The god of America's Choosing

Al Mohler has rightly observed, Prof. Stanley Hauerwas has a habit of "irritating the faithful," which is probably why I have enjoyed reading him since college, even though I would disagree with him on most theological issues. I am always provoked by how he arrives at his conclusions (see, for example, "Preaching as Though We Had Enemies").

Yet, Hauerwas' analysis of civil religion in the US is often hauntingly perceptive. Such as his recent comments in "How Real is America's Faith?", cited by Mohler:

Americans do not have to believe in God, because they believe that it is a good thing simply to believe: all they need is a general belief in belief. That is why we have never been able to produce interesting atheists in the US. The god most Americans say they believe in is not interesting enough to deny, because it is only the god that has given them a country that ensures that they have the right to choose to believe in the god of their choosing. Accordingly, the only kind of atheism that counts in the US is that which calls into question the proposition that everyone has a right to life, liberty, and happiness.

Mohler's analysis, I believe is correct. Hauerwas makes some sweeping generalities, but he is not wrong to suggest that most Americans believe in "the god that has given them a country that ensures that they have the right to choose to believe in the god of their choosing."

And for that reason, I pray for grace and clarity in preaching the glorious realities of the real - and interesting - God who inspired such prophetic words as these.