The Piety God Prefers
The United States is a pious country. As much as many people may think we aren’t Christian enough, there are countries in Europe where Christianity is doing much worse. Various patriotic sayings and songs are closely tied to Christianity. “God bless America.” “One nation under God.” “In God we trust.” It’s printed in our money, recited in our elementary schools, and sung at our sporting events. Of course, not everyone is on board with Christianity or religion in general, but broadly speaking, Christianity is fundamental to our culture. The spirit of the nation delights to know the ways of the Lord.
The United States is also incredibly powerful. Perhaps God really has blessed us. Our military might is second to none, and our economic output continues to be incredibly powerful with the highest GDP. Many of the wealthiest people in the world live and/or do business in the United States. Unfortunately, part of this prosperity is tied to a sordid history with people in power pushing down on workers, climbing the oppressed masses to gain wealth for themselves. Of course, the free labor of slavery that existed before the Thirteenth Amendment comes to mind most readily. Plantation owners oppressed their slaves crudely: by not paying them and imposing terrible life conditions on them. You may think that this problem ended in December of 1865, but you may be surprised how long chattel slavery survived in the United States. The last documented case of a white person being tried for holding a black person as a slave occurred in September of 1942. Because of some infuriating loopholes in the legal system that would take too long to explain here, chattel slavery didn’t really end until World War 2, when the federal government feared our enemies using our moral failures as propaganda against us. As a result, slavery didn’t end until Alfred Irving was freed from a plantation in Texas in 1942.
That is horrifying, and chattel slavery isn’t the only example of oppression of workers in the United States. There are numerous cases of extremely wealthy people cutting wages or allowing them to stagnate while costs of living rose, using force to fight against labor movements demanding better conditions and wages. Even company towns, thought of by some to be an opportunity to protect workers and give them good lives, were abused. In Pullman, Illinois, workers weren’t allowed to buy their homes. They were forced to pay rent to the company they worked for. The Pullman company provided a library for the workers, but it wasn’t free. Fees to use it and other services were taken out of their wages. After all the costs of living were added up, they were giving back most of their wages to their company. In the early 1890’s Pullman cut wages in half. When the workers went on strike and the railroad union supported them, federal troops arrived to put down the strike, resulting in 30 factory workers being killed and several others being injured.
We’ve seen something similar happen recently, though much less dramaticly. When railway unions demanded better working conditions, including guaranteed sick days, the federal government got involved to avoid bringing the country to a standstill. The government forced the unions to take a deal, making any potential strike illegal. When the government gets involved, it is more interested in forcing workers to get back to the job than it is forcing the wealthy who exploit their workers to the table and improve things.
We may be pious as a nation, but we’re certainly happy to oppress workers—or at least tolerant of it throughout our history. Perhaps we have something important to learn from Isaiah 58:1-12. God acknowledges how much the people seek to “draw near to God.” They love God’s Law and respect God’s judgments. They even fast and humble themselves. They probably prayed more regularly than most of us do. They came together to worship God more often than many people in America today. No one could doubt their piety. However, when they showed their piety by observing a fast day, they served their own interests and oppressed their workers.
God wasn’t interested in numerous sacrifices, carefully regulated adherence to ritual purity, and days of sitting in sackcloth and ashes. God makes clear that the preferred fast is to “loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free.” God called for the people to provide for the starving and homeless among them. God wanted the people to care for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. No amount of professed piety mattered if the people didn’t show love to the most vulnerable. No great feast or fast would help them if they didn’t care for the people for whom God cared so deeply.
There’s no reason to believe the same doesn’t remain true today. Children can acknowledge that we are under God every day in the Pledge of Allegiance. Every politician can say, “God bless America,” on the campaign trail. None of it will matter if we aren’t caring for the vulnerable. If the nation oppresses workers within our borders and around the world, if the United States doesn’t care for the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and anyone else in need, our piety is empty.
There is a lot of anxiety among Christians in our country about us losing our piety. We are afraid God will be taken out of our patriotic sayings. We fear God will be removed from our schools. Whether or not these fears may be realized, I suspect Isaiah would tell us that these anxieties are misplaced. We shouldn’t get angry about God being taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance. We should become enraged when people go without food and shelter. We should cry out when workers are forced to work in unsafe conditions and see their wages and benefits stagnate while the wealthiest people continue to inflate their already endless riches. The worship that God demands isn’t saying the right words at sporting events. The worship that God demands is living like the Kingdom of God is at hand, fighting injustice, and showing grace and mercy to those who need it most.
