November 5, 2024
Flag & Cover of Honest Patriotism
(provided)
“I voted.” Who doesn’t love slapping one of those stickers on their shirt, reusable water bottle or notebook? It’s a seemingly simple action and declaration.
And yet as the United States approaches another presidential election day — one in which vitriol, rhetoric and “fake news” continue to dominate airwaves and social platforms — those “I voted” stickers carry a greater weight. For to vote — in free and democratic elections — is to keep at bay the threats of authoritarian power grabs and nationalistic fervor. Voting is both a right and a responsibility to participate in the shaping of our common life. In recent election cycles, however, the guarantee of “free” and “democratic” processes has endured profound challenges.
In 2018, the 223rd General Assembly responded to the erosion of democratic principles, institutions, and practices in the United States with the resolutions and affirmations of “Honest Patriotism.” This text “lift[s] up our church’s long commitments to active civic engagement, responsible citizenship, and prophetic witness” (2). What’s more, it points to Christianity’s rootedness in a “prophetic calling” that “entail[s] a moral freedom to challenge … misuses of power” (Ibid.). This freedom strives toward justice, reveres the goodness of God’s Creation and attends to the innate dignity of all existence.
Nine affirmations open “Honest Patriotism.” These include:
- “Protection of the freedom of speech, as enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States”
- “The widest possible public access to information and to the products of cultural activity”
- the “freedom of assembly”
- the “need for free critical inquiry that is unhampered by censorship” and
- “The right of citizens to participate in the democratic process … [undeterred by] voter suppression initiatives and racially based and/or partisan gerrymandering” (Ibid., 3–5).
While grounded in constitutional and civic language, a central theological conviction rings forth: What God has set free, no person, institution or political strategy can bind up.
God’s liberation of all Creation from the snares of sin, corruption, and injustice is the bedrock from which spring the rights and responsibilities of Christians in public arenas. To vote according to one’s conscience (and as the Reformed tradition affirms, God alone is Lord of the conscience), is to exercise one’s civic, theological and prophetic call to freedom. So, the next time we’re handed an “I voted” sticker, let us bear in mind that those two simple words carry a depth of meaning and purpose.
If this reflection resonates with you or sparks your curiosity, read the full text of “Honest Patriotism.” Be sure to explore more PC(USA) social witness policies, too. Lastly, get to know the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, which serves the prophetic calling of the whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) by providing the General Assembly with careful studies of pressing moral challenges (Resolution on Race, Reparative Justice and the PC[USA]), media for discussion and discernment of Christian responsibilities (Gun Violence, Gospel Values), and policy recommendations for faithful action (Investing in a Green Future: A Vision for a Renewed Creation).
Dhawn B. Martin, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, Social Witness, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Today’s Focus: Honest Patriotism for Christian Citizens
Let us join in prayer for:
PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Laura Wampler, Operations & Accounting Associate, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
Maura Weil, Archive Technician, Presbyterian Historical Society
Let us pray
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, pour out your wisdom upon us as we participate in and contribute to the life of our communities. Remind us that we are called to prophetic witness and action. Lead us to practices of justice and equity. Guide us in the paths of compassion and truth-seeking. Open our hearts to your love, that we might express our freedoms in ways that celebrate the goodness of existence. Amen.
The common good is rarely a “trending” topic. Across various platforms, the latest guffaw by a politician or celebrity inevitably outperforms reflections on this concept, as do spectacles of spending and images photoshopped to perfection. Perhaps the challenge to locate threads dedicated to, let alone acting from, the common good has to do with the complexity of its component parts. In a society marked by polarities, how do we even begin to determine what is “common” or what is “good”?
