Written By Matt Benda, Freeborn County Community Action Team
I am a Christian; I am an American; I am Proud
Too often, we are intimidated into placing a wall between our Christian faith and our American identity. Today’s culture of chaos pressures us into a false choice—suggesting that we cannot be both faithful Christians and proud Americans. Political, media, and cultural activists insist that faith be hidden away, spoken only in private prayer. Yet these same charlatans are quick to exploit Christian compassion for their own public protests, expressing outrage when criminals, despots, terrorists, or drug lords are held accountable. They appropriate the teachings of Christ not to uphold truth, but to distort Christian virtue into a tool to weaken and shame our country.
We should reject this attempt to impose state-sponsored morality. The state — and its modern “ministry of truth” — is not our Church, and it is not our Gospel. Our faith does not come from political institutions, media narratives, or cultural pressure. It comes from the Biblical truths that formed the foundation of this nation. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we should remember and celebrate the Christian principles that helped shape the bedrock of American liberty.
During the American Revolution, a British officer reportedly confronted a colonial pastor and demanded, “In the name of the King of England, I command you to yield.” The pastor’s response inspired the American spirit:
“We acknowledge no sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus.”
This sentiment echoed throughout the Revolution. Preacher Abraham Keteltas declared that “the cause of America is the cause of God,” while minister Samuel West taught that civil magistrates, “may be said to be ordained of God.”
The Declaration of Independence did not hide the source of these principles. Instead it proclaimed plainly and proudly:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Many of today’s leaders have abandoned these truths. Too often they attempt to replace the authority of the Church with the authority of the State, while many state-wide media voices echo the same lecturing tone. Yet truth does not originate from government offices or television studios. Faith is not theirs to redefine—and not yours to surrender.
As America confronted the rise of communism in the twentieth century, President Dwight Eisenhower warned why the Christian understanding of human dignity was essential to preserving freedom. He explained:
“The concept of man as a child of God is in opposition to the communist concept of man as a creature of the state.”
Are you proud to be a Child of God and an American?
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