Published July 2, 2026
“Why Do You Love America?”
“Why do you love America?” an acquaintance recently asked me, seemingly annoyed. The blunt nature of the question caught me off guard. We have bundled our four young children up in the January cold, hot chocolate in hand, to watch the Washington Monument light up in a projected display of our nation’s history. We’ve dragged them out late in pajamas to watch military flyovers on the National Mall, and we’ve gone to the White House Easter Egg Roll (three times). We have an American flag hanging outside our front door—it’s so big, in fact, that if it’s particularly windy, it sometimes slaps guests in the face as they enter our house. I have worked for the U.S. House of Representatives and in the Executive Branch. My husband has worked for the House and the Senate and a former Vice President. We love America. It took me a second, but I responded: “Because it’s the greatest country in the history of the world. And it’s my home.”
“But Jesus loves all people and all places,” he responded, “and in today’s political climate, America doesn’t really seem all that great.” His implication was that as a Christian, it was off-putting, perhaps even wrong, to be patriotic or feel a sense of pride in one’s place—especially when political leaders don’t always represent Christian ideals and values, or when some who claim the name of Christ abuse it in service of ignoble aims.
But it’s precisely because of the incarnation of Christ that I am free to love my nation and love it abundantly. Jesus lived in a particular time, in a particular place, amongst a particular people. He was and is fully human, even as He was and is fully God. And while He loved the whole world, He did so while on earth by loving and serving those right in front of him, in his place, amongst his people. That’s what we’re called to also. “And you will be my witnesses,” Jesus says in Acts 1:8 just before His ascension, “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” First at home and then worldwide.
It’s easy, perhaps even tempting, to let the politics of the moment breed contempt or disdain for our country. But there’s so much to love, and we can love our country most exuberantly by working to make it more faithful, more just, and more worthy of its highest ideals.
Perhaps it’s providential that the World Cup has coincided with America’s semiquincentennial. Watching fans from around the world visit our homeland and delight in our people, our hospitality, our food, our music, our scenic byways and storied Main Streets, has fanned the flame of love for this country for many. Our love for our people and our place is not a denigration or rejection of the goodness of other peoples and other places—it is a recognition that God made this place and these people and set us among them. He calls them good, so we can (and should), too.
There will always be a gap between our government as it is and our government as it shall be when the one upon whose shoulders government rests returns to rule every tribe, tongue, and nation forever. Until then, I thank God for 250 years of this free republic, and I pray blessings upon it for another 250 and more.
Katelyn Walls Shelton is a Visiting Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Bioethics, Technology and Human Flourishing Program. She is a women’s health policy expert and, as a 2025-2026 recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship, is conducting a year-long research project on reproductive biotechnology and human nature.
