In [An Unknown] God We Trust – A look at Acts 17:16-34

On March 11th, a federal appeals court ruled that the inclusion of the phrase “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution. At first glance, this appears to be a victory for Christians in America. However, when the ruling is read in its entirety, it should actually serve as a wakeup call.
The court’s decision was made based on the interpretation that including the phrase “under God” did not promote any specific religion or deity, but merely emphasized the idea that humans have inalienable rights. In this and similar cases, such as including the phrase, “In God We Trust” on our currency, the courts have argued that it is not promoting any particular religion because it can refer to any ‘god’, not necessarily the Christian one. The argument reminds us of the ancient Greeks who worshiped a deity they called Agnostos Theos, that is: the unknown god. In Acts 17, Paul proclaims to the believers in “the unknown God”: “Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth” (Acts 17:22-23).
As Christians, we do not worship a God who is merely a concept, precept, or abstract idea. We worship the Lord of Heaven and Earth who became incarnate as Jesus Christ. Over the past century, in our zeal to avoid offending anyone with our specific beliefs, we have pedaled a generic god instead of proclaiming the good news of the one true God. Ironically, in our attempts protect God, (as if he needed anything from us), we have diminished the power of our testimony to mere platitudes, moral laws and fuzzy images. As a result, Christianity may win the battle of being respectable in our culture, but lose the war of saving souls for Jesus Christ. If we continue down this path, Christianity will be irrelevant for anything except political pageantry.
The true battle that needs to be fought has nothing to do with meditation times in school, inscriptions on coins, pledges, or any other mandate of Congress. The true battle is how we witness to our specific faith in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is not as important that teachers lead prayers in school as it is that we teach kids to pray by our example. It doesn’t matter as much what is written on our coins as much as how we use our money in ways that honor God. It is not the words that we use in our pledges as much as the actions that we live out as disciples of Jesus Christ that will snatch souls from the devil. When we move from talking about ‘god’ to sharing the good news of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, some will sneer. But others will say, “We want to hear you again on this subject” (Acts 17:32). The battle will be won in the hearts of individuals, not in the chambers of the courts.

Grace and Peace,
Rev. Karl Sokol