By Walt Garlington, an Orthodox Christian living in Dixieland. His writings have appeared on several web sites, and he maintains a site of his own, Confiteri: A Southern Perspective.
The closer one gets to an object, the more of itself it reveals to the observer. The same appears to be true of the American Experiment. As we draw nearer to the 250th anniversary of its beginning, its essence is becoming manifest to all but the blindest amongst us.
Of its characteristics, the most important is, Americanism is tantamount to spiritual chaos.
Examples: There was no White House proclamation celebrating the Christian holy day of Pentecost (non-Orthodox; 24 May), but there was an earlier proclamation honoring Jewish American Heritage and encouraging Jews across the union to observe their Sabbath from May 15-16.
Memorial Day 2026 was to be observed as each person sees fit (bolding added): ‘The Congress, by Public Law 106–579, has also designated 3:00 p.m. local time on that day as a time for all Americans to observe, in their own way, the National Moment of Remembrance.’
Next, Americanism is a shallow ideology, sadly giving birth to a shallow culture.
Examples: The list of entertainers for one of the marquee events of the 250th celebration just about says it all.
An eclectic mix of entertainers is poised to join a massive bash on the National Mall marking America’s 250th birthday, which is being billed as a “once-in-a-generation celebration.”
Country music star Martina McBride, rappers Flo Rida and Vanilla Ice, “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” singers C+C Music Factory and rocker Bret Michaels are among the artists slated to perform at the Great American State Fair, organizers announced Wednesday.
The 16-day, World Fair-esque event, part of this year’s America 250 celebrations, will kick off June 25 in Washington.
. . . “The performers, innovators, military heroes, and everyday Americans showcased here represent the very best of who we are, and the boundless opportunity ahead,” Krach said, calling the gathering in the nation’s capital “a moment for America to come together.”
Other performers include “Brick House” funk band the Commodores, rapper Young MC, pop duo Milli Vanilli and R&B group Morris Day and the Time, with additional artists to be announced.
Milli Vanilli is ‘the very best of who we are’? This list is beyond an embarrassment. It is shameful; it is a dishonor. And yet it is precisely what should be expected to result from the religion of Americanism.
Third, Americanism wallows in the lowest pit of the passions and empty spectacles.
Examples: Brutal UFC fights will take place on the lawn of the ‘sacred’ White House:
Construction on the Ultimate Fighting Championship Octagon is underway on the White House South Lawn ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned fights this summer to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States.
The event, dubbed “UFC Freedom Fights 250,” will take place on June 14 — coinciding with the president’s birthday and Flag Day — and feature a lightweight title matchup between undisputed champion Ilia Topuria and interim title holder Justin Gaethje alongside four other fights.
“Selected fighters” will take home prize money — some of which will come from Crypto.com, according to UFC.
. . . Trump has repeatedly touted the popularity of the fight, claiming at the congressional picnic earlier this month that he had “never seen anybody want anything so much as people want those tickets.”
. . . “Our country is invited to this, it’s free,” Trump told reporters, claiming that the Ellipse would be able to house 75,000 to 100,000 fans beyond the main stage on the South Lawn. “They’re going to set up eight big screens and they’re going to have the fight. And then out here, we’re going to have 4,000 seats right in front of the front door of the White House.”
. . . In a statement, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said the event “will be one of the greatest and most historic sports events in history.”
“President Trump hosting it at the White House is a testament to his vision to celebrate America’s monumental 250th anniversary,” he said.
Nothing to see here. Just a massive UFC fighting ring towering over the Trump White House. Idiocracy was just supposed to be a satirical moving – not a blueprint.
Quite a low vision from our new Cyrus.
The World Cup soccer tournament is also being touted as part of the 250th bash. Per the once somewhat classy US State Department, no less:
The FIFA World Cup 2026™ will be the organization’s largest event to date, featuring 48 national teams. Eleven U.S. cities will host 78 matches including the final in the New York New Jersey Stadium. This historic event coincides with the United States’ 250th anniversary, presenting a unique opportunity to showcase American dynamism, world-class hospitality, and sporting excellence.
The United States will host the FIFA World Cup 2026™, anticipated to be one of the largest sporting events in history, coinciding with our nation’s 250th anniversary.
Donald J. Trump
President of the United States
Related to this third point, the corrupt sleaze oozing out of the Trump regime lately is worth noting, but we will do so only in passing (while also leaving unsaid many other collective vices of the US), for we want to get on to the better things.
Walt wanted to move on, but sometimes you just have to see it all laid out to believe it.
The Orthodox country of Georgia is an excellent foil to the pseudo-Christian country of ‘America’. Patriarch Shio gave an important address on the true nature of an authentically Christian people, in honor of a truly remarkable milestone for Georgia: 1,700 years as a united, Orthodox country:
His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Shio of Georgia delivered a message on May 26 marking the country’s Independence Day, urging Georgians to understand freedom not merely as a political achievement but as a spiritual and moral responsibility.
“True freedom isn’t only the outward expression of independence and the inheritance of the past,” he said, “but above all it concerns the spiritual condition of the person and demands great responsibility from us,” reports the press service of the Georgian Church.
Pat. Shio opened his address by describing May 26 as one of the most significant dates in Georgian history, saying it embodies the centuries-long struggle of the Georgian people for liberty, for the Christian faith, and for national values. He also noted that the restoration of the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church preceded the achievement of state independence, and that the Church has always served as the spiritual foundation and the basis of national unity on the path toward independence.
Already we see quite a divergence from Americanism, with its promotion of religious pluralism/relativism and its attendant exaltation of the earthly over the spiritual. His remarks went further, though:
The Patriarch also noted that this year marks the 1,700th anniversary of Christianity being declared the state religion of Georgia, calling the occasion a reminder of the spiritual foundation that has shaped Georgian identity, culture, and civic consciousness across the centuries. He said the Christian faith taught the Georgian people the meaning of true freedom, love of God and neighbor, steadfastness in times of trial, and self-sacrifice for the homeland.
Some in the States would claim something akin to this for Americanism, and to some extent they are correct: A vaguely defined Christianity has been a strong cultural force in the US, but all the celebrations of immigrants from all over the world and their non-Christian religions (whether Hinduism, Islam, etc.) as well as the numerous schismatic and heretical groups (Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals, etc.) tear down what the former builds up.
The Patriarch’s clarification of what constitutes true freedom came next:
His Holiness then turned to the younger generation, warning against what he called false modern ideas about liberty. He said contemporary society often tells people that freedom means rejecting all constraints, whereas true freedom means responsibility, faith in God, inner strength, honest and moral living, and the overcoming of vices. Only a generation raised with these values, he said, will be able to preserve the country’s unity and state independence.
‘Rejecting constraints’ (i.e., boundaries) is one of the most celebrated dogmas of Americanism, whether the boundaries of territory (acquiring new lands and fiefs, whether the lands of the Rocky Mountains and beyond or Venezuela, Greenland, Cuba, etc.) or the boundaries of the earth (space-based civilization) or the boundaries of human nature (human brain-computer interfaces or transgenderism) or the boundaries of tradition in general so that citizens can ‘become whatever they want to be’ (whether a wealthy entrepreneur or an abortionist or a TV gameshow host or . . . ).
He closed in this way:
The Georgian primate closed by calling on Georgians not to treat independence as merely a political inheritance from the past, but to work daily to strengthen it. He said Georgian statehood should be founded on love of God and country, justice, peace, unity, tolerance, and service to human good, since a strong state is built only when these virtues prevail in society and the people are united in loyalty to common national goals and spiritual-moral values.
This kind of selflessness and service to others has never been very dear to Americanism. As we have pointed out previously, enlightened self-interest (i.e., individual selfishness by another, nicer name) has often been one of its identifying characteristics.
The Holy Elder Cleopa, in a homily for the Holy Ascension of Christ, also addresses an error of Americanism discussed above, the lust for carnal pleasures. He quotes St Maximos the Confessor:
So, we have come to the second step of spiritual ascent. Do you hear what this step consists of? “The True Sabbath is the liberation of a rational soul that turns its mind away from the sphere of the senses, abandoning the natural work of the senses through natural contemplation in the spirit.” This is the second step for the soul. But how does it reach it? Fighting with the mind. This is how natural contemplation in the spirit is attained. If earlier the sight of a beautiful woman tempted a person, now it doesn’t anymore. When he sees a beautiful creature, his mind is carried away to heaven and he says, “If this creature is so beautiful, then how beautiful an angel must be! And the Cherubim, the Seraphim, and the One Who created them!” He transports his mind from earthly beauty to that of heaven—and he receives benefit instead of being tempted.
Previously, when he heard stirring music, it excited his mind and soul. But on the second step of spiritual ascent, it no longer excites him and even benefits him. Because he thinks: “If people can play the reed-pipe, trembita and organ so beautifully, then what must be in heaven! How angels sing there, and what dances must be there!”
. . . Therefore, a person on the second step of spiritual ascent, through natural contemplation in the spirit—that is, the pure beholding God’s creation, immediately rises mentally from the visible to the imagined and invisible, as having received freedom from temptations, as St. Maximus says. His mind is transported from what he hears here on earth to the songs of heaven and says in his mind: “If these earthly people can sing like that, then what kind of songs must be there in heaven!” Also, smelling a wonderful fragrance, he reflects on the fragrance of flowers in Paradise; and so he rises with the mind and other senses, by contemplation transforming everything he sees, hears, tastes, smells, or touches—into spiritual reflections.
A spiritual ascent of this kind is out of the question for Americanism, which delights above all else in the physical pleasures of this world.
The very dodgy theologizing of Americanism’s faithful is also on display in their attempts to both justify and condemn acts of secession. The hosts of American Family Radio’s Today’s Issues program (27 May 2026) condemned quite roundly any talk of secession from the United States as a violation of Christ’s commandment to love one another. Secession in their view would be the result of love grown cold between the peoples of the various States, and to allow it to proceed would be a spiritual failure and a sin. On the other hand, these same enthusiastic votaries of Americanism do not apply this same ‘logic’ of theirs to the secession of the 13 North American colonies from Great Britain in 1776. If they did, they would have to condemn Sam Adams, John Hancock, and all the rest of the Founding Fathers as being guilty of the sin of unlove towards the British.
So once again Protestants show themselves to be untrustworthy to direct the States out of the difficulties in which they find themselves entangled. Unfortunately, the Roman Catholics are in just as bad of a debacle, with endless confusion about popes and anti-popes, and hallways and walls and mazes of mirrors made of papal bulls and statements leading them in circles of madness.
Americanism, after the passage of 250 years, has been found to be deficient and deformed. Its predecessors, Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, have likewise been found lacking. None of the three are totally bereft of good (whoever has not wept at the beauty found within Tolkien’s masterpieces The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings ain’t quite human yet), but only the Orthodox Church is truly catholic – complete, lacking nothing. Only in the Orthodox Church will the peoples of the States find true life and authentic liberty, a joy that endures, a journey and a story of which they will never tire. May it not require another 250 years for those truths to be accepted in the heart of every person in the US, and for their blissful entry into the Paradise of the Orthodox Church.
