God, Guns, and Country

I was born and raised in the south, in a small-ish town in Upstate South Carolina. A place too big to be a true small town, but too small to describe it any other way. If you’re from here or somewhere similar, you know exactly what it’s like. If you’re not, let me paint you a picture.

I grew up with a church around every corner, the same classmates from 1st to 12th grade, surrounded by cows and farmland. My childhood was spent running around barefoot in a cul-de-sac and eating honeysuckles at recess. Whenever I leave home, I find that people have a lot more misconceptions than I thought.

Some say we’re too rigid and beyond help. I met a woman in California who, after learning we were from South Carolina, began to rant about our “regressive state government.” I even had a professor look at me with serious concern and say my state was only getting “worse and worse.”

Others are too idealistic. They imagine romantic depictions of southern belles in flowy ball gowns like Scarlett O’Hara. They think of slow living, traditional family values, and call it God’s country.

My experience has been somewhere in the middle. For example, I’ve absolutely gotten fresh eggs from my friend’s chickens and talked to strangers like I’ve known them for years. But we also have questionable roads and infrastructure, (why are there no streetlights?) and a lot of people that are resistant to change of any kind.

Like anywhere, the south is full of different people and walks of life. We don’t agree on everything, but it always seemed like loving God and loving America were the two most important things you could do. This lyric from “Small Town Southern Man,” by Alan Jackson, sums it up perfectly: “And he bowed His head to Jesus / And he stood For Uncle Sam.” 

My whole life, it seemed like that‘s what everyone did: love God and love America. As I’ve seen more of the world outside my home, the more I wonder what people do when God and America contradict each other.

A few months ago I was driving home and saw a house with a sign that said God, Guns, & Country. Kind of like “live, laugh, love.”

My first thought was, at least they put God first! My second thought was, what does God have to do with guns?

For me, it was so strange to see guns right next to God. I don’t think they have anything to do with each other, but just a few miles away someone thought it was important enough to put up a sign for the world to see. It made me think about how easy it is to believe in something when you attach God to it.

I think that’s why Christianity and the south are so intertwined. It’s hard to separate church and state in the minds of people who have learned that you can’t have one without the other.

Take the name “God’s country.” It implies a place that belongs to God, where He is always present. Essentially Heaven on Earth. To some, the south is just that. A place of freedom where Christianity is the norm.

But the same place one person calls God’s country actually represents injustice and unspeakable violence to someone else. In their eyes God couldn’t possibly be present in such a place.

It doesn't matter what side you’re on, it’s nearly impossible to go anywhere in the south without being reminded of its terrible history. I remember driving to the beach and the GPS took me to a road called Plantation Drive! I wasn’t seeking it out, I was just on vacation!

I was taught that God loves everyone, but the south hasn’t always done that. It wasn’t long ago when the Bill of Rights wasn’t applied to everyone here, so it’s hard to say that everything we do has God’s constant stamp of approval. 

How can this be God’s country when it contradicts what I was taught about God?

There is nothing wrong with being proud of where you’re from, and there is certainly nothing wrong with thanking God for it. But I think there should always be room for nuance. Nothing is entirely black and white. 

The south is not fully good or bad. It is simply a region of man-made borders with as many flaws as it has merits, there’s beautiful moments in our history and dark moments.

The same goes for Christianity. It has been used as a tool for control in one way or another, not just in the south, and not just in America. But it can also produce good. My journey with my faith has been very freeing, but at the same time, I’ve had plenty of hard times. (And a lot of those happened in church!)

My faith has influenced me in so many ways, from how I see the world to how I treat others. Still, I know my way of life isn’t the only one, and I don’t think it’s the only one God cares about.

From what I grew up hearing, it seemed like God was always on “our” side, that this was God’s country and if you didn’t like it you could leave! But I don’t think it’s that cut and dry.

I have no problem with someone who believes in God, owns a gun, or loves America. But I do have a problem when someone believes God only represents their country and their way of life. It’s a slippery slope to Christian nationalism when people act as if America can do no wrong and that God co-signed the Constitution Himself.

There’s an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) called “Still Valley,” that demonstrates my point.

In the episode a Confederate soldier comes to a town occupied by Union soldiers. When he sneaks in, he sees they are all completely frozen, unable to move or talk. He meets an old man who says they can’t move because he cast a spell on them using a book of witchcraft. But the spells don’t work unless the caster pledges allegiance to Satan and denounces the name of God. Then the old man chooses the soldier as the next person to have control over the book. 

At first, he plans to use the book to defeat the Union army, and the other Confederate soldiers agree with him eager for a leg up in the war. But when he realized he would have to denounce God, he refused to do it. 

He couldn’t denounce the name of God but was totally willing to fight and die for states’ right to own slaves. Which obviously contradicts that same God.

I had an epiphany watching that episode because it’s the perfect picture of what happens when you don’t evaluate your beliefs but still claim that God is on your side and no one else’s. You will be able to justify anything because you’re using God for your own cause, even the most unjust of causes.

Our laws haven’t always reflected the standards set in the Bible, and mixing the two requires that legality determines what Christians believe, not what the Bible actually says. And we all know just because something is legal doesn’t mean God is behind it.

I think it’s dangerous to blindly idolize the South and use Christianity to justify it. It’s a slippery slope to Christian nationalism, which merges the Bible and the Constitution into one belief that props up certain people over others, and claims that God approves.

I think the beauty of the South is hidden behind the hypocrisy of what we say and what we do. But I’m proud of my home and I haven’t given up on it. 

I hope one day people will see the South the way I do: not completely perfect, but not hopeless either.