Proud to Be an American Christian

1 July 2026  Amos 5:14-15,21-24

“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)

Thomas Jefferson no doubt thought he was simply being rational when he famously wrote in the Declaration of Independence of “unalienable rights” – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

What he may not have known (Jefferson was not a very careful student of the Bible) was that the idea of unalienable rights actually started with the Jews.

The United States leads the world by several orders of magnitude in charitable giving – a record-breaking $617.2 billion in 2025, as a percentage of GDP 2-3 times the amount given by other nations. Experts in the field of philanthropy have long known and reported that the engine for nearly all this giving is Christian faith.

“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). All the prophets of Israel taught that all people had something like rights, that even the weakest and most vulnerable people of the land, who could make little if any contribution to the welfare of society, were still entitled to care, to protection from the greed and rapacity of the powerful, to access to the most basic necessities of life. Protection of these rights, for the Jews, was more important than getting their prayers and worship right. God looks at generosity, not liturgy, first: “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept them” (5:21-22). Priests who sing the Mass perfectly, even in Latin, and congregations who know the creed by heart are useless if the rights of the weak and vulnerable are not being protected. Aristotle taught that people received rights in direct proportion to their contribution to the good of society – more contribution = more rights. It was the Jews who first suggested that rights don’t work that way. Some rights cling so closely that you can’t take them away without ruining everything. You can’t even give them away, any more than you can give away the color of your eyes. That’s the kind of justice that rolls down like waters, the righteousness that is like an everflowing stream.

This is a message that Americans, particularly American Christians, have heard loud and clear. The United States is the world’s largest international food donor. About 417,000 metric tons of U.S. grown commodities like wheat, rice, corn, and specialized nutritious foods are given away every year in emergency food assistance. An additional 400,000-460,000 metric tons support agricultural development in developing democracies. American citizens donate $50 billion annually to overseas causes, providing emergency food, clothing and disaster relief, and even more than that at home. The United States leads the world by several orders of magnitude in charitable giving – a record-breaking $617.2 billion in 2025, as a percentage of GDP 2-3 times the amount given by other developed nations (Giving USA 2026 –The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2025). Millions of people around the world are eating today because of the generosity of Americans, and the productivity of American farmers. Experts in the field of philanthropy have long known and reported that the engine for nearly all this giving is Christian faith. Apart from the generosity of American Christians, the bottom would fall out of philanthropy worldwide.

Social media today abound with reports of how wicked America is, some Americans declaring loud and long how ashamed they are of their country. They clearly don’t have all, even nearly all, the relevant information. Americans, led by American Christians, are incredibly generous, something the world depends on, something we can all be proud of.