The Bloody Question

Back in the days of the ruthless persecution of Catholics in England, particularly in the late-16th century, arrested Catholic priests were often asked the "Bloody Question":  "What would you do if the pope were to send over an army, declare that his only object was to bring the kingdom back to its Catholic allegiance, and use his apostolic authority to command obedience?"  (The point of the question was to upgrade the offense of being Catholic to the crime of being traitor.)

I was reminded of this when I read this article, "God or Country?" -- and some of the commentary that followed -- in a recent issue of Time.  According to the article, "[w]hen asked to choose, 42% of American Christians polled pulled no punches, which raises all sorts of questions in a country built on the separation of church and state."  Actually, it doesn't.  A commitment to the "separation of church and state," properly understood, does not require a believer to subordinate loyalty to "God" to loyalty to "country."

I was very sad, by the way, to learn that, among Catholics, nearly two-thirds of those polled said they are "Americans first" (and not "Catholics first").