelings on the subject haven’t changed much.  Frankly, I’m tried of saying that same thing over and over, yet I feel compelled to do so nonetheless.

I find it very difficult to celebrate the founding of a nation that is now the world’s largest imperialist power and has all but abandoned the principles upon which it was founded.  To commemorate nationalism, consumerism, capitalism, sexism, racism, militarism, and exceptionalism all on the same day and have the audacity to call it patriotism is a little much for me.  Even the fact that we still declare ourselves “Independent” every year on this day reeks of a dangerous type of collective ignorance and amnesia that is all too common in the good ‘ole USA.  We are not independent.  We haven’t been for a long time.  We are very much dependent on the rest of the world — “they” are the lifeblood of our now failing economy.  And we’ve mortgaged their well-being, their ability to live “the American dream” — to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness on their own terms — in order to secure our own position of privilege.

But of course we’re not spending gross amounts of money on fireworks and firing up the grills to celebrate our current situation.  No, the whole point is to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and as Howard Zinn points out:

The Declaration of Independence is the fundamental document of democracy. It says governments are artificial creations, established by the people, “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and charged by the people to ensure the equal right of all to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Furthermore, as the Declaration says, “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.” It is the country that is primary–the people, the ideals of the sanctity of human life and the promotion of liberty.

If that is true I wonder if we really realize what we are celebrating. Why don’t we take this stuff seriously instead of allowing our minds to be colonized by the status quo?  Why do we assume that global capitalism is here to stay and reject any alternative wholesale?  Why do we assume that the way in which we organize ourselves is the best or even the most effective way to do so?  Why are we afraid to try something different, to open ourselves up to a Derridean “democracy to come?” Here I find it quite ironic that many white liberals who have been on the side of dissent in this fashion for the last 8 years or so are suddenly quiet now that a new regime is in place and a new face represents the empire.  I like Obama, to be sure, and I voted for him.  But I am kidding myself if I believe that there will be any real, deep change.  There will be changes, but they will be cosmetic and like any well-oiled machine it will be just enough to blow off the steam and excess heat that is needed for things to keep moving.  Any system needs a good vent;  I’m afraid that too often our dissent only serves that purpose, thereby fulfilling an important requirement in maintaining the status quo.  We shouldn’t settle for a change in cosmetics and verbiage, we should demand a radical rethinking of our conceptual framework.

Of all people I think Christians should be on the cutting edge of this type of revolutionary imagination.  Jesus himself was executed by the state for preaching a message about an anarchic kingdom that existed under the nose of the status quo.  But still we continue to be co-opted by the forces of jingoistic nationalism.  So, though I disagree with him on some major points, I think Stanley Hauerwas is on to something when he brazenly claims:

I assume most of you are here because you think you are Christians, but it is not all clear to me that the Christianity that has made you Christians is Christianity. For example: How many of you worship in a church with an American flag? I am sorry to tell you that your salvation is in doubt. How many of you worship in a church in which the fourth of July is celebrated? I am sorry to tell you that your salvation is in doubt.

The kingdom of God respects no nation knows no boundary.  This is why I think there is a truly subversive kernel to Christianity, a kernel that, if redeemed, can serve as a catalyst for revolution and evolution of thought.  But that cannot happen unless we shake free from all our various forms of dogmatism, be them religious, national or political.

And that’s why I find it increasingly difficult to celebrate holidays like the Fourth of July.  Not only because we have forgotten who we really are, but because the commemoration itself represents our penchant to complacently hide behind dogmatism writ large rather than allowing the creative imagination to conceptualize something beyond what we already know.

There is a war going on for your mind. If you are thinking, you are winning.