On this Fourth of July, Put Your Hope in the Lord

Though I am grateful for the United States, I am mindful on this Fourth of July that many people, in the course of this nation’s history, have been hurt or left behind.

There is no denying the fact that the United States of America was founded in the context of white supremacy and by men who either practiced or who compromised with race-based chattel slavery.

There’s also no denying that racism and racial injustice have continued through the decades as a part of our nation’s history. Bigotry and brutality have claimed many casualties, and have (to one degree or another) victimized every person of color in the history of the United States.

It’s certainly true that only a minority of the Founding Fathers actually owned slaves and that the overwhelming majority of them wanted, as Abraham Lincoln would later say, to put slavery “on the course of ultimate extinction.”

And I would add that I personally don’t see how hating or bashing the Founding Fathers moves us toward unity, equality, and “liberty and justice for all.”

After all, the great reformers and civil rights heroes of the past typically praised America’s founders, while at the same time acknowledging their shortcomings.

For example, in his famous 4th of July speech (delivered actually on July 5, 1852), Frederick Douglass referred to the signers of the Declaration of Independence as “great men” and “brave men,” while nevertheless chastising America for allowing slavery to continue in light of the stated principles of that document.

But…though I do not approve of mean-spirited denunciations of or hatred toward America’s founders…

It can’t be denied that the early leaders of our nation failed to fully live up to the noble principles they themselves incorporated into our nation’s founding. And thus…

Many people have been hurt. Then and now.

I therefore salute those heroes in our history who have cared enough for the marginalized and the hurting to call repeatedly upon our nation to live up to its founding principles.

From Frederick Douglass and Hiram Revels to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Antony, and from Harriet Tubman and Booker T. Washington to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., the United States has been blessed with great heroes of compassion and courage.

I celebrate them on this Fourth of July as well.

The sins and shortcomings of this nation also remind me of these two verses in Scripture:

“It is better to trust in the Lord
Than to put confidence in man.
It is better to trust in the Lord
Than to put confidence in princes.”
-Psalm 118:8-9

So on this Fourth of July, while I’m truly grateful for the United States, I am mindful that no nation is sinless and no government or political movement is worthy of my ultimate hope or allegiance.

I therefore am eternally grateful that I can place my hope in the One who is truly worthy of my faith and confidence.