Voices of Faith & Homeland: Energion Authors on Patriotism
Published: July 4, 2026
A collection of thoughtful, challenging, and nuanced reflections on patriotism, national loyalty, and faith from across the Energion Publications catalog—compiled and presented without comment.
David Alan Black
Christian Archy
I have sought to expound the distinctive contribution of the New Testament to the theme of the kingdom of God – what it is, how to enter it, and how to walk worthily of it as its citizens. The character of this kingdom is widely different from what is commonly envisaged today. Its glory is revealed only through suffering – a point that Jesus’ disciples, then and now, have been slow to understand. This truth has tremendous implications for church life. The kingdom of God is in no way imperialistic. It has no political ambitions. It conquers not by force but by love. It is this humble characteristic of the kingdom that is a stumbling block to so many today. Christ’s claim to our total allegiance is one we seek to avoid at all costs. But there is only one way to victory and peace, and that is the way of the Lamb:
David Alan Black, Christian Archy, pp. ix-x
They follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
They were bought from among humanity,
the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And
in their mouths was found no lie (Rev. 14:4-
5; all translations in this book are my own).
The Archy of God is intent on reconciling
David Alan Black, Christian Archy, p. 5
adversaries instead of creating them. Politically,
Christian Archy rejects the partisan power contest. At
its heart lies the cross and the self-givingness of love.
Running My Race
“I believe we ought to continue the early church’s rejection of blind patriotism. The only Christian nation the Bible knows is the blood-bought, born-again purchased people of God.”
David Alan Black, Running My Race, p. 187
Allan R. Bevere
The Politics of Witness
No modern nation can rightfully claim to be the people of God. The Bible reserves the language of divine peoplehood for two nations alone—Israel and the Church. Thus, when Christians interpret that verse [2 Chronicles 7:14] in reference to the United States, they misinterpret it.
Functionally, by the church’s political engagements and by aligning themselves with the left and the right, Democrats and Republicans, Christians in actuality betray the unacknowledged belief that it is the nations that are indeed running the show.
…it is therefore time for the church to recover the politics of witness—of being the nation God intends for us to be by embodying in our ecclesial life the politics of the Kingdom of God, and thereby witnessing to the world what God desires of it as well.
Allan R. Bevere, The Politics of Witness, pp. 38, xiv, 49-50 (respectively)
Elgin L. Hushbeck, Jr.
Preserving Democracy
While liberty and equality are noble and reasonable goals, they are mutually exclusive, particularly regarding government. The more the government pushes for one, the less you will have of the other.
Religion in America serves three essential functions in regards to democracy. The first is that it provided the intellectual foundation for the country, as stated by the Declaration of Independence. Remove the Declaration’s claim that our rights come from our creator, and you have the question: Where do they come from?
Will America continue as it has since its founding, a country where the freedom and responsibility of the individual to control their own life is the dominant factor, where the individual is more important than the government? Or will it be transformed into a country where the government and what it will or will not do for you is the dominant factor…
Elgin L. Hushbeck, Jr. Preserving Democracy, pp. 307, 315, 377.
Seeking Truth
Nationalism can have positive and negative expressions. Positively it can be expressed in terms of patriotism and love of country. Negatively it can be expressed as a sense of exclusiveness or innate superiority.
Elgin L. Hushbeck, Jr. Seeking Truth, p. 120
William Powell Tuck
Holidays, Holy Days, & Special Days
The American flag is a symbol of our country, but it is not a blindfold to keep us from seeing what
William Powell Tuck, Holidays, Holy Days, and Special Days, p. 122
we as a church should say and do to confront evil in our society. I am a loyal American, but I am Christian first. I do not think I could ever make the statement; “My country right or wrong.” The
pulpit, and we as Christian citizens, should always challenge our country to lift its ethical sights higher, to be what God would have this nation be.
Paul Himes
Where Is Your Allegiance?
Affection and honor for one’s nation is important, so long as love is maintained for the outsider… What I believe the Bible opposes is ‘exceptionalism,’ namely the concept that one’s nation is greater than all others and worthy of special honor. In the eyes of God, all nations are as a “drop in the bucket.”
Paul Himes, Where Is Your Allegiance, p. 46
Bruce G. Epperly
The Prophet Amos Speaks to America
In a time in which patriotism is often identified in the United States with questioning election results, protecting white privilege, supporting authoritarianism and drowning out dissent, and seeking to return to the values of the 1950s if not earlier, when people “knew their place,” our survival as a nation requires a more spacious and humble patriotism. We cannot move forward without confessing the ambiguities and injustices of our history. Transformation comes through embracing the totality of our history and not just the idealized past.
Bruce G. Epperly, The Prophet Amos Speaks to America, p. 72
A Prayer
Loving, Freeing God, forgive us for taking so much for granted and often being willing to do so little. Stimulate our minds with the freedom we have found in Christ. May it always make us free in spirit and in our daily life. Amen.
William Powell Tuck, Holidays, Holy Days, and Special Days, p. 134
