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Chuck Colson & Timothy GeorgeChuck Colson & Timothy George

Contra Mundum

Who Are Americans?

What Christians contribute to the search for a national identity.

Nations around the world are suffering from identity crises. Perhaps it began two decades ago, when the last European holdouts were dragged in and the European Union was finally established, a move described by one journalist as "the triumph of the Eurocrats over the peoples of Europe." More recently, The New York Times reported on France's efforts to articulate its national identity. Soon thereafter, controversy erupted when Switzerland banned the construction of Muslim minarets. The Times and Forbes have reported on identity crises facing South Korea and China, as immigration makes largely homogenous nations increasingly diverse.

All these reports raise the question, "Who are we?"—which is also the title of scholar Samuel P. Huntington's final and most prophetic book. "The more general causes of these … questionings," wrote Huntington, "include the emergence of a global economy, tremendous improvements in communications and transportation, rising levels of migration, [and] the global expansion of democracy …."

There's also an identity crisis bubbling just under the surface in the United States.

Huntington documents several challenges to a cohesive sense of American identity. First, while early settlers and immigrants were never ethnically homogenous, they largely traded in the same Anglo-Protestant cultural currency. But as 21st-century demographic trends increasingly draw people from other quadrants of the world, shared cultural assumptions erode.

Exacerbating the problem is a rise in dual citizenship and more subnational identities, which have created divided loyalties. Meanwhile, in the business community, an increasingly globalized economy has caused leaders to adopt a more transnational identity, what some call "Davos man." And aside from a temporary resurgence of patriotism after September 11, Huntington documents how academic elites have led the way in devaluing patriotism and American history.

We rightly pride ourselves on our multiethnic, multiracial society. But as our society grows ever more diverse, how will we understand our national identity?

Huntington poses four possible solutions. The first is a creedal community whose identity exists only in a social contract embodied in the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents. This has historically provided cohesion. The next option is a bifurcated America, one that is bilingual and bicultural like Canada or Belgium. The third option is an exclusivist or imperial notion of America. And the last alternative, the one Huntington clearly favored, is a reinvigorated core culture and religion coupled with the earlier solution of a reinvigorated creedal community.

Can a Christian worldview inform us as we wrestle with our national identity?

Any kind of racially or ethnically intolerant society would be incompatible with Christian principles.

Further, we know that the core values of our creeds, which in particular promote the dignity of all people, resonate with Scripture and are worth preserving. American patriotism does not rest on jingoistic nationalism but on a universal creed that says, "All men are … endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."

Liberty is one of those unalienable rights. And this core value, also emphasized in Scripture, teaches us that we cannot force beliefs on others. Our founders understood, however, that freedom of religion is not synonymous with expunging religion from public life, a problem that I and others addressed last fall in the Manhattan Declaration. So if Huntington is in fact right that the U.S. needs a reinvigorated religious commitment, it won't come from a nation-mandated religion but rather from a reinvigorated populace.

Contra Mundum

Chuck Colson & Timothy George

Chuck Colson & Timothy George

Charles Colson was the founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries, an outreach to convicts, victims of crime, and justice officers. Colson, who converted to Christianity before he was indicted on Watergate-related charges, became one of evangelicalism's most influential voices. His books included Born Again and How Now Shall We Live? A Christianity Today columnist since 1985, Colson died in 2012.

Timothy George is the dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and a member of Christianity Today's Editorial Council. His books include Reading Scripture with the Reformers and Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad? Like Colson, George has been heavily involved in the Evangelicals and Catholics Together discussions. George began cowriting "Contra Mundum" with Colson in 2011.


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Comments

Displaying 1–3 of 47 comments

John Marshall

June 25, 2010  12:22pm

Benjamin Franklin also seems to be a Christian based upon his actions- Benjamin Franklin's letter to Thomas Paine, who wrote against the concept of a providential God and Franklin responded by advising him against the publishing of such a work. http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=58 Jared Sparks, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, (Boston: Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason, 1840), Vol. X, pp. 281-282. Franklin also appealed for Prayer at the Constitutional Convention http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=98 Even with this information I admit that Franklin and Jefferson are less examples of strong Christians than many more of our founding fathers. http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=112 - Article on Wallbuilders explaining how people want to point to particular forefathers and happenings in America as supposed proof we are not a Christian nation, however, the mountain of facts lies on the other end of the spectrum.

John Marshall

June 25, 2010  12:18pm

There is more evidence that points towards Thomas Jefferson as a Christian- Jefferson praised the use of a local courthouse as a meeting place for Christian services; [11] Jefferson assured a Christian religious school that it would receive “the patronage of the government”; [12] Jefferson proposed that the Great Seal of the United States depict a story from the Bible and include the word “God” in its motto; [13] [11] Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, editor (Washington, D. C: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. XV, p. 404, to Dr. Thomas Cooper on November 2, 1822. [12] Letter of Thomas Jefferson to the Nuns of the Order of St. Ursula at New Orleans on May 15, 1804, original in possession of the New Orleans Parish. [13] Thomas Jefferson, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Julian P. Boyd, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950), Vol. I, pp. 494-497, from “Report on a Seal for the United States, with Related Papers.

John Marshall

June 25, 2010  12:15pm

I would agree with Bart Wang in that we should curtail the discussion to be more respectful and on point. The discussion is regarding National Identity with our heritage and the future state of the country as main topics (it seems to me). Greg Peterson- Jefferson & Franklin are two founding fathers that I would consider as less ardent Christians as most of the other (about 250) founding fathers. However, Jefferson himself declared he was Christian- I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be- sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies from the Papers of Thomas J, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, editor (Boston- Grey & Bowen, 1830)Vol III, p 506, to Benjamin Rush April 21,1803. Also, Wallbuilders uses original documents, annals of Congress, court decisions, and historical facts to come up with conclusions. Look further into the sources if you believe there are any skewed views.

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