What to the Christian Is the Fourth of July?

"In the world, but not of the world." For Christians, relating to our "home" country will include some combination of this balance or tension. This is just as true of living in the United States as any other nation in history. In fact, a good litmus test for whether our "nationalism" or "patriotism" is healthy and honoring to God and our neighbors, or whether it is idolatrous and therefore unjust, is to ask this simple question: could we commend the same attitudes and practices we possess toward America to Christians living in other times and places? Or do we somehow think that we are exceptional or in a unique category as Americans? One observer asserts that we must say both "yes" and "no" to our homelands.