"You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name." Exodus 20:7
It's always odd to me that people quote the 10 Commandments when someone says "oh my god", but not when people use God's name for their own personal gain.
Using God’s name for one’s own gain is a very old trick and comes in many forms. From pharisees calling Jesus a demon (Matthew 12:22), Constantine plastering the Cross on soldier's shields so God would help him win a battle (c. 312 C.E.), to Donald Trump bringing his Bible to political rallies (c. 2016 C.E.), people use religious rhetoric to get what they want all the time, and it's not hard to see why, it's very effective. Invoking the Almighty covers a multitude of sins...and sells a ton of merch...
The God Card
Playing the "God Card" can get people elected, killed, and even laid. It's the ace up your sleeve that you play when you're in a hole. You play it to tell everyone, "Listen up! I've got God on my side, so don't question me!" It's using God as a means to an end. To me, that's what it really means to make a wrongful use of the name of the Lord, or to take the Lord's name in vain. From pulpits to politics, playing the God Card can get you just about anything you could dream of.
In the world of politics, Ceri Hughes published a study in the International Journal of Communication called: The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse. The study analyzes religious rhetoric used by presidents over the years. In it, Hughes explains that since the Reagan administration, the strategic use of religious rhetoric has dramatically increased in presidential addresses. The research revealed Trump to be the greatest offender of playing the God Card (data linked at bottom).
Considering all the things Trump has said, even during his 2016 presidential bid, it's hard to take his "God-Talk" seriously. According to Hughes, Trump has used religious rhetoric nearly twice as often as any other president. Though his religious rhetoric was often contradicted by his behavior and twitter feed, it still allowed him to ride on a wave of evangelical support all the way to the White House. #covfefe
Trump told evangelicals afraid of losing the culture war that everyone would be saying “Merry Christmas” again, while also telling those concerned with the state of D.C., that he would “drain the swamp!” In a similar move, the Pharisees told the Jewish people that Jesus was a blasphemous heretic while also telling Pilate that He was a political dissenter, who would start riots and put him in Caesar's crosshairs. Both Trump and the Pharisees struck right at the heart of what each audience feared the most. The Pharisees got the religious masses and Pontius Pilate, two opposing forces, to agree on something, and Trump, well...he got elected. Trump’s rhetoric didn't simply correlate with his election, I believe it caused it.
A Rhetorical History
Many romanticize the 1950's as the religious highpoint in American Culture. In reality, the 1950's was simply a highpoint of using religious rhetoric abusively. Governments are often the worst offenders of playing The God Card.
With the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the national motto was changed from “E Pluribus Unum” (Latin for “Out of Many, One”), to “In God We Trust” and added “Under God” to The Pledge of Allegiance. Why? Was it to fulfill the greatest commandment to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind? No. It was fear, and not the fear of the Lord, either.
At the time, we were in the midst of the Cold War where we did rhetorical battle against the Soviet Union. By changing the motto and The Pledge, the American government used the God Card to widen the divide between Us; the "Judeo-Christian" United States, and Them; the "secular-atheist" Soviet Union.
Instead of bullets, we made God into the ammunition of the The Cold War.
A Rhetorical Devil
We, as people, use rhetoric to dismiss each other all the time. Our primary way of doing so is categorization. The word "category" comes from the Greek kategoria, meaning to "accuse." It makes dismissing people a lot easier if you just accuse them of being something socially frowned upon.
Just call them one of these names: Conservative or Liberal. Republican or Democrat. Socialist or Capitalist. Baptist or Catholic or Evangelical. Christian or Atheist. Secular or Sacred.
Voilà! You're now legally better than them...
Growing up, I was taught (cough...still indoctrinated...cough) that anyone who fell into the category of democrat, liberal, or secular, was somehow beneath me. I eventually came to understand that when I categorize people, I'm separating them, like sheep from goats. That's not my job, it's Jesus' (Matthew 25:32). It's also not my job to accuse people either. It's the devil's. "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God," Revelation (12:10).
Oops, did I just call categorizing each other Satanic?
A Rhetorical Jesus
This blogpost is not nearly comprehensive and these themes will return.
Citation
Gregory A. Boyd
The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church. Zondervan
2009
https://reknew.org/
It's always odd to me that people quote the 10 Commandments when someone says "oh my god", but not when people use God's name for their own personal gain.
Using God’s name for one’s own gain is a very old trick and comes in many forms. From pharisees calling Jesus a demon (Matthew 12:22), Constantine plastering the Cross on soldier's shields so God would help him win a battle (c. 312 C.E.), to Donald Trump bringing his Bible to political rallies (c. 2016 C.E.), people use religious rhetoric to get what they want all the time, and it's not hard to see why, it's very effective. Invoking the Almighty covers a multitude of sins...and sells a ton of merch...
The God Card
Playing the "God Card" can get people elected, killed, and even laid. It's the ace up your sleeve that you play when you're in a hole. You play it to tell everyone, "Listen up! I've got God on my side, so don't question me!" It's using God as a means to an end. To me, that's what it really means to make a wrongful use of the name of the Lord, or to take the Lord's name in vain. From pulpits to politics, playing the God Card can get you just about anything you could dream of.
In the world of politics, Ceri Hughes published a study in the International Journal of Communication called: The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse. The study analyzes religious rhetoric used by presidents over the years. In it, Hughes explains that since the Reagan administration, the strategic use of religious rhetoric has dramatically increased in presidential addresses. The research revealed Trump to be the greatest offender of playing the God Card (data linked at bottom).
Considering all the things Trump has said, even during his 2016 presidential bid, it's hard to take his "God-Talk" seriously. According to Hughes, Trump has used religious rhetoric nearly twice as often as any other president. Though his religious rhetoric was often contradicted by his behavior and twitter feed, it still allowed him to ride on a wave of evangelical support all the way to the White House. #covfefe
Trump told evangelicals afraid of losing the culture war that everyone would be saying “Merry Christmas” again, while also telling those concerned with the state of D.C., that he would “drain the swamp!” In a similar move, the Pharisees told the Jewish people that Jesus was a blasphemous heretic while also telling Pilate that He was a political dissenter, who would start riots and put him in Caesar's crosshairs. Both Trump and the Pharisees struck right at the heart of what each audience feared the most. The Pharisees got the religious masses and Pontius Pilate, two opposing forces, to agree on something, and Trump, well...he got elected. Trump’s rhetoric didn't simply correlate with his election, I believe it caused it.
A Rhetorical History
Many romanticize the 1950's as the religious highpoint in American Culture. In reality, the 1950's was simply a highpoint of using religious rhetoric abusively. Governments are often the worst offenders of playing The God Card.
With the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the national motto was changed from “E Pluribus Unum” (Latin for “Out of Many, One”), to “In God We Trust” and added “Under God” to The Pledge of Allegiance. Why? Was it to fulfill the greatest commandment to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind? No. It was fear, and not the fear of the Lord, either.
At the time, we were in the midst of the Cold War where we did rhetorical battle against the Soviet Union. By changing the motto and The Pledge, the American government used the God Card to widen the divide between Us; the "Judeo-Christian" United States, and Them; the "secular-atheist" Soviet Union.
Instead of bullets, we made God into the ammunition of the The Cold War.
The Myth of a Christian Nation
I was taught (cough...indoctrinated...cough) to believe that America is a Christian Nation. In some circles, this all-too-common teaching even goes so far as to suggest that God intentionally set up the United States of America as a way to save the world, exactly the way God intended to do with the nation of Israel in the Old Testament (and subsequently accomplished through Jesus). The odd thing is that America's religious origins are murky at best.
According to David L. Holmes, a writer for Encyclopædia Britannica, "If the nation owes much to the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is also indebted to Deism, a movement of reason and equality that influenced the Founding Fathers to embrace liberal political ideals remarkable for their time." If we look back at our founders, our constitution, bill of rights, and declaration of independence, we find it riddled with "God-Talk". Much of it doesn't seem too specific as to which god they might be talking about. Like David Holmes, many historians have pointed out the significant role that Deism played in the founding of the United States. Deism is a belief in god, but not one who is near us or in any way interactive with us. Deism stands on reason alone and rejects faith.
Ignoring the fact that many of the founders were Deists and not Christians in the way many define a Christian, the insistence that America is a "Christian Nation" separates us from the realities of history. It is often used to convince ourselves that we hold a special place in the eyes of God, which has led to a track record of systemic religious prejudice. In prioritizing ourselves over everyone else, we make enemies out of the rest of the world. For many, Christianity and Patriotism are conflated in such a way that you cannot be one without the other. For these people, Christian faith is only as strong as is their devotion to United States. What, other than clever and deceiving rhetoric, could ever get us to such a place?
God Given American Rights
Far-Right activists like to cite something they call their "God given American rights." Often these activists are referring to the right to bear arms, or freedom to worship and freedom of speech. If such a thing as a "God given American right" exists, it raises a lot of questions about the nature of God. First of all, could someone please point out the scriptures outlining these American rights? Or scriptures outlining any rights at all? Furthermore, why is it that being American entitles us to these rights? Does God really decide, based on the happenstance that you are born on American soil, that you ought to have certain rights while others, based on the happenstance that they are born in an impoverished village in Africa ought to die of starvation before the age of three years old?
To me, the notion of these divine rights are made up by people indoctrinated with the notion of a Christian Nation. This leads me to believe that God and America are being conflated in an unholy union. Is America really God's favorite? How can anyone think that God would play favorites in light of Proverbs 28:21, "Those who show favoritism aren't good," (CEB). James questions a person's belief in God if they are guilty of playing favorites, "My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ," (NRSV).
To a person living in an impoverished nation, or any other nation really, how can an America-favoring God ever have any good news for them? This rhetoric of a "Christian Nation" implies to many that God's hand was directly involved in establishing The United States. In melding God and America, by being essentially "Christian Nationalists," we do severe damage to Christianity and to our witness to the rest of the world. These notions strike blows right at the heart of Christianity, betraying the substance of the faith, which is Christ's example, and expressing to the world their insignificance in the eyes of God. Can there even be a more wrongful use of God's name?
The Example
Politicians including JFK, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and Ted Cruz have referred to America as "a city set upon a hill, which cannot be hidden." When Jesus said this to his followers in Matthew 5:14-16, He was not intending to create an "Us vs. Them" dynamic between Christians and the rest of the world. Jesus is explaining how they are to be an example to the rest of the world, just like He is an example to them.
For all of His words, parables, and sermons, Jesus always backed them up with action. Instead of using rhetoric to simply convince people to believe Him, he provided real substance and a real example to follow. If it weren't for his ultimate example on the cross, its possible that His words would have eventually been totally forgotten. Jesus' example was one of love, service, and sacrifice. Instead, we use this scripture as a way to pit the world against America and God. We bolster American egocentrism and try to make a name for ourselves. That's not the city set upon a hill, that's the Tower of Babel.
"Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered across the face of the whole earth."
I was taught (cough...indoctrinated...cough) to believe that America is a Christian Nation. In some circles, this all-too-common teaching even goes so far as to suggest that God intentionally set up the United States of America as a way to save the world, exactly the way God intended to do with the nation of Israel in the Old Testament (and subsequently accomplished through Jesus). The odd thing is that America's religious origins are murky at best.
According to David L. Holmes, a writer for Encyclopædia Britannica, "If the nation owes much to the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is also indebted to Deism, a movement of reason and equality that influenced the Founding Fathers to embrace liberal political ideals remarkable for their time." If we look back at our founders, our constitution, bill of rights, and declaration of independence, we find it riddled with "God-Talk". Much of it doesn't seem too specific as to which god they might be talking about. Like David Holmes, many historians have pointed out the significant role that Deism played in the founding of the United States. Deism is a belief in god, but not one who is near us or in any way interactive with us. Deism stands on reason alone and rejects faith.
Ignoring the fact that many of the founders were Deists and not Christians in the way many define a Christian, the insistence that America is a "Christian Nation" separates us from the realities of history. It is often used to convince ourselves that we hold a special place in the eyes of God, which has led to a track record of systemic religious prejudice. In prioritizing ourselves over everyone else, we make enemies out of the rest of the world. For many, Christianity and Patriotism are conflated in such a way that you cannot be one without the other. For these people, Christian faith is only as strong as is their devotion to United States. What, other than clever and deceiving rhetoric, could ever get us to such a place?
God Given American Rights
Far-Right activists like to cite something they call their "God given American rights." Often these activists are referring to the right to bear arms, or freedom to worship and freedom of speech. If such a thing as a "God given American right" exists, it raises a lot of questions about the nature of God. First of all, could someone please point out the scriptures outlining these American rights? Or scriptures outlining any rights at all? Furthermore, why is it that being American entitles us to these rights? Does God really decide, based on the happenstance that you are born on American soil, that you ought to have certain rights while others, based on the happenstance that they are born in an impoverished village in Africa ought to die of starvation before the age of three years old?
To me, the notion of these divine rights are made up by people indoctrinated with the notion of a Christian Nation. This leads me to believe that God and America are being conflated in an unholy union. Is America really God's favorite? How can anyone think that God would play favorites in light of Proverbs 28:21, "Those who show favoritism aren't good," (CEB). James questions a person's belief in God if they are guilty of playing favorites, "My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ," (NRSV).
The Example
Politicians including JFK, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and Ted Cruz have referred to America as "a city set upon a hill, which cannot be hidden." When Jesus said this to his followers in Matthew 5:14-16, He was not intending to create an "Us vs. Them" dynamic between Christians and the rest of the world. Jesus is explaining how they are to be an example to the rest of the world, just like He is an example to them.
For all of His words, parables, and sermons, Jesus always backed them up with action. Instead of using rhetoric to simply convince people to believe Him, he provided real substance and a real example to follow. If it weren't for his ultimate example on the cross, its possible that His words would have eventually been totally forgotten. Jesus' example was one of love, service, and sacrifice. Instead, we use this scripture as a way to pit the world against America and God. We bolster American egocentrism and try to make a name for ourselves. That's not the city set upon a hill, that's the Tower of Babel.
"Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered across the face of the whole earth."
"The Lord came down to see what mortals had built, and scattered them across the face of the whole earth. Therefore, the place is called Babel." (Genesis 11, paraphrased)
A Rhetorical Devil
We, as people, use rhetoric to dismiss each other all the time. Our primary way of doing so is categorization. The word "category" comes from the Greek kategoria, meaning to "accuse." It makes dismissing people a lot easier if you just accuse them of being something socially frowned upon.
Just call them one of these names: Conservative or Liberal. Republican or Democrat. Socialist or Capitalist. Baptist or Catholic or Evangelical. Christian or Atheist. Secular or Sacred.
Voilà! You're now legally better than them...
Growing up, I was taught (cough...still indoctrinated...cough) that anyone who fell into the category of democrat, liberal, or secular, was somehow beneath me. I eventually came to understand that when I categorize people, I'm separating them, like sheep from goats. That's not my job, it's Jesus' (Matthew 25:32). It's also not my job to accuse people either. It's the devil's. "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God," Revelation (12:10).
Oops, did I just call categorizing each other Satanic?
A Rhetorical Jesus
Jesus is the only person who has ever had the right to play the God Card. In the desert with the devil, He could have made bread out of stones, could have thrown Himself off the temple into the hands of angels for all to see, He could have struck every person who rejected Him with a plague, brought fire and brimstone down on unrepenting villages, and taken Himself down from the cross...but He didn't. He only did what He saw The Father do. He only said what He he heard The Father say. So, when Jesus went to the cross as our sins, He played the only "God Card" in his deck, the one of love, service, and sacrifice. When He went to the cross, every abusive use of God's name was crucified along with Him and was revealed for what it was: Vanity. Sacrilege. Blasphemy.
Not all rhetoric is bad. As a matter of fact, Dictionary.com defines it as a skillful use of language. A rhetorical question is a question that does not require a response. However, we often use rhetoric for manipulation. Used in this way, rhetoric is the cotton backbone of propaganda. How much time have we spent (or saved) using The God Card to make people feel like they don't have a choice but to agree with us? I'm certainly guilty of this.
When we play the God Card to get ourselves elected president, or to get people to trust us because we're the "good guys," or to win a war, or to claim that God is on our side, or to sell literally the worst t-shirts ever made, we turn Jesus into a tool. When we do that, we create a rhetorical Jesus in place of the authentic Jesus. Like a rhetorical question, a rhetorical Jesus does not require a response. A Jesus that does not require a response is no Jesus at all. It's tempting and easy to use the God Card to get what we want, but in doing so, we damage our witness, forfeit our Christlikeness, and neuter the power of the cross.
Not all rhetoric is bad. As a matter of fact, Dictionary.com defines it as a skillful use of language. A rhetorical question is a question that does not require a response. However, we often use rhetoric for manipulation. Used in this way, rhetoric is the cotton backbone of propaganda. How much time have we spent (or saved) using The God Card to make people feel like they don't have a choice but to agree with us? I'm certainly guilty of this.
When we play the God Card to get ourselves elected president, or to get people to trust us because we're the "good guys," or to win a war, or to claim that God is on our side, or to sell literally the worst t-shirts ever made, we turn Jesus into a tool. When we do that, we create a rhetorical Jesus in place of the authentic Jesus. Like a rhetorical question, a rhetorical Jesus does not require a response. A Jesus that does not require a response is no Jesus at all. It's tempting and easy to use the God Card to get what we want, but in doing so, we damage our witness, forfeit our Christlikeness, and neuter the power of the cross.
This blogpost is not nearly comprehensive and these themes will return.
Citation
Gregory A. Boyd
The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church. Zondervan
2009
https://reknew.org/
David L. Holmes
The Founding Fathers, Deism, and Christianity
Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.
12/21/2006
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Founding-Fathers-Deism-and-Christianity-1272214
Ceri Hughes
The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse
International Journal of Communication
11/28/2017
https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8484
The Founding Fathers, Deism, and Christianity
Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.
12/21/2006
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Founding-Fathers-Deism-and-Christianity-1272214
Ceri Hughes
The God Card: Strategic Employment of Religious Language in U.S. Presidential Discourse
International Journal of Communication
11/28/2017
https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8484
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