Have We Squandered Our Cultural Heritage?

From Patheos:

Have We Squandered Our Cultural Inheritance?


September 02, 2010
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By Timothy Dalrymple



Believe it or not, Glenn Beck gets it.



Whatever else Beck has right or wrong -- and I confess I have never watched or listened to him much -- it seems to me that he is correctly interpreting the present moment. Which is no small matter. And, as indicated by the "Restoring Honor" held before the Lincoln Memorial last Saturday, he might even be correctly responding to it.



What does he get? Beck gets that there is a deeply and urgently felt conviction emerging organically across a broad swath of the American populace that the spectacular economic and political collapses of recent years were made possible -- even inevitable -- by a much longer Great Moral Decline. Americans' commitment to Judeo-Christian principles, secured for most by a belief in biblical authority, long served to fuel the engine and fortify the rails of our government and economy. Yet now, it is feared, that commitment is no longer powerful and pervasive enough to propel the American marketplace and constrain the excesses and abuses in private and public sectors. In the words of Dr. Alveda King: "Our material gains seem to be going the way of our moral losses."



This is not an exclusively religious concern. Even secular scholars have long recognized that America's Judeo-Christian heritage supplied a set of ideals and principles -- such as the Protestant work-ethic and strong commitments to honesty, integrity, and compassion -- that encouraged and reinforced the habits and qualities that tend to help democracies and free markets flourish. Yet the concern resonates deeply with anxieties long felt by religious conservatives that America has been sliding down a slippery slope to moral relativism -- and that a departure from biblical principles would not come without grave consequences.



The obvious rejoinder to this concern is that there are numerous successful economies around the world in nations that know little of Judeo-Christian principles. When the Japanese government and economy were rebuilt after the Second World War, they were structured (with some significant differences) in a broadly similar manner to the American government and economy, and yet they were informed by a thoroughly different religious culture. Japan has, on the whole, been a remarkable success story. Surely this falsifies the notion that the American government and economy have benefited from Judeo-Christian values?



Not at all. The sociological concept of a "cultural inheritance" is helpful here. A cultural inheritance is a set of values and beliefs, habits and practices handed down through generations within a single culture. Cultural inheritance partly explains, for instance, why a high percentage of Asian-American children, who inherit from their culture strong emphases on and helpful habits in education, diligence, and financial responsibility, perform well academically and build strong professional and financial foundations. Likewise, for centuries the vast majority of children born in America inherited a culture permeated with Christian stories, wisdom, and values.



This does not mean that Americans have always honored those principles rightly or that America has ever been fully permeated with the essential Christian theology. It means that Americans for generations have passed down a set of values, principles, and practices that honor integrity over greed, frugality over conspicuous consumption, industry over dependency and liberty over coercion. There may be other cultures capable of sustaining a reasonably sound democratic government and free market economy, but the American Judeo-Christian culture undergirded a government and an economy that have arguably been the most successful in all of history.



The deep concern across the United States appears to be that we have squandered our cultural inheritance. We have exchanged the extraordinary treasury of Judeo-Christian stories, values, and wisdom that sustained us for generations in favor of the cheap culture of corruption, indolence, and dissolution that has swiftly bankrupted our economy and our government.



Beck also gets that millions of Americans feel trapped upon this sinking ship with no confidence whatsoever in the present captain and crew. The Republican party stands to benefit in the 2010 elections less because they have presented a compelling alternative than because, as in 2006, the public wants to express its deep displeasure with the present regime. Specific policies and politicians certainly played their part in bringing us to this pass. Yet if the deeper problems besetting America are moral and spiritual, putting a new party at the helm may not help matters much. All are responsible for the present crisis, and yet none are capable of righting the ship. The speakers at the National Mall last Saturday spoke time and again of the need for a nationwide restoration, a return to God, a rebuilding of the moral and spiritual character of our people.

Thus Beck and his followers were sincere in their claims that this was not a political movement. It only becomes a political movement to the extent that it is slandered and excluded by the Left. There has been nothing more harmful to the Obama administration than the way in which its representatives and defenders have mocked the concerns of a broad cross-section of everyday Americans and labeled them as racism, nativism, homophobia, and Islamophobia. It is not unreasonable to be concerned by runaway government spending, the strains of illegal immigration on our social safety nets, and a radical redefinition of marriage. Neither is it unreasonable to feel as though a mosque near Ground Zero is more a boot on the chest than an open hand of friendship. When they refuse to see the rationality behind these standpoints, those on the liberal side of the spectrum ascribe the worst of motives -- and make communication and community all but impossible.




Yet progressives who might naturally be inclined to view these things with skepticism should not conflate the Tea Party rallies and the "Restoring Honor" rally. At most, Christians who seek a restoration of America's moral and spiritual character comprise a second column beside the Tea Partiers, but I think it is more accurate to say that they are separate movements arising from a common cause.



Liberals should not exclude Christians who believe in a need for national repentance and restoration; it would be more in their interest to make sure that the Christian values that most matter to liberals are included in that restoration. And even those who find Glenn Beck toxic should take seriously the hundreds of thousands who gathered alongside him. I hope Glenn Beck gets, and some of his comments suggested he did, that the movement is not -- and should not be -- about him. Beck is more a bellwether and organizer for the movement than its spiritual leader. The movement that surfaced before the Lincoln Memorial last Saturday possesses the potential to begin a long-term restoration of America's moral and spiritual character. To the extent that Beck held the reins last Saturday -- and there were others such as David Barton who did far more behind the scenes -- he would be wise to hand them over to religious leaders.



What is clear is this: Something has changed. Alongside the political Tea Party movement there has arisen a predominantly moral and spiritual movement. Christians were always over-represented at Tea Party rallies, yet now they are sensing that this present darkness over our once-shining city is caused by an enduring national neglect of the wisdom that made this nation shine in the first place. "Something beyond imagination is happening," as Beck himself said from the stage. "Something that is beyond man is happening." The devil will be in the details, but for now let us hope it is true that "America today begins to turn back to God."



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