Life Style PARK PLACE OF ST. JOHN
Chaplain’s Corner Love America? Can you feel the shift in the
Last month, a young German soccer fan named Freddy came to America for the first time to attend World Cup games. He had 11,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter). He stayed for six weeks as he followed his beloved German team around the country, and he was overwhelmed. He called Taco Bell "the holy land." He took pictures of gas stations and shared them back home with expressions of amazement. Everywhere he went—Waffle House, college stadiums, sprawling shopping malls filled with stores and restaurants, impressive hotels, and breathtaking scenery— left him in awe. By the time he returned home, his account had grown to 700,000 followers from around the world, many of whom agreed with Freddy: America was beyond imagination. Freddy is not alone. Gallup polls show that America remains the world's most desired destination for migrants, with 15 percent of would-be immigrants naming it as their first choice for a new home. Among aspiring migrants in Latin America, that number climbs to 28 percent. One study found that immigrants and their children possess "levels of patriotism [for America] that are about the same as those of native-born Americans or that exceed them."
air? The “I love America” sense of patriotic pride has begun to diminish. A recent Public Religion Research Institute survey found that American pride
has fallen from 82 percent in 2013 to 51 percent today. Among 18-to-29-year-olds, belief in the American Dream has dropped from 50 percent to 36 percent in a single year. The younger generation is the least patriotic in our nation's recorded 250-year history. Wow. How did this happen? The younger generation cites issues such as slavery, injustice, violence, extreme political and social polarization, and foreign policy failures. Yes, these things have been true—both in the past and in the present. As Christians, we must tread carefully. The Bible is very clear about our citizenship. It tells us that no earthly nation is our true home. Rather, we are strangers, aliens, and sojourners. We are here on earth with a heavenly passport, and every nation in the world is ultimately flawed. Does that mean we should join the anti-American trend? No.
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