Sermon Library
“American Spirit”
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
July 03, 2011
Service Theme: Pentecost III-2011
Pentecost III-2011 July 3, 2011
American Spirit
Religious Origins
On July 3, in 1776, George Washington wrote a letter to his wife Martha. In part, these were his words: “In a few days, you will see a Declaration setting forth the causes which have impelled us to this mighty revolution and the reasons which will justify it in the sight of God. I am fully aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these states; yes, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of God’s ravishing light and glory.”
On July 3, in 1776, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, “The fourth day of July, 1776 will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”
I believe most people respect the Declaration of Independence and are fairly familiar with the opening passage. “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.”
In a sermon on the 4th of July entitled “Mission of the Mighty” a minister stated, “The original appeal of the Declaration of Independence is an appeal to the only authority that could possibly substantiate it, an appeal to the only law that could possibly give it validity and truth, an appeal, as the Declaration itself puts it, ‘to the Supreme Judge of the world.’ The truths that it says are ‘self-evident,’ are self-evident only because Almighty God has already established them in His Word. Where else do you find them? It assures all who read it that those who wrote it and signed it were depending totally on the protection of Divine Providence for the support and the preservation of those principles.”
Most of us know the beginning of the Declaration. Now listen to the religious conclusion, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Forgetting Heritage
How many of us have read the Declaration of Independence in its entirety at one time or another in our life? In that same sermon, author unknown, it stated that 50 years ago 1 out of 4 people had read the Declaration. In the year 2000, 1 out of 100 people had read some of it. It is a good thing to read. It does not take long. When one does read it, one is quickly reminded of its religious orientation.
Ten years ago on the 4th of July an enterprising news reporter in Madison, Wisconsin, handed a slip of paper to a random 122 people on the streets of Madison. He asked them their opinion of just the first opening words of the Declaration. Some of the people said that they thought it was very radical, much too radical. Some said it was silly idealism. Quite a few said that it was probably written by some communist or socialist. Others thought it was the work of some counterculture group. There were only 13 out of 122 people who recognized it as part of the Declaration of Independence.
According to Chuck Colson, a Gallup poll reveals that one out of every four Americans today do not even know that July Fourth commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Even more amazing, the same number could not identify from which country we declared our independence.
Reversing the First Amendment
It seems as though we may be a country which is forgetting our heritage fairly quickly. I am going to guess that it has something to do with 21st century emphasis on technology and consumerism. I also suspect that it has to do with what I consider to be the complete reversal of the first amendment. Even though our country was clearly founded under God and religious freedom and tolerance, its religious history has been mostly suppressed because people today believe that we cannot associate anything religious with our government. My understanding is that our early American Fathers sought religious freedom which included tolerance toward various religious and reformational perspectives, albeit at the time mostly Christian. But when a form of extreme Christian fundamentalism emerged and then declared itself the only true Christian faith and applied this narrower view to politics, the majority of people said the separation of church and state must be completely separated.
The great irony is that the very people who wanted to re-make this country religious and specifically Christian are the ones who are preventing it from being so or of any serious and sensitive faith. This very narrow Christian view practically forced upon the majority of Americans today has caused such majority to reinterpret the first amendment to mean freedom from religion versus the original intention of the first amendment which was freedom of religion. Our founding fathers not only wanted freedom of religion and freedom for religion, but they also wanted people to be free to believe and worship their own religion. They were tolerant of various expressions of faith. There were many different denominations thorough out the colonies and a Jewish settlement in New York when the first amendment was set. It is the intolerance of religious freedom by some fundamentalists which has reversed this amendment. I believe this is an unfortunate necessity.
Listen again to the precise words in the first amendment. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” I clearly understand this to mean that we meant to protect the church from the state. Today, again because of the force of fundamentalists, the first amendment is used to protect the state from the church. If they could have been more tolerant and inclusive as did the founders of this great country, I believe there would be a lot more people who would be aware of the religious background of this country as well as the original partnership of tolerant religion and politics.
Religious Literacy or Illiteracy
I think this separation today contributes to the greater lack of religious knowledge today. Students do not learn it in school as they once did up to about 60 or 70 years ago. And the majority of people under 50 today do not learn it in church today because most of them are not there any more. Stephen Prothero’s book on Religious Literacy in America is a stark statistic on American religious illiteracy. People’s religious knowledge in general is less and less with each generation. They do not know the basics of their own background, let alone any other religious background in this increasingly religiously pluralistic country of America. He maintains a test of the most basic ten questions of religion which he provides for college students and the public and continues to record the average answer of two or three out of ten correct answers. I even think our current lack of religious education and knowledge reduces our current lack of American education and knowledge.
Pew Report
There is a fairly recent report with statistics on religion in America by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. It is very thorough and precise, but in the big picture it verifies what most of us already know and that is more and more people are becoming unaffiliated with any religious organization. Yet, they are not less spiritual, just not affiliated with any religious organization.
American Grace
There is another very thorough study about religion in America and compiled in a book entitled “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.” It is by Harvard professor Robert Putnam and Notre Dam professor David Campbell. I had just become aware of this study and lo and behold Robert Putnam was in Aspen this past Thursday speaking in Paepcke auditorium at the Aspen Ideas Festival. I ran over there and saw Steve Wickes with the Institute at the door and he graciously allowed me to take a seat.
One of his points that stood out for me was that America has experienced three religious seismic shocks. In the 1960s, religious observance plummeted because it was a time when baby boomers were questioning anything in authority. Then in the 1970s and 80s, a conservative reaction produced the rise of evangelicalism and the Religious Right. Since the 1990s, however, young people, turned off by that linkage between faith and conservative politics, have abandoned organized religion altogether. The result has been a growing polarization – the ranks of religious conservatives and secular liberals have swelled, leaving a dwindling group of religious moderates in between. At the same time, personal interfaith ties are strengthening. Interfaith marriage has increased while religious identities have become more fluid. Putnam said that this denser web of personal ties brings surprising interfaith tolerance, not withstanding the so-called culture wars.
Putnam called the now unaffiliated “The Noners.” (Not nun, but noners) I think his statement that the noners got turned off by the very conservative evangelicals and their intolerant views within politics substantiates my thought that what people are turned off about religion I would also agree with, but want to let them know there is another group of Christians who are tolerant and inclusive. This is not an easy task, but I think most essential and the right direction. They have left the building. How to get them back in and say that there is another way is quite a challenge, but I think it worthy and right.
This movement is reflected in leaders such as Elaine Pagels and her book Beyond Belief; Marcus Borg and his book The Heart of Christianity; Harvey Cox and Future of Faith; Matthew Fox and A New Reformation; Fenton Johnson and his Keeping Faith; John Shelby Spong and A New Christianity for a New World; Phyllis Tickle and The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why; and Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity. And this is just to name a few within this 21st century reformation.
William and Mary
Let me go back to the 17th century to the year 1693 when the oldest school or second oldest school with the oldest school building in America was founded, the college of William and Mary. It is known as the Alma Mater of a nation educating 4 American Presidents and 16 members of the Continental Congress. It was founded by the Virginia government with a penny tax on every pound of tobacco. Rev. James Blair was college president for 50 years. Students who were headed toward ministry were given free tuition as subsidized by the state.
Today, in William and Mary’s Spring, 2011, magazine they feature an article about today’s new research on the “quest for the historical Jesus.” This phrase, by the way, was probably originated with Aspen’s own Albert Schweitzer. The article begins by saying that “the scholarship on the study of Jesus has moved from faith-based research to a cultural investigation focused on historical probability. This academic enterprise uses literary data, archaeology and modern historical method to reconstruct the life of Jesus. The Gospels are studied closer along with other non-canonical texts to cross-reference data and establish historical fact.”
I think it is interesting to know that the oldest school in America is committed to the most modern studies of Jesus. I have to believe that this reality check is ultimately going to be the most significant factor for the future of faith. If young people have been turned off by the old fashioned understanding of faith, I hope they will be rejuvenated with the new and more realistic understanding of faith. Oh, and by the way William and Mary is still a state school.
Robert Putnam, also by the way, stated that a major part of his research and statistics clearly indicated that people who attend at church, synagogue or temple somewhat regularly and generally are happier and more involved in their community in general. He stated that such social and spiritual connections are paramount for the well being of community and self.
I want to turn on people who have been turned off. There is another way other than the old way which actually happens to be the oldest way, the original way of Jesus. It will be great when this will happen to the extent that we can again celebrate the 4th of July with “pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, illuminations and by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” Amen.
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
Aspen Chapel
0077 Meadowood Dr
http://www.aspenchapel.org
Addendum
French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, “I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests--and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning--and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution--and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!”