I will never forget one particular testimony I heard on one particular occasion in the church I served in Atlanta. He was a seminary professor, and he and his family were joining the church. And when it came his turn, he said, "I'm joining this church because those cannons across the street on the grounds of the State Capitol Building are pointed directly at us."

I thought at the time, "That's a strange answer." I had never noticed the cannons across the street. And I would look for them the next day, and, sure enough, there they would be, sitting there as mute relics of some war and pointing straight at the stone gothic sanctuary of my church across the street. I would note that, were …