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Christianity, Culture and Civil Society:
Council of Leadership Foundations June 16, 2001
Edna St. Vincent Millay put the problem into succinct, prophetic words: Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour The Age of Fragmentation The twentieth century produced cultural crystallization of a disorder of the soul which had descended upon the West. Simultaneously in the fields of poetry, music, and painting, the order of the culture was shattered, smashed down in fragments. In each of these fields, we see a deliberate rejection of tradition, virtue and order, which are replaced by a new construct of man. I believe it is no accident that the political world produced a new order at precisely the same time. The order of the soul and of the commonweal are tied closely together. We live in an age of fragmentation. One of the most often quoted poems, "The Second
Coming" by William Butler Yeats, written in 1920-21, depicts the
end of the order. Ideological hatred has claimed at least 60 million lives in the 20th century, a grim reminder that ideas do have consequences. We were spared the ravages of foreign war on our own soil, but have been unsuccessful at defeating the enemy within. Materially, many Americans are better off than most of the world. But the spiritual poverty is staggering. The relational poverty is crippling. And while American life still looks pretty on the outside, the stench of decay is all around us. We are living in a moral wasteland. Cultural disintegration is the most serious sort of devastation,
and that One of the signs of the disintegration is that Americans no longer speak of moral truth-only of "values" or behavior which we deem "inappropriate." We no longer refer to "the permanent things." What was once weighed against natural law or revealed divine truth has been debased to cultural or personal preference. But we are not condemned to flounder in the darkness; we have simply lost sight of the stars by which we navigate. Our Creator imprinted his law on our hearts as we came into being; through it we recognize moral truth. C. S. Lewis characterizes this truth in his book The Abolition of Man as the Tao, or the Way, "the reality beyond all predicates." It is the way every person should tread. Lewis quotes from the major teachings of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Hebrew and Christian sources, as well as Babylonian writings, ancient Chinese and Norse texts to illustrate his point. What each of these civilizations has discovered is stunningly consistent: We should honor our Creator. We should not murder. We should honor our parents and our duties to our families. We should not lie or cheat. We should show kindness to the weak. Here is evidence gleaned from the ages affirming that the same moral truths have been revealed again and again, not as a matter of taste, but as immutable verities. The Ten Commandments enshrine transcendent moral truths. We ignore them at our peril. This is an understanding of morality anchored firmly in the "permanent things." These are non-negotiable moral truths - and woe to any culture that can no longer affirm that there is such a thing as moral truth. What is Culture? T.S. Eliot, gives us valuable insights in "Notes Toward the Definition of Culture" which is contained within the volume Christianity and Culture. He defines culture in three senses - that of the individual, or a group or class, or of a whole society. Eliot defines culture as "the way of life of a particular people living together in one place. That culture is made visible in their arts, in their social system, in their habits and customs, in their religion. But these things added together do not constitute the culture…. These things are simply the parts into which a culture can be anatomized, as a human body can. But just as a man is something more than an assemblage of the various constituent parts of his body, so a culture is more than the assemblage of its arts, customs, and religions beliefs. These things all act upon each other, and fully to understand one you have to understand all." Eliot claimed "Culture may …be described simply as that which makes life worth living…it is what justifies other peoples and other generations in saying, when they contemplate the remains and the influence of an extinct civilization, that it was worth while for that civilization to have existed." For Eliot, culture cannot be separated from religion. He asserts "no culture has appeared or developed except together with a religion: according to the point of view of the observer the culture will appear to be the product of the religion, or the religion the product of the culture." Without cult, there is no culture. These two words share the common root in Latin -- colere - the adjective form is cultus -- which means to cultivate, as in one's garden or one's character. As a people grow together through common worship, they also develop social habits touching daily ritual, developing ties through shared cuisine, art, and practices they share. The development of a common culture of a people is tied to practice of religion. Eliot explained that no political and economic organization can supply what this cultural unity gives. He said, "If we dissipate or throw away our common patrimony of culture, then all the organization and planning of the most ingenious minds will not help us, or bring us close together." Democracy and the Economy But in truth, the force that drives civilization is not located in its political or economic structures. These forms can only offer a harness. It is a shallow hope to put our faith in democracy and the economy, alone. Democracy and a market economy are mechanisms into which the content of a people can be poured. Their results can only be as good as the individuals. The vitality of a culture is in the hearts, habits, and minds of the people who live within it: Edmund Burke knew that the character of a nation depends on the character of its citizens, and the habits of their hearts. Political, economic and cultural matters cannot be isolated
from one T.S. Eliot claims in "Christianity and Culture" that we should not seek to "revive a vanishing culture under modern conditions which make it impossible, but to grow a contemporary culture from the old roots." It is these common roots which today must be refreshed if our culture is to have the richness it has known in the past and bear new blossoms. The task now is to define the things of lasting truth and beauty, defend them, and transmit them to those who follow. We need to discover ways to grow a new culture from our old roots. The Roots of America This is a nation that was founded in faith. From the beginning, it was very clear that the settlers who had come here seeking freedom from tyranny and religious persecution did not want to allow the state to establish a religion. But that is very different than wanting to establish a state with no trace of God. That was never their intention. They created institutions which can only flourish when the people living within them are guided by transcendent moral law. John Winthrop gave his famous "city on a hill"
sermon on the deck of the ship Arbella halfway between England
and Cape Cod in 1630, to remind the Pilgrims of the covenant they had
made with God and with each other. "We must delight in each other,
make others' conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor
and suffer together," he said, "…For we must consider
that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon
us." Listen to a few quotes from our early American leaders: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams "Here is my creed. I believe in one God, Creator
of the Universe. That He governs it by His providence. That He ought
to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render Him is
doing good to His other children." Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson wrote: The "Wall of Separation" is Not in the Constitution The Constitution specifically guarantees that the Congress shall make no law imposing a state religion on the nation. It did not prohibit states from imposing a particular religion, and in fact a number of states chose to do in the early years of the country, in full accordance with the Constitution. In no way did the Founders intend that church and state, or religion and public policy, would have no contact. One of the first acts of President George Washington after the ratification of the Constitution was to establish a national day of prayer, in thankfulness. It was always understood by the Founders that the people living within the framework of a Constitutional Republic were to be personally guided by faith in God. Otherwise, this delicate balancing act of the republic cannot survive. America was an experiment, as George Washington told us, and a precarious balance of a neutral government form filled with the content of believing people. There is nothing inevitable about its success. A Nation Founded in Faith Faith in God breathed through the way early Americans lived. They transmitted their faith primarily through the family, and inculcated a kinship with the dead, the living, and the yet unborn. The early Americans understood that they had been given property and ability as gifts of God, which were to be released through work. Producing prosperity by utilizing these gifts was an expression of a godly life. They believed that living by the sweat of their brow was virtuous. They knew their Bible, and they lived by it. Their communities, their work, their families, the care of their neighbors - all were God-breathed institutions. The external relations were governed by law - which protected life, liberty and property. The internal relations flourished with their focus on faith, family, and friends. These are what give life meaning, and vibrancy. These relationships create what sociologists call "social capital" - and it is the glue that makes society cohesive. Let me digress for a moment to make a theological point.
One of the remarkable aspects of American life was the quality and variety of these horizontal relationships among fellow citizens. Perhaps they flourished here so well because the vertical relationship with God was their genesis. Thriving Voluntary Associations When the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville visited America early in the nineteenth century, he marveled at the thriving charitable organizations that pulsed with life. This observant Frenchman discovered a rich flowering of voluntary associations covering the landscape throughout the country. "Americans of all ages, all conditions and all dispositions, constantly form associations. They have not only commercial and manufacturing companies, in which all take part, but associations of a thousand other kinds - religious, moral, serious, futile, extensive, or restricted, enormous or diminutive. The Americans make associations to give missionaries to the antipodes; and in this manner they found hospitals, prisons, and schools. If it be proposed to advance some truth, or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society." Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville, 1845 - Chapter 5 ,"Of the Use Which the Americans Make of Public Associations in Civil Life"
This approach to helping those in need not only helps the recipients: it changes the givers as well. Alexis de Tocqueville shrewdly observed that American individualism ran counter to this tendency to care. He concluded that rampant individualism is tempered by these acts of serving others, which shaped the American character and moral habits to promote the best interest of all. While this outreach toward others in a thriving civil society was a salient feature of America for most of its history, it has atrophied in the past century. America's Soul Has Atrophied The Third Sector, called by some civil society, operates by a different logic, and has the power to transform lives by touching hearts. This realm has atrophied in the past century, and part of America's soul has atrophied with it. Several things happened to radically change the nature of America over the course of the twentieth century. These include urbanization, the loss of community, the pressures of two-career families, shifts in theology, and a host of other factors. We work longer hours, drive our kids to more activities, and spend less time together as families. We do more alone, volunteer less, and float on a bubble of superficiality. We are busier, but not happier. This disconnectedness has atrophied the soul of the individuals who had given the nation spiritual and moral vitality. The Americans who once helped individually have concluded it isn't their job, and have now nearly lost the capacity for civic virtue Tocqueville admired. The glue that held this society together for as long as it flourished was personal, face-to-face relationships. To the extent that we have lost these, we have become a different country. We have lost an important part of what made this country personal, warm, and luminescent. It is civil society that can best nurture this part of the American soul. We have to do it ourselves, one heart at a time. How can we rebuild our culture? Where do we address our
efforts? Rebuilding Culture Through Civil Society Civil society is the nongovernmental, private voluntary sector of our lives and our communities. This is where we extend our hands to one another. It is made up of families, churches, neighborhoods and voluntary associations. When George Bush The Elder gave his acceptance speech at the Republican convention in 1988, he spoke about it in poetic words crafted by Peggy Noonan. "We are a nation of communities, of thousands and
tens of thousands of ethnic, religious, social, business, labor union,
neighborhood, regional and other organizations, all of them varied,
voluntary, and unique. Tocqueville calls this sector the wellspring of human life, and tells us this is where "feelings and opinions are recruited, the heart is enlarged, and the human is developed." It is here that the character of a people is formed, and it is this character which gives the institutions of government and the economy their content. This is where Americans form relationships, care for each other, unite for charitable purposes, put down roots, and blossom. This is the rich soil within which the structures of government and the economy are planted. By definition, faith-based programs operate in a different realm than government or business. At the moment, the only means of cooperation that occurs to most people in government and the "Third Sector" is to provide government funding. There may be appropriate ways for this to be utilized in limited cases, but by their very nature, faith-based programs spring from the realm of the human heart, and operate by a different logic. The challenge of governments now is to find a way to empower these private, voluntary organizations and programs, without fundamentally changing their nature. And the mechanism of funding often does change them, as Joe Loconte points out in his book "Seducing the Samaritan." The faith community must be not only gentle as doves, but wise as serpents in dealing with Caesar. Don Eberly writes in The Essential Civil Society Reader, "A healthy political system is more dependent upon a strong civil society than it is capable of creating it, or recovering it once it has eroded, for the simple reason that civil society is not a subsidiary of the state." Because this is so, the intermediary institutions actively engaged in building up civil society are crucial. This is a job that must be undertaken by leaders in the private sector who understand what civil society is, what it can do, and how necessary it is for our country to flourish. This is the reason that the work of the Council of Leadership Foundations is so important, particularly at this moment in American history. Our country is facing stubborn social maladies that have not been remedied by federal attempts to heal them. In a time of relative prosperity for the nation, pockets of desperate poverty have not been lifted in the rising tide. Many people have approached poverty as merely a question of money, when in fact it is much more. The capacity to earn, to build, and to lead a productive life grows from the rich soil of relationships, rootedness in a community, and personal purpose. These are three necessary social assets. And they are assets which by their very nature cannot be created by either the market or the government. They must be transmitted in the private realm - in our homes, in our houses of worship, and in our personal relationships with people about whom we care. This is the realm where empowerment takes place. The reason the secular leaders have failed so miserably to alleviate poverty is that they have been looking for answers in the wrong places. There are other social maladies of concern. Although rates of crime have decreased, unless the hearts of more than a million prisoners are changed, they will most likely return to a life of crime when they are released. Children growing up without a father, regardless of their socio-economic standing, are more likely to engage in drugs, alcohol, violence, and break the law. Divorce has ravaged the institution of the family, wreaking havoc across the board. These are stubborn social maladies that can only be addressed by a change of heart. And it is people of faith, working quietly in our cities, who are doing a remarkable job of building up civil society from the grassroots up, by addressing these social maladies with the healing balm of faith. They -- you here today - are changing lives, one heart at a time. The Family is the Primary Unit The family is under massive assault, and whether our culture survives or not may depend on whether the institution of the family survives. Charles Murray, in his book Losing Ground, reminds us that one cultural constant in all civilization is the view that a single mother is an incomplete unit. There's a reason - children with a complete set of parents fare better. Children born out of wedlock or reared in a home without a male figure are more likely to live in poverty, drop out of school, commit crimes, and end up in jail. Period. And the damage is present regardless of class, race, or geography. More children live with one parent than with two in America's inner cities. The single most consistent factor in predicting juvenile delinquency and criminal behavior as an adult is the absence of a father at home. Trend lines for out-of-wedlock births in America are a key to the present malaise. Up to the 60's - 3% births out of wedlock to whites; and blacks 21-22%. After 1965, the trend lines tilt up for both. In 1991, out of wedlock births were 22% for Caucasians, and 68% for blacks. This much more than a sociological or political issue. This is a moral issue, with devastating consequences. And one of the most potent forces to reverse the trend is the faith community, which is encouraging fathers to take responsibility for their children, and encouraging marriage. Efforts like the National Fatherhood Initiative, founded by Don Eberly, are making a difference. State efforts requiring church-based instruction for couples intending to marry after a waiting period are beginning to have an effect. If the faith community can strengthen the family and marriage, the effects will be profound. "Bowling Alone" The unraveling of American civil society goes beyond the family into our neighborhoods. Robert Putnam, a brilliant sociologist at Harvard, published Bowling Alone last year. In it he documents the country's creation of social capital over the past century, and marks the significant trends that show the way Americans relate to each other. He concludes that we are in the midst of a spectacular breakdown of relationship throughout the country - exemplified in the droves of people who no longer participate in civic organizations. We have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, social structures, whether the PTA, church, recreation clubs, political parties, or bowling leagues. The result is the loss of social capital over the past 25 years which is crippling. Churches are one of the pillars of our culture, and while attendance has remained reasonably stable, voluntary activity through the church has plummeted. There was a radical decline of participation in all civic engagement after 1960, and another steep decline over the 90's to the present. And the prospects for renewal are bleak, according to present trends, as the pattern of civic engagement tends not to change much over a lifetime for a given generation. One of the weight-bearing beams of our country is now hollow. There are glimmerings of hope, however - efforts to rebuild
the family, provide moral education, foster relational outreach - which
create new institutional ways to reconnect a society that has spun out
of contact with the velocity of centrifugal force. Faith-based groups
are doing vibrant, life-changing work in America's communities, walking
into gang-infested neighborhoods to broker truces, transforming prisoners,
helping families transition off welfare, and mentoring at-risk children.
These armies of compassion are renewing entire sections of cities, building
and repairing homes, imparting job skills, adopting foster children,
and caring for the sick and dying. These people - including those who
are here today, and those you represent - are changing America, one
heart at a time, one community at a time, one city at a time. A Paradigm Shift We are experiencing a paradigm shift in the cities of America. There is a small but growing coalition that spans racial divides, denominational lines, and political affiliations. These very different factions are discovering a common cause in the private, voluntary, faith-based groups that all these parties acknowledge serve the best interests of Anglos and Latinos, blacks and whites, in a shared purpose that transcends politics and race. Members of different denominations are discovering that they are members of the same Body, and that they bring different but complementary strengths and abilities to the whole. The faith in Christ that unites us transcends that which divides us. The Council of Leadership Foundations is one of the significant intermediary organizations which exemplifies this paradigm shift, and is living evidence of its potency. The work taking place cities across America exemplifies a commitment to racial reconciliation, to the building of relationships, to the empowerment of the downtrodden, and to the unity of the Body of Christ. The charism which is being poured out today has brought us together because we see the importance of this vision, and we are willing to put our lives on the line to walk out our commitment. What binds us together is our faith. And it is up to us - people of faith - to join arms to find ways to renew our communities together, not because the government asks us to, but because we are children of God. He asks us to. And he is asking us in a new way in America now. Material Wealth, Spiritual Poverty Our job is to lead people in the cities where we live to opportunities to let the grace pour through them to others. There are scores of unsung heroes on the front lines of our cities, pouring out grace and compassion every day. They are doing the hard work of scooping up the broken and the battered, and loving them back into wholeness. They are empowering the impoverished and encouraging those who have lost hope. They will gladly tell you how much they receive when they give. More people are needed to come along side these social entrepreneurs to do the work with them. Theirs is a compelling story. And for those people who have the courage to join them on the front lines, the rewards are great. Peter Kreeft writes in his book Back to Virtue that: "Anyone whose common sense has not been dulled by familiarity should be able to see the blindingly obvious truth that there is something radically wrong with a civilization in which millions devote their lives to pointless luxuries that do not even make them happy, while millions of others are starving; a civilization where no hand, voluntary or involuntary, moves money from luxury yachts to starving babies fast enough to save the babies. It does not take a moralist to see that there is something not working in a civilization where, as C.S. Lewis says, 'their rapid production of food leaves half of them starving, their aphrodisiacs make them impotent, and their labor-saving devices have banished leisure from their land." Kreeft's answer is that our civilization lacks virtue. We have tried redistribution, and have found it wanting. The answer is not to be found in a change of policy, but in a change of heart. The people who are best equipped to help are those living in the same cities as those in need. But until a culture demonstrates the virtue of agape, it will not move to help its forgotten. Consider what Peter Kreeft says: One crucial manifestation of virtue is caritas - faith in action. Without faith that reaches out to others, religion is hollow. And a civilization with hollow faith atrophies, and eventually dies. Faith in action is one way to revive the virtues of civility and compassion. What is at stake is both the soul of our nation, and our own souls. We now have a President committed to removing the discrimination against faith, and leveling the playing field for religious and secular providers of care for people in need, and mobilizing the armies of compassion. While government by its very nature cannot create civil society, it can promote and encourage those who are shaping it from the grassroots level. It can remove the obstacles. The White House has embarked on the task of convening, celebrating, and encouraging the faith community as it revitalizes civil society. We stand at a promising moment to move forward with their blessing, as we labor in a vineyard which is becoming more visible every day. Communicating the Vision You don't need my words to tell your story. But you do need to learn to tell the story of what you are doing in your cities in a way that gives the broad sweep, the grand canvas, on which this drama is playing out. While you may be immersed in the particulars of community renewal, tussling with budgets, building projects and coalitions, raising money, and saving souls, be aware of the Big Picture. What you are doing is renewing civil society. What you are doing is restoring the frayed fabric of our culture. You are reconnecting Americans to their history and heritage through faith. What you are doing matters very much in the grand scheme of things. A few closing thoughts: This whole movement of Leadership Foundations is about something much bigger than projects, although they are one tangible expression of our faith. We have been entrusted as ambassadors of Christ to go out and heal an entire culture, one city at a time, by empowering the people who heal one soul at a time. We have been called to bring together the differentiated parts of the body of Christ into one body. This is a very big vision, and it will take all of our character, intellect, and spiritual wherewithal to realize it. A culture is the incarnation of the beliefs of a people.
It reflects and Let me conclude with the words of Mother Teresa: "If we pray, we will believe; When Mother Teresa asked people to join her work, she asked them if they would like to do "something beautiful for God." If we can communicate the vision of a culture breathed through with faith, and knitted together by conviction, we will be doing something beautiful. If we can inspire others to join us in doing something beautiful for God, the soul of our nation will be transformed from within.
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