America—the Idea Behind its Existence
The United States of America is a good idea. No, it’s a great idea! When a good idea becomes a reality, usually many people benefit from it. But when the main idea begins to be forgotten, and only its benefits are sought, people begin to hurt, lack, and eventually die. On the 245th Independence Day of the US, does everyone calling themselves American remember the idea behind America? And if people who are enjoying fireworks and grilling have forgotten the idea, what then is being celebrated?
The American Idea Among
Others
Many grand schemes have
characterized the nations and peoples of the world. Present day China has a
communist government—recently celebrating 100 years of tight control and
scrutiny over its people. Ancient Greece, even with all its sophistry, was a
brute kingdom that reached its zenith under Alexander the great, and then split
4 ways after his death. Hitler attempted a utopia on earth, when he sold the
lie of the third Reich to the German masses through his propagandized
dictatorship.
The kingdoms of the
Middle East for many generations, under Islamic rule, have been theocratic
monarchies of sort, where the hand of religion is clasped tightly with the hand
of tribal and familial monarchies. British Imperialism, as far and wide as its
power reached was not a setup in which life liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness were everyday staples. Neither was its governance of, for, and by the
people.
All these ideas of
national governance, seem to be repetitions of history in different packages. But
the common theme is that people were ruled, by force, by dominance, and often against
their wills. The American idea however, when it first emerged on to the stage
of the world was absolutely different. In truth one might say that the America
idea and its successful execution in world history, are an anomaly—an absolute
anomaly among all the ideas which the stage of the world has allowed to play
out among its many actors.
Except in the United States
of America, at no time in history, and in no other nation on earth, has there
been such a confluence of events, people, and ideas that have allowed humanity
to thrive with such liberty, equality, and opportunity for all. But this begs
the question, how was the great American idea made possible?
The Idea: its Inspiration
and Execution
The founding fathers of
the United States were running away from much more than king George the III of
England and his tyranny over the colonies. They were escaping a way of life and
governance that stifled religion, commerce, and life itself. What then would be
the design of their new way of life? This design, they enshrined in two
documents: the Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution. These are the
2 documents upon which principles for life and governance in America rest, and
the 2 are inextricably linked so that one cannot be preferred above the other.
One
might think of the Declaration of Independence as being a document that
inspires high ideals like truth, courage, patriotism, and prosperity. For
example, “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one
people…” And “We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
If
the Declaration inspires the idea, the Constitution executes the idea, stipulating
the conditions for its realization. For example, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect
Union … do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America.”
The
more you read these two documents in whole or in part, the more you see that
there is a harmony and brilliant balance to them. Says Larry Arnn, “The words
of the Declaration have a way of continuing to ring across the ages. The
arrangements of the constitution have a way of organizing our actions so as to
produce certain results, and they have done this more reliably than any
governing instrument in the history of man. Connect these arrangements to the
beauty of the Declaration, and one has something inspiring and commanding.”[1]
Not
only has and does this dual arrangement inspire and command people in America,
but the world has stood up to take notice of the American idea.
What does the world think
of the American Idea?
The world has both criticized
and commended the American idea, especially of late, in the wake of the debacle
that was the 2020 election, and the ensuing turmoil and cancelling of long held
Declaration and Constitutional values.
When a great idea that
has worked for so long begins to be challenged and changed, it is much to the
chagrin of spectators who have cheered its success. Why else do you think the
major news channels of almost every country are concerned with what goes on in
the US? Have you watched Sky News Australia lately, for example? Or the BBC? Or
NDTV India? Of course, America’s foes watch more closely so, because to them,
the American idea is repugnant, to be replaced with other ideas. But America’s
friends want to know what is happening with her, chiefly because they have, in
some measure or the other, sought to emulate the American idea on their own
shores.
When emulating the
American idea doesn’t work at home, the spectators want to be participants.
Hence countless people from all over the world have travelled Stateside in a
bid to make America their home. America has been and is a nation of immigrants,
immigrants who for the most part, have embraced the American idea.
Yet so pervasive and
attractive is the American idea, that one need not even live in America to be a
patriot! It has so caught on in the global village that people from all over
the world who live under different ideologies and from more challenging
upbringings, have risen up as global patriots of America to warn American
people and politicians to safeguard their idea. The latest global patriot of
the US might seem unlikely: the niece of slain Islamic terrorist, Osama Bin
Laden, Noor Bin Laden![2]
Even here in India,
people and politicians recognize the brilliance of the American idea and have
sought to emulate it, except that we don’t have the balanced beauty and
brilliance of the Declaration and Constitution, and all the other checks and
balances which make the execution of the idea possible. There is something else
of utmost importance that many countries lack even if they wish to adopt the
American idea.
The Foundation and
Flourishing of the Idea
What many other countries
lack that America had (maybe still has) is the foundation upon which to build,
and the atmosphere in which to make flourish, this great idea.
God, and His ways, are
the foundation of the original American idea, and also the cause for its flourishing.
What do I mean?
Please understand, I am
not saying that America was ever originally a Christian nation. For it was not.
That was never the intention of the founders, many of whom were atheists,
agnostics, and Free Masons. America was never intended to be a theocracy.
Israel of the Old Testament was, and Calvin’s Geneva of the 16th
century is perhaps the closest New Testament theocracy. But America was never
intended to be a theocracy, nor a Christian nation of any sort.
It was however,
indubitably, founded upon Judeo-Christian principles and values.
This is clear for any objective reasoner to see. Unless America had been
founded on Judeo-Christian principles, it never would have been founded, and
would have never been the anomaly in world history that it has turned out to
be. For only Judeo-Christian values and principles with our mandate of love as
the highest virtue—totality of love for God and the corresponding love for self
and others—could have allowed for the realization of the American idea.
Besides Judeo-Christian
values and principles though, don’t forget that many of the early American
founders and citizens, were in fact, Christian. So that America may not have
been founded as “a Christian nation,” but it was founded as a nation in which
Christians lived. These early American Christians were influential—the salt of
the earth and the light of the world. They lived out Christian principles,
worshipped God freely, preached the good news of Jesus Christ, and brought
lasting good to America in the realms of education, industry, and commerce and
more—much of which overflowed to the rest of the world, even in those early,
formative years.
The secret then to the
success of the American idea certainly lay in the hand of God being upon the
American people, and their hands being lifted up to God in prayer and in
grasping His word, the Bible. As much as I’m interested in the American idea
and its success while living in 2021, so have many other global patriots in the
past been. Read, for example, the well-known words of the French historian, Alexis
de Tocqueville, 19th century historian and political scientist who
visited America to observe the working out of the American idea:
“I sought for the
greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers,
and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was
not there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there.
Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with
righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is
great because she is good and if America ever ceases to be good, America will
cease to be great.”
What Tocqueville observed
and understood was spot on. The churches of 19th century America
were unapologetic in preaching righteousness. The good that Tocqueville saw in
America was on account of the good God the people believed in—the One who
defines good and evil, and calls people to embrace the good news of His Son,
Jesus Christ, who saves people from sin, imbues life with meaning, and promises
to fulfill His purposes for us in this life and the one to come.
The Idea Calls for
Immediate Action
As a
call to action and the safeguarding of the American idea, I build on Tocqueville’s
observation: “Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits
aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.”
The Church in America must continue to be the secret of her genius and power,
if indeed America is to continue to exist as a city built on hills and a beacon
of light to the world. If the Church in its borders fails, America will fail.
What
then?
The
Church (all Christians – preachers, pastors and parishioners alike) cannot be
bothered about pandering to the culture to attract people. This fear of
rejection must go. The hobby horses of present-day church leadership, such as
keeping up with Corporate American culture in the Church, must cease. We can be
more original!
We
have got be to less concerned with “human resources” (a pejorative phrase in my
opinion in the context of the Church), and focused on using the spiritual
resources we have, in Christ.
We
have got to stop focusing so much on programs and processes, which, as valuable
as they may be, don’t hold a candle to the power that a praying church generates.
Convenient
preaching for popularity, acceptance, filling pews, and pleasing man has got to
go. Convicting preaching in power, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, that
aims at the saving of souls and the pleasing of God must replace it. Pastors
and preachers who cannot stand by biblical convictions should ply another
trade.
The inordinate emphasis
of the Church today on social issues (like justice, poverty, and fighting for
the rights of certain interest groups) as the central mission of the Church has
got to be moved back to the periphery. While the building up of the body of
Christ and reaching the lost as the central mission of the Church (of which the
social concerns are an overflow) must be realized anew and reemphasized
constantly.
The idea behind a
prosperous America then, is a praying and pure Church.
The idea behind the upholding
of the Declaration and the Constitution, is upholding and adhering to the whole
counsel of God, as revealed in the Bible.
The idea behind America’s
commitment to life and liberty, is the Church’s commitment the absolute and
unchanging truth, because it is the Truth incarnate—Jesus Christ—who sets us
free, and keeps us free.
God bless America, and
may the Church in America in this hour rise up like never before to be a
blessing to her nation, and to the world. Amen.
©
Kenny Damara, 2021
Comments
Post a Comment
Leave a Comment