Looking Back on America

Now on your newsstand: a Life Special Report on “The 100 Events That Shaped America”! Its editors readily acknowledge that the list is arbitrary. The six historians who advised them agreed unanimously on only five of the events. Nevertheless, in addition to being an emotion-charged reading and viewing experience, the list provides an illuminating perspective on how a major journalistic team perceives the role of religion in America.

How many significant “events” would you expect to be essentially religious? Before guessing, consider that five of the shaping events are musical (Armstrong bringing jazz north, Toscanini bringing the classics to the masses via radio, Oklahoma!, the Beatles’ visit, and Woodstock). So how significant is religion compared to music? According to this list, only one-fifth. Only one “event” is clearly religious: the revivalism, both rural and urban, represented by the publication in 1835 of Charles Finney’s Lectures on Revivals of Religion. (Though not mentioned by name, presumably Moody and Graham are considered later manifestations of this “event.”)

To be fair to the editors, we need to recognize that the list starts in 1776. Had it begun with the first colonists, a couple of other religious events, such as the coming of the Puritans and the Great Awakening, would probably have been included. Also, two attempts at social change, to be mentioned later, were in part the result of religious motivation.

We also should note that other special interests doubtless feel slighted. Sports only has two events: the coming of Babe Ruth and of Jackie Robinson to New York City, launching, respectively, big money and blacks into the big leagues. Journalism has only one entry. Two each are allotted to medicine, psychology, and sexual behavior (the Kinsey report and the Pill).

By contrast, the military managed to fire a big gun: ten of the one hundred events involve battles, the first four at home, the last six abroad. Transportation, undeniably important in linking the sprawling nation, should be satisfied with its score: four entries. Entertainment, too, did well: in addition to the seven entries for music and sports, it has seven other shaping events. Education merits three or four entries. Two interconnected pairs, law and politics, and inventions (or discoveries) and business, account for most of the remaining one hundred.

What other religious events might have been included? (And, to be fair, what could have been displaced so as to keep the list at one hundred?) Surely some recognition of the separation of church and state would have been in order. The resulting vitality and diversity of religion places America in notable contrast with most of the rest of the world, where religion is hampered by its subservience to or opposition from the political rulers.

Should the innumerable voluntary societies independent of both church and state (though often both religious and patriotic in motivation) have been omitted? Consider the American Bible Society, founded in 1816, which this fall will present to President Ford its two billionth copy of Scripture; the many Christian colleges founded as the frontier moved west, colleges that came into being long before the college land-grant bill of 1862; the Sunday school; the YMCA and YWCA; the temperance organizations.

Could not one of music’s five entries have been eliminated to make room for the Azusa Street revival of 1906, which initiated the spread of Penecostalism from blacks to whites and then around the world and across the denominational spectrum from Baptists and Methodists to Lutherans and Catholics?

By what standards has the small, young Peace Corps the right to displace the larger and older missionary corps? The Haystack Prayer Meeting sparked the overseas missionary drive of the churches; today there are more than 35,000 missionaries around the world.

The Christian contribution to the anti-slavery movement is insufficiently noted. Encyclopedia Britannica says that Harriet Beecher Stowe’s (and she came from the Christian and very remarkable Beecher dynasty of preachers) Uncle Tom’s Cabin was “probably the greatest contribution in arousing antislavery public opinion.” Yet it is not on the list.

However, two failures at social reform, the penitentiary and Prohibition, though primarily legal, have their religious ties mentioned in passing. One can think of other examples of religiously motivated concern for the poor and handicapped, including the contemporary defense of the rights of fetuses to survive, that were omitted. But perhaps it is more significant that other persons have, in the name of religion, opposed these endeavors, with the effect of canceling the efforts of proponents. The result is that America has not in fact been shaped by the kind of care for those in need that ancient Israel was supposed to practice and that the Church’s Lord and his apostles exemplified and enjoined. It is worth noting that other nations have been eager to imitate the material success of America but without adopting the American systems of politics and economics, which they deem to be too weighted in favor of only a portion—even if a majority—of our citizens at the expense of those on the bottom rungs of the prosperity ladder.

Rather than deplore Life’s insufficient attention to the role of religion in shaping the nation, those of us who do believe in obeying God and his Word should instead increase our efforts to apply Christ’s example and teachings in every area of life. Were we to do that more consistently and pervasively, and couple these efforts with evangelism that wins more people to a genuine rather than nominal acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ, then the compilers of a tricentennial list of one hundred key events could not avoid choosing many more that reflect positively the religious dimension of our heritage.

Should Karen Quinlan Be Allowed To Die?

Karen Ann Quinlan has lain in a coma for almost six months. Her body continues to function only because “extraordinary” medical means have sustained it. Without a respirator she would be dead. The electroencephalograms show little brain activity, and from a human standpoint there appears to be no hope of meaningful life if she were to emerge from the coma. She is apparently a vegetable. Yet neither medical nor theological ethics has come up with any firm conclusions about whether a person in this condition is alive or dead. Her parents have asked a court to rule that they can have the life-sustaining respirator turned off.

The case of this twenty-one-year-old New Jersey resident is almost certain to be a landmark in the growing debate over euthanasia. The focus is the legality of stopping the extraordinary medical means without which death would be certain and irreversible. It should be possible to decide this particular case without its becoming a precedent for expansion into other kinds of medical dilemmas. A decision to unplug the respirator should not be construed as an endorsement of other forms of euthanasia. We hope that as the courts wrestle with the case legal guidelines will be laid down that will not offend God’s revelation and Christian conscience.

We believe in the sanctity of human life. We reject a concept of euthanasia that would permit the termination of life that is not being sustained by respirators and the like. But the Quinlan case fits into another category, that in which the major question is whether all available means must be taken to preserve life as long as possible, even when from a medical point of view there is no hope of anything approaching normal human activities. Under these conditions we think the doctors should be released from any legal liability and the parents allowed to decide whether treatment should be suspended.

The son of one of our former editors has been in a coma for nearly five years; he never regained consciousness after a car accident. We and many others have prayed often for him and for his family. There seems to be no possibility of anything like a normal life for him if he was to come out of the coma. Like Karen Quinlan, he is being kept alive by extraordinary medical means. Yet his parents cling to the hope that God will perform a miracle. This is their right.

These are cases where Scripture, law, and reason do not provide us with ready answers. We will pursue such questions in a more substantive fashion when we devote an issue of CHRISTIANITY TODAY to the larger question of death and dying. But for the case at hand, within the limit of our understanding and the belief that God’s grace is greater than all our sins, we think the parents of Karen Quinlan should be permitted to have the respirator turned off.

Wilbur D. Benedict

Wilbur D. Benedict, publisher of CHRISTIANITY TODAY from 1963 to 1969, died last month in San Jose, California, in the fullness of years. He retired from the Curtis Publishing Company after thirty-four years there; he then served as manager of Presbyterian Life’s regional advertising office before coming to CT. Benedict was a lifelong Presbyterian. His solid Christian witness and his deep understanding of the publishing field were a great help to us. We mourn his passing and express our sympathy to his wife and her children and grandchildren.

Gathering Saints Under The Dome

Cathedral construction is not easy. It has taken hundreds of years to complete some of the world’s great church structures.

But with the help of computers and politicians a “cathedral” has been built in a relatively short time in New Orleans. It is called the Louisiana Superdome.

Quite a bit of Sunday “worship” is scheduled in the “world’s largest unobstructed room.” People from miles around will gather under this great dome to watch the rituals of professional athletes. New Orleans, which has a more than an ordinary awareness of the church calendar, calls the Superdome’s playing surface, “Mardi-grass.”

When Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was the guest preacher at a Holy Year mass in the Superdome, he shared with the local faithful the hope that the Detroit Lions would not eat the New Orleans Saints on their turf. Preaching to an estimated 75,000, he also compared the new structure to Rome’s Colosseum. Others are comparing it to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, which is taller and larger, but because of the Basilica’s columns does not outrank the Superdome in the “unobstructed room” category.

Although the service at which Bishop Sheen appeared was not the first event for the $165 million enclosed stadium it disappointed former governor John McKeithen who once suggested that the Superdome open with Billy Graham in one end and the Pope in the other.

While neither the pontiff nor the evangelist got to New Orleans for the opening, McKeithen’s idea points back to the derivation of dome. Until about three centuries ago the word meant cathedral or church. Then people began to use it as a synonym for state house or guild house. Now, in New Orleans, dome means a home for Mardi Gras spectaculars, circuses, professional sports events, and trade shows. And, as with the Sheen scene, it may house some religious events.

A community would never invest $165 million in church construction. The investment of Louisiana’s treasure in the Superdome, however, indicates where the modern heart is.

Cards That Count

Like everything else, saying happy birthday costs more now. A greeting card for a birthday or wedding or anniversary is likely to cost fifty cents or more.

One alternative is to do it yourself. Take the time to make a card, or just write a note. Express your greetings in your own way rather than in the words of a commercial verse-writer. The recipient is sure to appreciate the extra effort and personal touch.

Another alternative is to spend a little more (about ninety-five cents) and send one of the greeting booklets that Christian publishing houses are now producing. Check your local Christian bookstore. You’ll probably be surprised at the variety and quality available.

A Birthday Salute

One of the world’s foremost Bible scholars celebrates his sixty-fifth birthday October 12. Professor F. F. Bruce reaches the milestone having provided a model of careful scholarship for a generation of evangelicals, many of whom crossed seas to sit at his feet. These men and women, and a larger group who have been influenced by his writings—more than thirty books and hundreds of articles—are now beginning to occupy strategic positions in secular universities, as well as in seminaries and Christian colleges around the world.

Bruce, born in Scotland, has held the distinguished Rylands professorship in biblical criticism and exegesis at England’s Manchester University since 1955. Among numerous honors that have come his way is his election in 1973 as a fellow of the British Academy, probably the most prestigious learned society in the English-speaking world. CHRISTIANITY TODAY deems it a distinct privilege to have had him as a contributing editor.

How To Wise Up

Even when we have learned something of rejoicing during times of trial because we realize that God is working through them (James 1:2, 3; see September 29 issue, page 39), we still may have the problem of wondering what to do. What James goes on to say, in terms that are both a promise and a command, is therefore welcome: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him” (Jas. 1:5).

Notice that we need to ask. That is simple enough to say and to memorize, but in practice we often neglect it. Or we ask only after we’ve strained and fretted on our own. Notice also that God has promised to answer, and, unlike some human beings whom we ask for wisdom, he will answer “generously” and “without reproaching.”

But we are told to ask “in faith, with no doubting” (v.6). Is this some catch, some almost impossible condition that nullifies the previous promise? Hardly. God does not tease us. Faith is the recognition that God is able to give us the wisdom we need, and that he wants to do so because he loves us. When we ask human beings for wisdom, we must always be aware that they do not know everything and may give unintentionally bad advice. We also have to recognize that, being sinners, they may have mixed motives, often subconscious. The advice they give us might be motivated at least in part by self-interest. We have to test carefully the wisdom of men.

If God let us approach him for wisdom with the same limitations with which we come to our fellow men, he would be confirming in us a false impression of himself and leading us astray. The condition that we “ask in faith” is not a negative device by which God can effectively avoid his promise, but a positive means of instructing us as to who he is and what he is like.

But what if our problem is that we doubt God? Surely this is something for which we need wisdom. Let us therefore come to God With whatever faith we do have, confessing our doubts and asking him for the wisdom that will enable us to believe unwaveringly. God delights to answer such honest requests.

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