During the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, then-candidate Barack Obama found himself in the midst of a controversy over a sermon delivered by his Chicago pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Our country had failed her people, especially minorities, and we should not sing “God Bless America,” he thundered. “No, no, no, not God Bless America. God damn America—that’s in the Bible!” After the Wright sermon was unearthed and caused a media firestorm, Obama was forced to distance himself from the radical preacher and ultimately leave his church.
Distressingly, Wright’s religiously tinged anti-Americanism has only become more prevalent in contemporary politics—and not just on the Left. From theocratic Protestant nationalists to Roman Catholic integralists, increasing numbers of right-wing Christians are joining their progressive counterparts in denouncing this country and her political institutions. Revolution is in the atmosphere. At least on the extremes, it seems that Christians are experiencing a crisis of faith in America.
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