One Nation Under God. But Which God?

One Nation Under God. But Which God? That's a question I've brought up before. Today, I bring it up again because it appeared in a Letter to the Editor in the LA Times. Their heading was: If you want 'one nation under one God,' chances are it won't be your religion. That is so true. But guess what? The point I always try to make is that it won't be God's "religion" either! That is, after all, implied in my site title - God versus religion. Also by its subtitle - What religion is God?

It's truly a be careful what you ask for kind of question.

For instance, take the squirrel in the adjacent picture. Really, consider the squirrel! According to the photographer, that squirrel is in/on an ancient temple.

Do we know which temple? No. At least I don't. Do we know which "god" is worshipped at that temple? Again I do not.

Can the squirrel answer either of those questions? Not likely. But then, the squirrel doesn't care. Since he/she took the time to climb all the way up there, that temple probably does something useful for the squirrel. Maybe there's food in it. Or maybe it gives an awesome view from which to spot food.

one nation under god - a squirrel nation under a squirrel god

Or, if it's like the squirrels in my backyard, maybe they only worship the "god" of acorns. So the squirrel may be quite happy to be part of one nation under god, where the god is the acorn god. Exactly what that acorn god actually asks of its worshippers, the squirrel doesn't know. The acorns show up. The squirrel is happy. Period. End of story.

However, the squirrel in the picture might not get acorns. Probably it's something else. And so, the squirrel in the temple "worships" its god for a different reason. Maybe it's some kind of seed that they eat where the temple is. So the squirrels in this ancient temple worship the seed god for whatever kind of seed(s) they eat.

one nation under god - a squirrel nation under a squirrel god - but which squirrel god?

Can you see the problem here? What we've got now is two sets of squirrels. One in my backyard that worships the acorn god. And the other in this temple that worships, for lack of a better name, the temple seed god. But being the people we are, now we want to turn that into one religion where all squirrels worship the "seed god". The ones in the ancient temple worship the "temple seed god". But the ones in my backyard don't eat "temple seeds". They eat acorns. So they have to break apart from those who worship the temple seed god.

Now we've got a squirrel religion that worships a seed god. But we also have two, let's call them denominations. The original worships the temple seed god. The breakaway denomination worships the acorn god. And yet, somehow, both claim to worship the same god! How can that be? Especially since acorns and temple seeds are different enough that there was a need to break away from the original group!

Both would love to live in one nation under god. But neither can tolerate that one god being the other denomination's god. Even though they're part of the same seed god religion!

What is a squirrel supposed to do? Actually, I don't believe the squirrel has a problem. There's some evidence that the squirrel, and other animals, "know" something we humans don't. We'll get back to that thought in a bit.

one nation under god - a human nation under a "god"

Let's turn to the human version of this issue. An issue that we generally spell somewhat differently. We tend to capitalize "god" and make it God. As you likely know, being a Christian, I cannot do that across the board. To me, there is one capital-G God - the God of the Bible. Of course, that includes Yahweh, from the Old Testament. However, it does not include Allah, from the Qur'an. Please read What religion was Abraham? for more on that. Nor does it include any other god from any other religion.

Given that, let's look at some excerpts from Letters to the Editor related to an Op-Ed that was written about Michael Flynn and the concept of One Nation Under God.

“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion,” Flynn declared at a right-wing rally last weekend at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. “One nation under God and one religion under God.”