Saint Martin's Cloak

The Misuse of Psalm 33:12 The first half of Psalm 33:12 is yet another biblical passage misappropriated by some who claim that the United States is a Christian nation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD This verse does not apply to the United States or any other nation on earth. The second half of the verse identifies which nation the Psalmist has in mind. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. (Psalm 33:12) The blessed nation is biblical Israel, whom God chose in Abraham. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. (Genesis 12:2) No nation on earth has the right to claim God’s blessings to Abraham. The Old Testament consistently contrasts the nation ( goy ) of Israel with the nations ( goyim ) of the world. Abraham and his offspring will be a blessing to the nations of the world, but the nations themselves are arrayed in opposition to God and his ...

On April 29, the White House released a statement commemorating commemorating the erection of a cross on Cape Henry in 1607 by the founders of Jamestown, Virginia. I’ll return to that statement in a moment, but first I want to talk about the Christian mythology and the false narrative that has grown up around that event. Facts and Myths Here’s what we know about that event and how we know it. George Percy was one of the settlers who at the Virginia coast on April 26, 1607. In 1608 he wrote, The nine and twentieth day we set up a Cross at Chesupioc Bay, and named that place Cape Henry. So that’s all we know. That’s the only contemporaneous witness to the event who wrote about it, and that’s the entire description in a very word narrative about the first days of Jamestown. We don’t know who was present on Cape Henry on April 29. Most of the settlers were living on the ships while landing parties searched for a suitable place to settle. We don’t know what was said or done as the cross was...

Performative civil religion was on full display this week during the America Reads the Bible series of public Bible readings. The performance is supposed to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence. During the event, a series of politicians, MAGA supporters, and other ostensibly notable figures will read aloud the entire Protestant Bible in piecemeal fashion. The readers are using the King James Easy Read Bible, one of many obscure revisions of the KJV. The live readings take place at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. Tickets are $50. You can also register to watch a live stream. I cannot understood why anyone thinks merely reading the words of the Bible aloud will mean anything to God, have a positive effect on the nation, or draw anyone to Jesus. On Tuesday, President Trump read from Second Chronicle. The organizer's website features a recording of the president's reading on the home page of it's website and declares, As...

The president spoke to the National Prayer Breakfast on February 6, 2026. The event is sponsored by a Christian organization, but its official website says that it is open to people of all faiths. It is supposed to bring national leaders of faith together regardless of political affiliation.  As a Christian pastor, I would like to respectfully offer some reflections on the president’s 77 minute speech. This essay is long because the speech was long. What’s In the Speech What was the tone of the speech? Uplifting? Inspiring? Unifying? Spiritual? I would characterize it as political. It’s tone matched the tone of all his speeches, if you know what I mean. Most of it echoed themes and talking points common to every speech he makes. Little of it had any bearing on on the purpose of the assembly, and I can’t begin to address those parts of the speech. Simply put, I found much of it objectionable.  But what about the rest, the parts that talked about religion? In over 12...

I understand that the president spoke for 77 minutes at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington this week. We frequently held National Prayer Breakfast observances on post when I served as a chaplain. We brought in big name guest speakers and the whole base was invited. The Washington observance is the original. It is designed to bring members of Congress, the presidential administration, and other national leaders together. If I were speaking at a National Prayer Breakfast observance in 2026, here is the text I would use. It’s the Old Testament reading for this Sunday (5th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A).  Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they want God on their...

It is impossible to translate God's laws for the nation of Israel directly into laws for a pluralistic nation like the United States. Nevertheless, there are just ends of government that we can observe in the pages of the Old Testament. The Articles of Religion say, Although the law given from God by Moses as touching ceremonies and rites doth not bind Christians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof of necessity be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. What moral principles underlie the "civil precepts" of the Old Testament law? What should Christians expect their government to do? What ends should we seek? Among the just ends of government that I see in the Old Testament are: Seek peace with neighboring countries, and among the nations of the world. Defend the nation against foreign invasion and domination.  Prevent the unjust taking of life ...

Invocations at government ceremonies are legal. The 2014 Supreme Court case of Town of Greece v. Galloway  established that ceremonial invocations at government events are constitutional. Of course government officials should check with  legal counsel. Run these guidelines by them to get the thumbs up before you apply them.  Rationale : The Supreme Court held that ceremonial invocations lend gravity to public proceedings. They are a part of our national heritage, a recognition of the role that religion holds in the lives of our citizens, and a means of accommodating the spiritual needs of those to whom they are addressed. Volunteer prayer-givers are speaking for themselves, and not for the government.  Implications : The government cannot discriminate among volunteer prayer-givers on the basis of their religion. The government cannot censor or dictate their prayers. Audience members cannot be coerced to assent to the prayer being offered. The ongoing practice of cond...

Town of Greece v. Galloway, 2014   On the issue of invocations at government ceremonies, the most relevant Supreme Court decision is Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014). Two citizens from the town of Greece, NY objected to the sectarian nature of the invocations given at town council meetings. They sued the city, demanding an end to sectarian prayers at the assembly. They wanted the town to adopt a policy that only inclusive or non-sectarian prayers were acceptable. In writing the opinion of the court, Justice Kennedy provided a description of the facts of the case. The following is an abridged version of that portion of the decision. T he town followed an informal method for selecting prayer givers, all of whom were unpaid volunteers. The town at no point excluded or denied an opportunity to a would-be prayer giver. Its leaders maintained that a minister or layperson of any persuasion, including an atheist, could give the invocation. But nearly all of the congregations in town...

As a Christian living in the United States, I love my country and seek the best for it. I gladly join my fellow citizens in expressing my commitment to its well-being.  Because of my Christian commitments and beliefs, however, I mentally emend the text of the Pledge of Allegiance as I recite it. I cannot offer any nation or other human entity my unqualified allegiance. * * * I pledge a qualified, subordinate and temporal allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation among the family of nations; under God, not divine, less than God; indivisible, but not eternal; fallible, and subject to God’s final judgment, with  aspirations of liberty and justice for all,

At the 2014 National Prayer Breakfast, the president spoke about religious freedom around the world .

The film based on Robert Edsel's story of The Monuments Men opens later this week. For those who haven't seen the advertising, the film tells the story of art historians, museum curators and artists who served in the Army in World War II in order to protect the cultural heritage of Europe and recover artwork stolen by the Nazis. In his book Edsel refers to the writings of Walker Hancock, a renowned sculptor from St. Louis and a member of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program. When Third Army liberated Buchenwald Concentration Camp in April 1945, Hancock was located in the nearby German city of Weimar. Edsel writes: A few days later, [Hancock] had a chance meeting with his friend, a Jewish chaplain. The chaplain had recently been to Buchenwald to conduct a service for the survivors, their first since being interned. The story the chaplain told was “heartrending – emotional beyond description,” especially when he mentioned the anguish over the lack of a Torah. “...

Rich Lowry writes about Sarah Hale, whom he calls the mother of Thanksgiving . Besides plugging for Thanksgiving in her publication,  Godey’s Lady’s Book , she wrote Presidents Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan about it before hitting pay dirt with Abraham Lincoln. . . . Hale saw the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving as the twin festivals of the American people, “each connected with their history, and therefore of great importance in giving power and distinctness to their nationality,” as she put it in an 1852 editorial. July Fourth celebrated national independence and liberty, while Thanksgiving acknowledged God “as the dispenser of blessings.” She argued that “these two festivals should be joyfully and universally observed throughout our whole country, and thus incorporated in our habits of thought as inseparable from American life.”</blockquote>

Where else could you hear a story about Pope John XXIII from a Catholic priest, a chant in Hebrew by a Jewish lay leader, prayers led by a female Presbyterian and a Jamaican-born evangelical, praise songs in Samoan and a great speech by a United Methodist layman, who also happens to be a retired lieutenant general and a Sunday School teacher at the largest United Methodist church in town? Some days, I love the Army.

A sermon on Philippians 3:17-4:1 preached in a military chapel consisting of both active duty and retired military personnel. Respecting the Colors I want to focus for a few minutes on one little part of this morning's reading from Paul's letter to the Philippians. In verse 20, Paul says, "Our citizenship is in heaven." Our citizenship is in heaven. Every Sunday morning when I enter this chapel, I look around at the many flags that surround us. I see the flags of several states that have been my home over the years: the state where I was born and where my extended family still lives; the state where I moved when I was 14 and where I went to school; the state where I moved when I was 25, married and began my life as an ordained minister (and where I now pay taxes). Then there are the state flags of the places I’ve been stationed over the last 22 years of military service. These places have all been my home, but Paul says that our citizenship is in heaven. ...