The Exhaustion of Pretend Patriotism and Phony Faith

Photo by Tiago Bandeira on Unsplash

Life is exhausting these days for many of us and I think I've figured out why.

I think it's the pretending we’re witnessing.

You see, it's bad enough watching nearly half our nation becoming fully indoctrinated into a sycophantic cult of personality of the very worst kind of person; to see once reasonable people abandon any semblance of benevolence toward diverse humanity, to find themselves so deluded by tribalism that they declared war on vaccines and gay kids and the electoral process—all the while assuming some supposed moral high ground.

And as infuriating as it is witnessing tens of millions of Americans having their minds slowly poisoned by Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene and Elon Musk and Franklin Graham to the point they defend a domestic act of terror on our Capitol or take the side of a murderous Russian dictator committing war crimes or advocate for the removal of voting rights—it is adding terrible insult to mortal injury to have them invoke love of God and country in the process.

I think that's what makes these days so difficult for so many of us: not merely coming to terms with the beliefs and prejudices and phobias of those we are daily surrounded by here but having to contend with their constant projection about us and their refusal to simply own who they are.

Good people are so tired of traitors masquerading as patriots,
of the treasonous continually waving the flag,
of hateful people peddling a God of love,
of human beings with no empathy pretending they care about the sanctity of life,
of the loudest prophets of America First having the least regard for so many Americans,
of Stop the Steal protesters who wanted to overturn an election.

Where are the selflessness, generosity, and hospitality that were supposed to mark the lives of people who do love God and country?
Where are lives that replicate the embrace of the poor, huddled masses affixed to the idea of Liberty?
Where are those who emulate the love of disparate neighbors at the heart of the Gospels?

Patriot. Christian. American.

These words have all lost their meaning: words that used to cost something to claim, labels that once came with even a modicum of transformation, and self-identifiers that had previously required a measure of evidence displayed in one's life.

The flag and the cross that used to hold such meaning to so many of us, are now just stolen iconography wielded by the immigrant-hating wall-builders and the violent anti-abortion zealots.

Using these words and wearing these symbols are more and more difficult now, as they align us with the antithesis of our moral convictions.

People who truly love this country, those who earnestly seek a faith expressed in love, human beings who are burdened to make America worthy of the speeches and anthems—we find ourselves branded heretics and traitors and apostates, and forcefully displaced from religion and country by these angry squatters who have taken up residence in them.

True patriots should want all Americans to vote, they should oppose would-be dictators, they should yield to the Constitution, and they should demand a nation that is offered to everyone equally.

Actual followers of Jesus should defend the vulnerable, they should give comfort to the sick, should welcome the immigrant, and should love the least among us.

And while the masqueraders and pretenders parade around in grand performative acts of love of God and country while willfully betraying both—the rest of us are going to have to fight to hold on to our religion and our nation, and to care for a world that needs desperately authentic people of faith, morality, and conscience who simply live a love that doesn't need to declare itself loving.

As far as patriotism and faith go, this nation needs the real thing again.