Americans are in an identity crisis. While trying to find ourselves individually, we lost touch with who we are as a nation. In attempt to acquire greater unity, our culture is saying that ethics are ethnic. This paradigm of relativism is less accommodating than it proposes, because it only sets up each community to become insular and isolated. This new melting pot recipe has caused our country to mutate into a messy pile of disconnected communities, when it once was a nation founded upon our universal unity as human persons.
For the first four centuries after the first Christians settled on its shores, America had a strong sense of identity, because the majority of Americans identified as Christian and they knew their nation as a Christian nation. That identity was evident in the lifestyle of Americans from coast to coast. There was a time when we did know our nation by its religion, and we were stronger for it. We had a more formidable foundation, something to stand on and be proud of, more than the abstract and often-misinterpreted idea of freedom. We had more tight-knit communities because we could develop them with a common fabric: Christianity.
Then relativism seeped in somehow. Relativism is a philosophy that has trickled down from academia and political offices to affect our everyday lives, and it's affecting one of the most unifying concepts of America -- namely, the concept of assimilation. America used to be a land where people put aside their differences and united in whatever ways they can. What we have today is a land where people just agree to disagree with their neighbor. The result is a very fragile peace that can be broken by simply the wrong trigger word. How free are we if we can't even bring up certain topics like religion and politics without offending someone, even if our intention is to reach a common ground?
Religion: The missing element
The most divisive force in humanity is religion. Ironically, it also has the most unifying power. Theological differences separated peoples throughout the Old World. Western Europe: Roman Catholic. Northern Europe: Protestant. Eastern Europe: Orthodox. Apply the concept wherever you please. If borders don't separate one religious majority from another, then there is much conflict within those borders. America's solution: forget about religious unity altogether. The trouble caused by trying to acquire such unity just isn't worth the turmoil. The product of that solution: a lukewarm soup filled with ethical standards that don't mix. When I was a kid I used to think I could throw milkduds, candy canes, garlic, cinnamon and mustard in my oatmeal to increase the flavor. In modern American culture we think we can mix together homosexual rights, the Ten Commandments, hedonism, asceticism, chastity and promiscuity so as to attain a more diverse culture. The same concept applies: some ingredients just don't mix. There needs to be some deep unifying texture to the recipe.
What is a nation?
But what about separation of church and state? The answer is simple: a nation is not a federal state. I'm not talking about the United States as a political order. I'm talking about America as a nation, a country and a republic. Republic, etymologically, means "a thing of the people". It's an organic entity, practically an organism, formed out of necessity from the natural order of things because people must live in community. The word nation comes from the Latin verb “natus”, meaning "to be born". Romans called their home country "patria", meaning the fatherland. The ancient nation of Israel was formed by the 12 tribes, which were the descendants of Jacob's 12 sons. God gave us two forms of community: the family and the church. Historically, the nation has always sprung from those communities.
The federal state that is the United States is an artificial entity, formed by the secular order out of man's desire to implement his own ideas into reality. This is not intrinsically a bad thing, but it can much more easily lead to corruption. Only a fool would unconditionally associate himself with any government system or political party. Even democracy, as Winston Churchill said, "is the worst form of government, except for all others that have been tried." We know a person by his or her lifestyle, social mores, diet, hobbies, and cultural interests. Political concerns are just ideas bouncing around in our heads. There really isn't anything tangible about them. We know persons by their way of life, their conduct.
Why America needs religion
America has the modern Pantheon. All religions are here, so, presumably, we have to search elsewhere for a source of unity. Furthermore though, America is propagating a standard for the rest of the world. It's still a city on a hill. People used to flock to America for religious freedom. It's the founding principle of our nation, but it was a freedom to practice religion; not a freedom from practicing it.
American religious freedom, believe it or not, is founded on many principles practiced in the Holy Roman Empire. The Catholic Church of Medieval times evangelized a diverse continent of European tribes. Evangelizers built new societies based on a Christian understanding of Roman law. The new America, greatly influenced by Puritanism, built a society that struck a similar balance between Roman law and Christian principles; but did they really know what a recipe for diversity such a balance would cause? Since they were first evangelized, the Catholics of Europe always expressed their faith in surprisingly diverse, independent ways. Just look at the differences between Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals. History couldn’t tell the story more clearly: Christianity is the mother of all aspects of religious freedom.
Perhaps the Renaissance and secular humanism distracted Europeans from the original concept of the Holy Roman Empire. The Judeo-Christian image of society was God's image of man. In this image, man was created free, but his freedom was sustained by his obedience to God. The Catholic Church institutionalized that overarching concept, and translated it into terms of governance. Many historians frown upon the staunchness of the society thereby formed, but in reality the staunch element was just an accidental of the already staunch Germanic tribal cultures of ancient Europe. In the Greco-Roman south, the embodiment of these same Christian principles were much more dappled. This is not to say southern Europe was more cultured than northern Europe. In many ways, the stern, robust and strict mores of the Germanic nations provided a sturdy foundation. It was the natural way to live in the harsh, rugged environment of that northern region. Southern Europeans were formed by their environment as well. Sometimes we get so caught up in our ideas that we forget how much we’re influenced by our surroundings.
Where freedom went wrong in America
The difference between the medieval idea of freedom and modern America's idea of it is easy to notice. The European of the Middle Ages didn't separate community from freedom because he saw them as complementary. He in fact wanted freedom so he could live in community with those he knew and loved. The American idea of freedom is autonomous and individualistic. It's a freedom from rather than a freedom to. This is understandable though, because America was born out of a very strong disdain towards the Crown of England, so it’s in our heritage to always run from something like our forefathers ran from King George.
But was this the original idea of American freedom? Was it freedom from Britain's long despotic arm that the pioneers wanted? Or did they want freedom to live out their idea of democracy? Yes, it could be both. But what's better for the morale of America today? To think our founding fathers were motivated by just breaking free of their mother country, or that they were motivated by the hope of establishing a new civilization?
Freedom or unity? Both!
The principle of equality in the Declaration of Independence upholds the dignity of the individual. So now we have religious freedom and human dignity among the foundations of this new society we call America. The missing thread seems to be unity. Is not unity a strong pillar in our country's tradition as well? Something in our founders' vision of America enabled them to see how a society can solemnly respect the individual while keeping everyone united as one society.
That something was the pursuit of happiness. This pursuit put our pioneer American on the path of intuition. His new society didn't force him to live in community, but he found it necessary to do so on his own as he pursued his own dreams. Thus, mills were built by waterfalls and towns were built by the mills to increase productivity. Communities were formed around a common pursuit of self-sufficient subsidiarity, as their citizens realized that working together formed a network of sustainability. This network capitalized upon itself consistently all around the nation, and the strong influx of productivity that emerged led to the Industrial Revolution. Just look at all of the mining towns in the Ohio Valley, or the railway towns of the Midwest, and you'll see this clash of industry and community that I speak of.
Beforehand America was primarily an agricultural society, but then the united pursuit of happiness increased possibilities as one idea led to another; and the American dreams that came true were more numerous than the factories that made those dreams attainable.
The Civil War marked the climax of the industrial and agricultural duel, but the unseen battle was between industrialism and artisanship. America's ideals were turning upon themselves. Artisanship was the embodiment of the individual's pursuit of happiness. Through it he could make a living off his own creation through the local market. After the Industrial Revolution, he had to compete with the machine and mass production. It was John Henry against Carnegie and Rockefeller.
Know a nation by its religion
Why was this happening? What happened to the unifying power of the pursuit of happiness? Americans used to see working together as profitable to all. Now the pursuit of happiness is individualistic and defined by competition. Local markets have to compete in the national and even international economy. Apparently the pursuit of happiness was, and is, no longer forming community. As we can see, individualism leads to every man for himself, a social Darwinian society.
Finally I return to my original point. What is a nation? Without the unifying power of religion, it's just a fleeting concept. It turns out that America has to at least try and unite through religion because nothing else has the strength to unite like religion does. Nothing else influences human persons deep enough to bring together a people as diverse as Americans. I believe religion is the hidden, implicit element in the paradox of a free, united civilization---the civilization the founding fathers of our fatherland envisioned.
David Kilby is founding editor of Rambling Spirit and managing editor of Catholic World Report. He has written for several publications including Trenton Monitor, centraljersey.com, Ascension Media, and Catholic Herald. He holds a bachelor's degree in Humanities and Catholic Culture from Franciscan University and a real estate license in New Jersey.
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