Food for Thought: Is it right to disparage the country that's given you so much?

President Obama never misses an opportunity to disparage the United States. And yet, for many, we remain a beacon of hope. Certainly, it has been the pro-life movement in the U.S. that has been most vigorous in defending the right to life. We have exported the rescue movement to other countries as well as Life Chain, 40 Days for Life, and other efforts to save the little ones being led to the slaughter. Most of those working for the restoration of the right to life are Christians. Perhaps we are in the minority today as we see our country sinking into a post Christian barbarism, but we still lead the fight around the world for respect for human life.
I found this article by Pat Boone so inspiring I want to share it. So here's some spiritual nourishment for your Sunday meditation. And President Obama, where's the gratitude?

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The president without a country


by Pat Boone

"We're no longer a Christian nation." – President Barack Obama, June 2007

"America has been arrogant." – President Barack Obama

"After 9/11, America didn't always live up to her ideals." – President Barack Obama
"You might say that America is a Muslim nation." – President Barack Obama, Egypt 2009
Thinking about these and other statements made by the man who wears the title of president … I keep wondering what country he believes he's president of.
In one of my very favorite stories, Edward Everett Hale's "The Man without a Country," a young Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan stands condemned for treason during the Revolutionary War, having come under the influence of Aaron Burr. When the judge asks him if he wishes to say anything before sentence is passed, young Nolan defiantly exclaims, "Damn the United States! I wish I might never hear of the United States again!"

The stunned silence in the courtroom is palpable, pulsing. After a long pause, the judge soberly says to the angry lieutenant: "You have just pronounced your own sentence. You will never hear of the United States again. I sentence you to spend the rest of your life at sea, on one or another of this country's naval vessels – under strict orders that no one will ever speak to you again about the country you have just cursed."

And so it was. Philip Nolan was taken away and spent the next 40 years at sea, never hearing anything but an occasional slip of the tongue about America. The last few pages of the story, recounting Nolan's dying hours in his small stateroom – now turned into a shrine to the country he foreswore – never fail to bring me to tears. And I find my own love for this dream, this miracle called America, refreshed and renewed. I know how blessed and unique we are.

Read more here.