A Review of a Book by One of Our Theologians

Jay Tolson has reviewed a book by one of our theologians, David Gelernter. You can read the review here: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/faith-matters/2007/06/28/is-americanism-the-fourth-great-religion.html

Mr. Tolston gives a fairly balanced description of Gelernter's book, although he does not fully understand the tenets of our faith. For one, Americanism is indeed indebted to Christian scripture, although we do not rely solely upon it for our Americanist principles. As noted in earlier posts, our primary religious text is the U.S. Constitution, which has been pronounced by our Oracles as a divinely inspired document. Americanism draws from the Christian tradition, although only to the extent that Christianity upholds the values of freedom and democracy. In many ways, Christianity is not consistent with Americanist freedom. For instance, Jesus seems critical of wealth, advocating instead that we forsake our earnings and lay up treasure in heaven. The early Christian church (as described in the Christian book of Acts) is also tyrannical to the extent that it took away the freedom of the poor to work for their own bread.

Of course, we Americanists do form alliances with Christians because many churches in America ascribe to our core principles and values. Some churches rightly understand that God and country are joined as a bride and groom are joined. To the extent that the Christian pulpit is used to promote the aims of the Americanist religion, the two religions can coexist without contradiction. But when Christian churches promote the slanderous doctrine that the poor should have their freedom to work stripped from them (i.e. "nationalized health care," welfare, and the like) the two religions are at odds. Luckily, most Christian churches choose to support our endeavors and rightly place worship of America over practice of their religion. An ancillary note about the so called public "option" in health care. This so called "option" is an attempt by the proponents of tyranny to take our freedom away. This option takes away the freedom of Americans to keep what is rightfully theirs (earnings) and also takes away the freedom of citizens to earn what they need. This so called "choice" is really a shackle- it enslaves all citizens. Christians and Americans should recognize this choice for what it is.