“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” This verse may be familiar if you were one of the many that had to recite it every morning in school. Or maybe you have heard the phrase, “God Bless America” or have seen “In God we Trust” on the back of your cash. I personally love seeing the bumper stickers that read things like “God, Guns and Country.” I mean what gets more patriotic than that? Except after thinking about it, what do guns, flags and country have to do with God? 

I have been a part of many Evangelical Christian circles in the past few years, and as a Christian myself, it has been harder to be a part of those circles recently. For the longest time, I have seen a disconnect between what I read in my Bible and what I see being portrayed by Christians in the American Church. The same people who worship next to me, go to the same Bible studies and constantly talk about how good God is, are also the people who pledge allegiance to the flag of a country whose administration is currently dehumanizing immigrants, promoting violence and cutting government aid from the people that really need it. The same people that worship and praise the man that would heal the sick, feed the hungry, mourn with the heartbroken, and gather with the sinners, turn a blind eye to the injustices happening in this country. 

It was frustrating seeing the outrage that many Christians had when Charlie Kirk was killed, despite them keeping silent about things like ICE and the school shootings happening around the country. Don’t get me wrong, it was very heartbreaking to see someone die in that way for their political beliefs, but it is also important to understand the harm of his words. To many Christians, Kirk was a martyr, someone who was killed because he proclaimed the gospel; to others his legacy meant something else. I remember watching many of Kirk’s debates before his death and feeling confused about why people saw him as someone who represented a “good Christian man.” Yes, he would talk about the Bible, and yes, he would use verses in what he said, but many of the times the way he said it, there was a lack of compassion, kindness and humility. He would use the Bible as a way to justify his political beliefs and wasn’t actually trying to spread the gospel as he said he was. 

Charlie Kirk is a good example of Christians in America who are more concerned with using the Bible as a way to make a “Christian Nation” than they are trying to show people Jesus’s love and grace through having compassion towards those who need it the most. They are more worried about having a “Christian halftime show” over trying and actually going out to feed those who are going hungry, or praying with those who have lost their families due to deportations. Christians in America need to understand that faith without works is dead. 
To end this I will leave you with this verse: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2: 14-17 NIV