The Great Divide in America
American politics is more divided than ever, we are told. Is it Red State/Blue State? Republican/Democrat? White/Other? Whatever it is, and whatever its causes, innumerable opinions have been offered, almost always pointing at the obvious. Victor Davis Hanson, on the other hand, provides deeper insights into factors unseen by the casual observer and most professionals. An observer of history without peer, Hanson’s recent article on the great political divide in America identifies several contributing factors:
What has caused the United States to split apart so rapidly? Globalism, high-tech, the campus, denunciation of the West, post-Americanism, and illegal immigration. Almost every cultural and social institution — universities, the public schools, the NFL, the Oscars, the Tonys, the Grammys, late-night television, public restaurants, coffee shops, movies, TV, stand-up comedy — has been not just politicized but also weaponized.
Meanwhile, evangelical Christians are huddled on the sidelines having a heady theological debate over Daniel’s missing week.
I am in no position to disagree with Victor Davis Hanson about anything, but I would suggest that the deterioration in the institutions he identifies is preceded by a more general common cause. In each label assigned to the causes Hanson identifies can be discerned euphemistic dismissiveness of the premise that America–and its founding principles-– is good for the world. When anti-American elements are distilled to their essence, it is Christianity against which they are ultimately arrayed.
That probably sounds overly simplistic. The point of this writing is not to present an exhaustive list of the political and cultural benefits that derive from Christianity, but rather, to wonder out loud why it is Christians who need the convincing.
Hanson offers a few ideas to repair those institutions. Measured, meritocratic, diverse, and legal immigration would help to restore the melting pot. But what if the basic ingredients have been significantly, if not unalterably, diluted? I mean, really, no measure of legal immigration will turn Stephen Colbert back into Johnny Carson, or Robert DeNiro into Jimmy Stewart. Not even an idiot would suggest that our country has ever been perfect –but it was better, when the culture was more christian.
Why aren’t Christians fighting harder for America from their pulpits? When has any pastor spoken of the moral goodness of a healthy economy? Or the immorality of taking another’s possessions by force of government taxation? Tax-exempt status notwithstanding, why are such topics considered off-limits from the pulpit? Today’s evangelical Christians–especially the pastors–are so unaware of the application of Christianity to American political ideas, that had they lived 240 years ago, the Declaration of Independence could not have been conceived of, much less, written.
Steeped in Christianity for all of my 54 years, I believe today’s evangelical Christians have abdicated their authority in American culture by their absence of concern for its place in history in favor of more important, “spiritual” things. As one example of evangelical high-mindedness, a church in my town has begun construction on a building to house its new rock-climbing ministry.
America is in the cross-hairs of the weaponized institutions that Hanson lists, but their ultimate target is the Christianity on which America’ political paradigm was founded–which seems strange, because for their part, evangelical Christians aren’t even on the battlefield.
They can’t blame American culture for that.