Monday, November 28, 2016
524 - The Gift of Freedom, Part 1
Spirituality Column No. 524
November 29, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Alexis de Tocqueville, that great, perceptive French social observer of mid-1800s America, noticed and admired America’s citizen-by-citizen freedom of association.
Citizens in America, de Tocqueville marveled, were free to form affiliations in pursuit of common goals. This freedom from royal government rules, power, edicts, ownership and interference – a novel fundamental of the U.S. Constitution – fueled the engine of young America’s exploding-in-all-directions prosperity, power, discovery, manufacturing, technology and Christian faith.
These U.S. citizens were not serfs or colonists or mere inhabitant caretakers unattached to their land but for whatever meager sustenance it provided; they were unshackled owners who freely and fiercely defended property and provenance. America was resource-rich, providentially indulged and intellectually unleashed.
That’s how de Tocqueville saw America’s 1830s present. Here is how he assessed her future:
"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there … in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there … in her rich mines and her vast world commerce – and it was not there . . . 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 aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” – Democracy in America
Those “pulpits aflame with righteousness” were the rolling thunder of the early nineteenth century’s Second Great Awakening, the miracle of Christian revivalism and biblical blanketing of the expanding American frontier. We were not then a nation of theologians nor are we now, but Jesus Christ was the unrivaled moral compass of the age and culture. The civil and political freedoms de Tocqueville so eloquently lauded could only be preserved, he forewarned, by the moral resolve of a faithful citizenry.
Freedom is a specifically divine gift when first we insist that freedom be of benefit and comfort to others. It is your insistence on my freedom, and vice versa, that describes and assigns a free community’s love for each other and exemplifies our trust in God’s goodness. It requires the humility, resolve and strength exemplified by Jesus.
Exceptions abound in our national morality play – we are an imperfect nation of imperfect people. We are at our best when we use our freedom to come together and attach our liberty to Christ. Goodness grounded in righteousness never goes wrong.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) cites de Tocqueville’s observation that the “secret weapon” of America’s greatness lay in the superiority of her women.
November 29, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
The Gift of Freedom, Part 1
By Bob Walters
“Liberty cannot be established without
morality, nor morality without faith.” ― Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
Alexis de Tocqueville, that great, perceptive French social observer of mid-1800s America, noticed and admired America’s citizen-by-citizen freedom of association.
Citizens in America, de Tocqueville marveled, were free to form affiliations in pursuit of common goals. This freedom from royal government rules, power, edicts, ownership and interference – a novel fundamental of the U.S. Constitution – fueled the engine of young America’s exploding-in-all-directions prosperity, power, discovery, manufacturing, technology and Christian faith.
These U.S. citizens were not serfs or colonists or mere inhabitant caretakers unattached to their land but for whatever meager sustenance it provided; they were unshackled owners who freely and fiercely defended property and provenance. America was resource-rich, providentially indulged and intellectually unleashed.
That’s how de Tocqueville saw America’s 1830s present. Here is how he assessed her future:
"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there … in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there … in her rich mines and her vast world commerce – and it was not there . . . 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 aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” – Democracy in America
Those “pulpits aflame with righteousness” were the rolling thunder of the early nineteenth century’s Second Great Awakening, the miracle of Christian revivalism and biblical blanketing of the expanding American frontier. We were not then a nation of theologians nor are we now, but Jesus Christ was the unrivaled moral compass of the age and culture. The civil and political freedoms de Tocqueville so eloquently lauded could only be preserved, he forewarned, by the moral resolve of a faithful citizenry.
Freedom is a specifically divine gift when first we insist that freedom be of benefit and comfort to others. It is your insistence on my freedom, and vice versa, that describes and assigns a free community’s love for each other and exemplifies our trust in God’s goodness. It requires the humility, resolve and strength exemplified by Jesus.
Exceptions abound in our national morality play – we are an imperfect nation of imperfect people. We are at our best when we use our freedom to come together and attach our liberty to Christ. Goodness grounded in righteousness never goes wrong.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) cites de Tocqueville’s observation that the “secret weapon” of America’s greatness lay in the superiority of her women.
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