Conservative Christians are partly right when they assert that flawed values lie at the heart of our many and massive social problems. They urge us to restore traditional family values, to oppose homosexuality because such acts are sinful, to oppose abortion because it is a frontal attack on the fundamental value of life. (This article was originally written in 1999.)
What many conservative Christians fail to recognize is that they, along with most other Americans, have bought into another set of flawed values which, in part, underlie the very problems they are so deeply concerned about.
America may be the most individualistic nation in the history of the world, though the Corinthians of Bible times may run a close second. The Corinthians twisted the gifts of the Spirit which were meant for church edification into self edification or spiritual self-indulgence. Americans built individual rights into our founding documents to protect against domination by kings; unfortunately, we did not protect against domination by a rich, white, male elite. Conservative Chief Justice Warren Burger in a speech given at Ripon College in May, 1967, stated that through laws and court decision Americans have greatly expanded these individual rights from the years 1933 to 1966. In 1997, Burger stated that this process was continuing and was threatening the welfare of our nation. Burger stated regarding this excessive emphasis on individual rights: "It is a truism of political philosophy rooted in history that nations often perish from an excess of their own basic principles." Today, we emphasize freedom/liberty far more than we do justice.
In modern America, precious individual rights have degenerated into individualism---an excessive emphasis on rights not properly balanced by social responsibility. Individualism underlies the demand for abortion; also the proliferation of handguns and our high murder and divorce rates.
Conservative Christians decry the corrupt values of secular humanism, not realizing that they share some of those same values. Such Christians have organized extensively, politically and through the media, to try and change things with limited success. Until they honestly confront their own values crisis and repent of their over identification with some basic aspects of American culture, they will not succeed.
Many American Christians of all stripes are too identified with the American trinity of individualism, materialism and ethnocentrism (racism). They legitimate their individualism with an appeal to individual rights; they cover their materialism with more innocent sounding words such a prosperity or a rising standard of living; they cover their ethnocentrism/racism with an appeal to a superior Judeo-Christian-Anglo-Saxon heritage.
Covering our social evils of individualism, materialism and ethnocentrism with self-righteousness will not solve our social problems. Our founding fathers began the process of mixing Christian principles with the American trinity. The Puritans, claiming they were establishing a Christian nation, stole land from Native Americans, paid money for scalps of Indians, and, at times, even murdered whole villages of men, women and children. They narrowly defined the kingdom of God as applying only to themselves, to their kind (ethnos). Their sense of superiority led to oppression; they set and legitimated a pattern which was repeated time and time again in our nation's history.
The American trinity undermines, tears apart, our social fabric, thereby opening the door wide for social problems to develop.
America is a great nation with many strengths and serious weaknesses.
First, a list of positives:
1. Freedom, democracy
2. Strong economy, highly productive
3. Abundant natural resources
4. Quality private and public colleges and universities
5. Highly churched when compared to Europe
6. Unparalleled set of Bible schools, Christian liberal arts colleges, and seminaries
7. A host of parachurch organizations designed to meet specific needs
Next, a list of negatives:
1. High divorce rate
2. High crime and incarceration rates
3. High drug and alcoholism rates
4. When compared with 19 industrialized countries, the U.S. ranks first (worst) in 21 social problem categories.
This set of U.S. strengths is unparalleled in the history of the world, especially the Christian strengths. Our Christian schools graduate thousands and thousands of well-trained leaders in the areas of business, education, social work, ministry, etc., each year. These Christian leaders should be a massive "salt and light" influence in society; as a result, our nation should have relatively few social problems. Yet the reality is quite different; when compared with other educated and industrialized countries, we have the worst social problems record. Strangely, most of the countries with a low rate of social problems have comparatively few church members; we have high church attendance and a high rate of social problems.
Is American Christianity flawed? Is Americanized Christianity a part of the problem? Marcus Borg thinks so:
"The church to a large extent participates in our culture's conventional wisdom, indeed often legitimating it. Much of contemporary American Christianity is 'enculturated religion', radically adapted to culture and domesticated within it. We live in a Babylon often declared to be Zion."
The only explanation that I can come up with is that American Christians have overly individualized Christianity (read Divided by Faith) and therefore they do not understand the biblical teaching on either social evil or social justice. At its worst, American Christianity is "spiritual self-indulgence." Derek Prince, a charismatic, said the the Holy Spirit used this phrase in speaking to him about a Pentecostalism that is overly concerned about personal spiritual blessings and not concerned enough about Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor.
Americans have wedded the American trinity (our brand of idolatry) with Christianity thereby gutting the social dimension of the kingdom of God. Unintentionally, we legitimate many of the forces tearing our society apart, so in spite of our charity the American church often does more harm than good. There are exceptions to the above generalization, but the generalization still stands.
I would argue that today individualism and materialism are doing more damage to poor and ethnic communities than ethnocentrism/racism is; ethnocentrism is still active and doing much damage. But now all of American society, including poor and ethnic communities, are being ravaged by individualism and materialism. Achieving the American Dream by climbing out of poverty and becoming middle class may be a hollow victory if it means that poor people are seduced by individualism and materialism in the process.
The only possible way to defeat the powerful and pervasive American trinity that I know of would be to create a set of biblical concepts to help us all better understand and address both social evil and kingdom of God justice. From these biblical concepts, we could create a theology of society grounded in the kingdom of God. Without biblical concepts to guide our thinking, we will think American; all of us are more corrupted in our thinking than we realize. The following are a set of crucial biblical concepts which can form the building blocks of a theology of the kingdom of God.
First, a set of concepts about social evil:
1. Satan
2. Principalities and Powers
3. Cosmos
4. Ethnocentrism
5. Oppression
6. Damaged Individuals
Next, a set of concepts about social justice:
1. God/Jesus Christ
2. Holy Spirit
3. Kingdom of God
4. Reconciliation
5. Justice/shalom
6. Liberated Individuals
SATAN
Satan, the adversary, is a person, a fallen angel, whom God has permitted partial and temporary control of this earth. He is identified as a prince of this world, ruler of the cosmos (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; Eph. 2:2; Luke 4:5-7).
Satan is in opposition to God, but the is not the opposite of God because he is not God's equal. Satan is not omniscient (all-knowing, omnipresent (everywhere present), and omnipotent (all-powerful). Satan is a formidable foe, but we must not overexaggerate his importance. If we unintentionally make him the opposite equal to God, we give him more power in our lives than he deserves. Our unwarranted excessive fear of him will expand his power over us. He is only a fallen angel who wanted to be like God; don't make him into a god.
PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS
Created by God, the principalities and powers were originally good and designed to maintain order in the universe. Sin invaded the universe and "rather than maintaining order, they took on the status of god and began to regulate human existence and destiny." According to Walter Wink, "these Powers are both heavenly and earthly, divine and human, spiritual and political, invisible and structural." Stephen Mott asserts that the principalities and powers are fallen angelic being whose primary mode of operation is through political and social institutions. The powers and authorities are evil spiritual forces incarnated in human cultural values and social institutions.
COSMOS
In its good sense, the cosmos is the world, the universe, created by God. Sin invaded the cosmos and therefore in the NT, cosmos is usually used in a negative sense. Cosmos is now evil social order, Satan's kingdom here on earth (Luke 4:5-6). The cosmos includes negative cultural values (ethnocentrism) and oppressive social institutions.
Individual persons, male and female, and natural resources were created by God. Because of sin, these creation values became the negative cultural values of individualism, sexism and materialism. Also through further development of creation and human creativity, race and ethnicity became important social forces. Sin distorted these factors into racism and ethnocentrism.
Social institutions whose original purpose was to provide order and structure to human existence have become instruments of evil. Sinful individuals and groups gain control of social institutions and incarnate negative social values for selfish advantage.
ETHNOCENTRISM
Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's ethnos (people, culture or nation)) is superior and by implication that other ethnic groups are inferior. Ethnocentrism turns other ethnic groups into second-class citizens; they are dehumanized. Once this happens the "superior" people can oppress the "inferior" people without their social conscience bothering them; then often they rationalize that this is God's will. Ethnicity (ethnic heritage, ethnic group) is positive and contributes to an individual's social identity. Ethnocentrism is a sinful sense of cultural or national superiority.
OPPRESSION
Oppression occurs when persons in power and authority, usually through social institutions, misuse their power and authority in a cruel and unjust manner, to crush, humiliate, animalize, impoverish, enslave and/or kill persons created in the image of God. Oppression is a combination of personal sin and social evil. Oppression is the opposite of shalom and the absence of justice.
In the OT, there are 555 references to oppression and its synonyms. In the NT, the rich are commonly identified as the oppressors.
DAMAGED INDIVIDUALS
The above system of Satan, powers and authorities, cosmos, ethnocentrism and oppression combines to damage individuals and groups. For example, women are oppressed by men, Samaritan are oppressed by Jews, the poor are oppressed by the rich.
GOD/JESUS CHRIST
Final authority in the universe and in human society rests in the hands of a sovereign God. Through his grace and love, personal and social righteousness are possible in human society.
HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is the person and power of God incarnated in individual Christians and the church. As individuals are sometimes demon possessed, so also cultural values and social institutions can be possessed by the powers and authorities. The only power strong enough to break the bondage of cultural values and social institutions to the "Powers" is the person and power of the Holy Spirit. There are four ministries of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of Truth, incarnating the kingdom of God as justice, the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.
KINGDOM OF GOD
To replace the cosmos, evil social order, Jesus introduced the kingdom of God, the rule and just reign of God over all of life. Just as social evil has infiltrated all of life, so the kingdom of God must be equally pervasive. Spiritually, a person enters the kingdom by being born again, by being born of the Spirit. Socially, individual persons and the church are called to live kingdom principles in all relationships in human society.
Individualism, materialism and sexism must be replaced by individuality-in-community, the sharing of material resources, and respect and equality between the sexes. Racism and ethnocentrism must be replaced by respect, harmony and equality between different ethnic groups.
Rather than evil social institutions dominating and oppressing individuals, social institutions must be restored to their rightful function of service and structured existence to provide order and stability to social life. Justice should characterize the functioning of political, economic and religious institutions.
RECONCILIATION
Through God's grace humans who were once alienated from God can be reconciled. So also, through God's grace, through the cross, persons who once hated their enemies can be reconciled to them and learn to love them. Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, rich and poor, can be reconciled and live in unity. See Ephesians, chapter 2:11-22.
JUSTICE
In the OT we are exhorted to "do justice" (Micah 6:8). In Amos 5:24, God says (The Message): "I want justice---oceans of it." Community leaders such as judges, kings and priests are called to make fair and just judgments in behalf of the oppressed poor, widows, fatherless and strangers. The act of justice stops oppression and creates the conditions for shalom. Justice/righteousness is both personal and social (Job 29:7-17).
Because of flawed translations and flawed theology, English-speaking people have little sense of the extensive NT teaching on justice. There are around 300 NT dik-stems (justice) in the NT, but the KJV has no reference to justice; and the NIV has only 16 reference to justice in the NT. A typical Spanish, French or Latin NT has around 100 references to justice. Properly understood, the kingdom of God is built around justice for the oppressed poor.
SHALOM
In the OT, shalom is completeness, wholeness, harmony in a community of people living in righteousness and justice; in the NT, eirene is a rough equivalent to shalom. Shalom/justice are at the heart of the kingdom of God. In such a community, individuals experience economic, social and spiritual well-being.
LIBERATED INDIVIDUALS
Oppressed individuals (the sinned-against ones) can be liberated by the good news of the gospel. Luke 4:18-19 is a mission statement about the kingdom of God. It includes a Jubilee type of justice for the oppressed poor. It combines personal righteousness and social justice; both are necessary for complete liberation. With liberty and justice for all.
Now let us revisit the American trinity in American history in greater detail in order to understand in greater depth the nature of our American values crisis and how desperately we need a kingdom of God theology of society to enlighten and liberate us.
The American trinity of individualism, materialism and ethnocentrism is not a recent development; it, unfortunately, has been part and parcel of American history beginning soon after the thirteen colonies were established. By the time of the founding fathers, the American trinity was deeply ingrained in American culture. American history is a tragic mixture of high ideals, some of them Christian principles, and evil values and practices---the worst kind of ethnocentrism and oppression. The best documentation of this syncretistic history is found in Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, 1993.
Even before British settlers/invaders landed at Jamestown and Plymouth, the British were busy practicing their ethnocentrism and oppression on the nearby Irish. They created an ethnocentric vocabulary which dehumanized the Irish; they called the Irish savages, beasts and uncivilized, and then the British proceeded to burn, brutalize and slaughter the Irish. Some Irish were relocated on reservations; then the British took over their land. Sound familiar?
This pattern of ethnocentrism and oppression was repeated by the "godly" New England Puritans and the Virginia settlers. The Puritans demonized the Native Americans, and then proceeded to brutalize them and take their land. The Puritans believed that this action was necessary because the evil "Canaanites" had to be eliminated before a "Christian" nation could be established. Takaki comments: "Once the process of cultural construction [legitimating ethnocentrism and oppression] was under way, it set a course for the making of a national identity in America for centuries to come."
In a somewhat more gentlemanly fashion, Thomas Jefferson agreed with the Puritans: "Indians were to be civilized or exterminated" or relocated west of the Mississippi River.
Early on Virginia settlers began growing tobacco, a lucrative cash crop with a good European market. Growing tobacco is labor intensive; cheap, abundant labor is crucial to making a profit. So by 1660 Virginia law had taken the first steps to institutionalize slavery. Takaki comments:
"The very abundance of land and the profitability of tobacco production, however, unleashed a land boom and speculation. Colonists with financial advantage quickly scrambled to possess the best lands along navigable rivers. Representing a landed elite, they dominated the Virginia assembly, and began to enact legislation to advance and protect their class interest."
Jefferson was part of this landed elite who owned slaves. Jefferson was well-educated and in some ways a person of high ideals; many of these principles found their way into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. But Jefferson was deeply torn; he was part of a system that was deeply flawed by racial and class division. Such divisions were a dangerous threat to the social order---a social time bomb in his eyes.
Ethically, Jefferson knew that slavery was wrong (he owned several hundred slaves), but economically he could not bring himself to free his slaves. His own place of wealth and status had been built upon the backs of his slaves. Jefferson expressed the dilemma is these words "At it is we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation is the other."
Jefferson knew what justice demanded, but he chose not to do justice. Jefferson, the man of high ideals, chose self-preservation. For the future of the nation, choosing self-preservation over justice had a high price. In 1860, a Civil War tore the nation apart; multiplied thousands were killed. The social disorder Jefferson feared came to pass. The founding fathers sowed ethnocentrism and oppression; the nation reaped the whirlwind of disaster and barely survived.
Alexis de Tocqueville, the Frenchman who wrote with such great insight about America in the early 1800s, was both impressed and troubled by what he saw. He noted "an inordinate love of material gratification." Takaki called it "a frenetic pursuit for individual materialistic success." What the tobacco planter had started in the 1600s was running rampant in the early 1800s. The American trinity of individualism, materialism and ethnocentrism had taken over America. Huge cracks in the soil of American culture were created by the cultural schizophrenia of the syncretistic combination of the American trinity and the Christian trinity.
Jefferson concluded that the removal of both Afro Americans and Native Americans was necessary to preserve the Anglo social order, in order for American civilization to develop. President Jackson implemented this policy with a vengeance; he professed to being a biblical Christian. Tocqueville saw the removal of the Choctaw Indians from Mississippi with his own eyes. He wrote about this brutality and death and how the dominant Anglo-Saxons rationalized and legitimated their behavior; President Jackson called it just! Takaki states:
"What struck Tocqueville was how whites were able to deprive Indians of their rights and exterminate them 'with singular felicity, tranquilly, legally, philanthropically, ... without violating a single great principle of morality in the eyes of the world.' Indeed, he wryly remarked, it was impossible to destroy men with 'more respect for the laws of humanity.'"
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