As World Cup soccer in America ramps up, you’ve probably heard and seen by now enthusiastic European soccer fans gushing all over social media about their trips to the USA. Many are sharing their love for our state parks, the ease of travel, stores like Sam’s Club, Taco Bell, Buc-ee’s, the mysteries of ice machines, and even a trip to a medical clinic. Yes, that was a positive story Shaun of Scotland shared about how nice the staff was to him and his wife, who had a “mild” case of food poisoning. He gave the experience a “10/10” rating.
“All my dreams are coming true in America,” declared Shaun in a social media post on X that showed him proudly standing in front of a Bass Pro Shops. And, in addition to the trip to the medical clinic, a classic Southern breakfast also appeared to blow his mind as well.
“Every Scottish person in America needs to immediately try Chicken Fried Steak, and you’ll realise we and the Americans are kindred spirits,” said Shaun, who describes himself as a “Scottish guy at the World Cup in America.”
And Shaun is just one of the multitude of happy European visitors filling social media feeds with their declarations of love for the U.S.
‘Defense of Christian Patriotism’
Meanwhile, Daniel Darling — who released a book last year on Christians and patriotism — noted that all of the celebrating taking place amid the World Cup and upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States are reminders of all that Americans, especially believers in Christ, have to be thankful for in this country.
“It’s really what we needed in the 250th year,” said Darling, who wrote “In Defense of Christian Patriotism: Equipping Believers for Political Theology, Civic Duty, and Love of Nation.” Darling is also director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. “I think Americans have just forgotten how good we have it. Some of the things we just assume are part of natural, normal life, (World Cup visitors) are overwhelmed by … the freedom of movement, the prosperity we have … even something like air conditioning.”
Darling noted he has seen first hand at Southwestern how thankful — and patriotic — students who were born in other countries are for being able to study and live in the U.S.
“We have a lot of students who are immigrants, children of immigrants, and when I talk to them about the country, they are really among the most patriotic people that I know — and they talk about how patriotic their parents are. … They see the contrast between what they escaped from and what we have.”
While many Europeans, Darling noted, live in great places, they are saying things like “Wow, this is really incredible.”
Avoiding complacency
Because of that, Darling added, Americans — and all Christians — should recognize how easy it is to become “complacent.”
“We have become very complacent about the basic freedoms, the prosperity we enjoy — that the rest of the world doesn’t enjoy,” he noted.
Darling added some believers “are rightly asking themselves what does it look like for me as a Christian to love my country: ‘I love God, and I love my country at the same time.’ And of course … yes we can. If we order them rightly, that if we love God supremely, then we have these lesser commitments that we also have.”
While there are problems in any country, Darling added, he doesn’t believe “cynicism is a good catalyst for change.”
“We can name a million things … we’d like to see fixed, directions we don’t like, trends,” he said. “Well, you’re only going to try to fix those things if you actually love the thing that you are fixing.”
‘Bipartisan’ approach
Being patriotic, he said, shouldn’t be “code” for political debate or someone who supports a particular party.
Darling added, “Love for country should mean bipartisan. … I think we need to remove it from partisanship in saying, ‘Thank God I live in this country. I’m thankful I live here, and I want to help preserve it for the next generation.”
Originally appeared at The Baptist Paper