Abstract
In the 18th century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau longed to recover the unity of state and cult known in antiquity. The Genevan philosopher wrote in The Social Contract that every state required a religion at its base. But, he charged, "the Christian law is at bottom more injurious than serviceable to a robust constitution of the state." He singled out Catholicism for "giving men two legislative orders, two rulers, two homelands." In Rousseau's judgment, this dual citizenship contemptibly "destroy[ed] social unity." The modem unitary state required a more instrumental Christianity, a "religion of humanity" that focused man's attention more on his homeland in this world than on the life to come. To this benign faith Rousseau allied a "civil religion" whose dogmas affirmed belief in a providential God, assurance of reward and punishment in the afterlife, and a spirit of tolerance. Yes, Thomas Jefferson did in fact more than once praise [Jesus]' "moral precepts" for their "purity." But he also edited an infamous version of the gospels that removed all references to Jesus' miracles and ended not with the resurrection but simply with his death and burial in the tomb. It is true that Jefferson valued the social utility of Jesus' ethical teachings, but he compared the effort to uncover them in the gospel accounts to finding "diamonds in a dunghill." He also denied Christ's divinity and called [John Paul II] "the first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus." The editor's introduction to the book of Romans quotes Woodrow Wilson instead. The logic of The American Patriot's Bible relies on more than a selective memory. It also depends on a particular kind of exegesis and application of Scripture. To make this story work, somehow we have to get from ancient Israel to modern America. The New Testament writers began the practice of applying biblical Israel's calling to the church. Peter, for example, in his first epistle calls the church God's "chosen people" and "holy nation." It has been common, therefore, for the church throughout its history to read Old Testament passages about God's "people" in light of its own identity as the realization of God's true Israel. This appropriation of Old Testament language still offends devout Jews, who object to what they see as the wholesale theft of their identity by Christians. That offense is unavoidable, but the proponents of Christian America take the next step and apply God's covenant promises to the United States, a leap that offends more Christians than one might expect.