"I don’t think God blesses America in some special way. The God I worship is far too big and grand to be limited to fifty states…. We think of ourselves as a chosen people, and unique in God’s eyes, but everyone s unique in God’s eyes…. There’s nothing wrong with feeling good, but love of country is not the same as love of God, and they should not be confused."

The Reverend Peter J. Gomes, Minister of the Memorial church and professor at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Quoted in the Boston Globe, September 14, 2003