by Andrew Pate, Pastor to all peoples of all nations
There is little doubt that the greatest sin of modern Americans has been the exclusiveness of their point of view, which, more often than not, has been the main reason for their isolation from other peoples.
The thinking goes: We are the best, the brightest, the best looking, the friendliest –you name it—in large numbers since WWII Americans have diligently sought in these exclusive ways to set themselves apart from the rest of the world.
Little wonder, Americans are suspicious of foreigners, especially of immigrants. Little wonder, Americans do not understand how intentionally self-righteous they have become. They simply have little or no desire for anyone else to be as good as they are, and certainly they will not tolerate the notion that anyone with a foreign, or un-American background, might be smarter and better at many other things.
So, it is: we have lost our deep and abiding faith in humanity, in the basic goodness of all people, and in the wisdom that is to be shared and gained from the beliefs of others with a different religion or different basic philosophy about life.
Sadly, to be so exclusive is basically un-American; the first non-native Americans were from different lands with different religions and different ways of going about their daily routines, yet they prospered. How? Because they worked together. And the Civil War that could have divided them forever, it failed; and Americans became a stronger, more united people.
Thus, it is, to repeat: a politics of exclusion is essentially un-American, not only alien to the values of the US Constitution, but an unwanted intruder into America's historic passion for peace, tranquility and good will among all people.
So it is, too: True to our heritage we welcome strangers; we press to make friends and to have many things in common with them.
God loves the world of His creation, and so do Americans true to the best that is in them, in the land God created for them to be One with His world.
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