NFL star Benjamin Watson, who plays the tight end for the Baltimore Ravens, cannot help but shake his head because of the apparently declining level of morality in America, which he believes is not a Christian nation anymore like what many still believe.
"From my youth, I have subconsciously and rather naively believed the narrative that America was a Christian nation without truly unpacking this claim," he writes on his Facebook page. "As I've entered my adult life, becoming more aware and emotionally invested in the trajectory of my homeland, this faulty view has led to my current internal disillusionment with the moral decline of this so called Christian country."
Watson says his problem is not with America, but his flawed expectations of America. Even though many of America's people are Christians, he maintains that the United States could not be considered a Christian nation.
"There is no such thing [America as a Christian nation]. In truth, it has always been a nation whose spoken allegiance to God conflicted with its tangible observable deeds. Such a discrepancy is a warning to all of us as we struggle for consistency between our words and our actions," he says.
Watson cites abortion as an example. Because Americans "sanction the annual murder of one million innocent unborn" and have removed "all vestiges of biblical Christianity from its view," America cannot be called a Christian nation anymore even if it is "responsible for a great deal of goodwill throughout the world," he says.
The Christian athlete says American Christians should just focus on "present[ing] the truth before men with the hope of winning souls."
" My greatest challenge is for my anger to be righteous instead of selfish," Watson says. "We remember that as proud as we are to be American, we are eternally part of a global royal nation that spans race, creed and time."
