Swearengin is an author, emotional & spiritual well-being coach, podcaster and content creator through his social media presence as Unconventional Pastor Paul. He talks religion and politics at times joined by his wife Ashley, a former elected official and community leader. Find him at Pastor-Paul.com.
American Christian churches celebrate each July with patriotic songs and pledges of allegiance - not allegiance to Almighty God - but to our country's flag and its symbolism of "freedom" secured through military might. Since Christians like to ask WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?), I do wonder if an incarnate Jesus in America today would celebrate the 4th of July weekend as do so many of our patriotic churches?
“Those who live by the sword, die by it,” Jesus is quoted in the Christian Bible. He didn't seem to be in alignment with the Zealots who were stirring chaos in attempt to force the despotic Roman government out of Palestine, nor with the "overturn-the-government" focus of those in his religious community who felt the major goal of their god was to... well... make their country great again.
In my past role as leader of a brick-and-mortar American Evangelical church, I refused even to display an American flag in our church building, much to the chagrin of some of our parishioners. Do I hate our country? Of course not. I do believe, however, in the teachings of Jesus that spirituality and faith should be rooted in a “kingdom” (or people group) that is above national boundaries, divisive echo chambers and petty squabbles.
“There is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Greek,” the Christian Bible says. This was a RADICAL statement for the first century Jewish Christian. They all had been taught that inclusion in their community gave them identity and met their basic human needs of safety, value and purpose. Now they were being told to forgo those exclusive benefits in order to bring their message of abundant life to foreigners and people of other religions - people with whom they'd been forbidden to share a meal in the past?
The Hebrew story of Jonah tells of his belief that hatred of foreign people was a God-given right. The story shows Jonah scolding God and stating he'd rather be dead than live in a world where that God would have mercy on "those people." Is not calling America a “city on a hill,” or declaring God's blessing on our military conquests any different than Jonah's attitude towards the Ninevites? Maybe God would say to us, as he did to Jonah, "Do you do well to feel this way" when we celebrate a belief that our country has special favor over others?
The first century religious leaders, who Jesus called “hypocrites” and “white washed tombs,” believed their job was to use political skill and religious piety to restore godly order and hierarchy in the world.
“If people follow Jesus, we will lose our temple (i.e. religious practice) and our country,” they said. Likewise, today's American Christians act as if heaven's top priority is for the U.S. to dominate the world economically and militarily, and that the Christian's job is to make that happen through the installation of Christian law into civil systems and even our legal code.
The story of Jesus demonstrates that we gain influence with people through service and a willingness to die for those around us - or at least die to self for the benefit of others. He preached of loving one's neighbor and then defined "neighbor" as that person of another race, religion or creed that a religious community feels is worthy of divine love and mercy. Nothing I see in the gospel story would give the slightest hint that Jesus would approve of militaristic and patriotic songs in a church when he once turned over temple tables and demanded it be restored as a "a house of prayer."
Therefore, does it not seem a disconnect to celebrate our ability, past and present, to preserve ourselves through violent acts and to declare "America First" as a useful motto for a follower of Jesus' teaching?
What if Christians celebrated the times we didn't go to war as vociferously as we celebrate military victory? Could there be a space where our sense of safety was more rooted in our spiritual faith, than in our faith in America's military power? And, if so, could we use even a small portion of the annual $557 billion military budget (larger than the budget of the world's next ten largest militaries combined) to follow the 2,000 commands of the Bible to seek justice for the poor, foreigner, marginalized and economically disadvantaged of our country and the world?
It seems Jesus believed this mindset shift could lessen our need for bombs, guns, jets and drones. And wouldn't that idea truly be something worth pledging allegiance to in our Sunday morning gatherings?
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.