What are we anyway?

A few people have asked me in the past few weeks, since I started talking about the "Christian nature" of the US: If we aren't Christian, then what are we?  So I've been thinking about it.  And I've discovered we are a nation of two separate identities.  Schizophrenic your might say.

On the one hand, we are a nation built on offense.  The pilgrims came here because their home nation was an offense to their religious sensibilities.  They build their community on perceived offenses within their community, which cause other communities to be founded.  Over the centuries we have made offense a profitable endeavor.  We have entire broadcast networks dedicated to being offended (EIB, MSNBC, Fox News).  Our political process is run by the two percent majority on either end of the spectrum that is constantly offended by anyone who doesn't agree with them (yes, I mean Nancy Pelosi and Joe Wilson).  We are offended by coaches of our favorite teams, by minorities, by educational standards, by other religions, by the other drivers on the roads and even by members of our families.  And we hold on to those offenses until the turn into hateful grudges.  Offense is at the very root of our politics and religion.

On the other hand, we are a nation built on the concept of reconciliation and the premise of the second (and third, fourth, fifth, etc.) chance.  The pilgrims had worn out their welcome in their homeland and an adopted land.  They came here for a fresh start and a chance to build something they could believe in.  The Revolutionary War for Independence was based, originally, on various offenses committed on the American colonies by Britain, but the war began only after several attempts at reconciliation were rebuffed.  The war itself was, in fact, an act of reconciliation.

"How the heck can war be reconcilation?" I can hear you say.

Reconcilation is merely the redefinition of a relationship.  It follows forgiveness (and I'll get into that later) but it does not replace forgiveness.  It establishes a baseline for a continued relationship after an offense.  While the colonies worked hard prior to the war to resolve their differences with the homeland, they entered into a wartime footing when it became apparent that England was not going to change how it treated the colonies.  The Declaration of Independence did not fire the first shot, the British did that themselves when they refused to accept the terms of reconciliation... at first.  Much later they were forced to.  Today, the US and the United Kingdom enjoy one of the closest national relationships in the world.  We are closer to England than we are Mexico and Canada.  And, as a nation, we take pride in that relationship.  It is a hallmark of who we are.

I the US, it is possible to screw up in business, marriage, parenthood, crime, politics (remember Richard Nixon was out of politics altogether before his second run at President... and he's still a hero in China) and still be able to come back for a do-over.  In my travels in Europe, that is the primary good quality of America that is recognized universally.

Offense and reconciliation are the yin and yang of America.  Whichever we seem to be is whatever we tend to feed.

We are a nation based on offense. Pilgrims came here because their nation was an offense to their religious sensibilities. We have whole broadcast systems dedicated to being offended. We have industries built to Medicate us from the depression caused by unresolved offense.