IN THEORY:
Does God really favor Americans?

A new survey of American religious beliefs reportedly finds that one out of five Americans believe God favors the United States in worldly affairs. Among those Americans, the Baylor University study also reportedly found that more Republicans — four times as many — than Democrats believe God favors the U.S. What do you think?

We Christians believe that God is the creator of all things visible and invisible. How God guides creation and influences our world is a mystery. Perhaps the words of William Cowper (1774) in a Lutheran hymn, "Light Shining Out of Darkness," say it best:

"God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

Blind unbelief is sure to err

And scan His work in vain;

God is His own Interpreter,

And He will make it plain."

It's not yet plain what part we play in God's mysterious plan. We know he uses humans to do his will. God motivates people and they motivate others. We can recall in our own lives the people who have influenced us.

In the Old Testament we can see God's hand in salvation history. God forms a people, Israel, and establishes a covenant with them. When they violate the covenant God uses the Assyrians to punish them. When they repent, he uses King Cyrus to release them and return them to Jerusalem and even to help them rebuild the temple. (Ezra 1:1-4)

Whose side is God on? The question is too complex to answer. We know that "God is Love" and that he wants to see his love in each one of us. Perhaps God is using the terrorists to make us rethink who we really are, and to make us appreciate our Christian heritage and the freedom it gives us.

REV. GENE FRILOT

Pastor Emeritus

Incarnation Catholic Church