At 250, America Still Needs the Church

But not that way

United States Semiquincentennial Commission, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Hi. On America’s birthday, permit me to ignore the time between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. As Abraham said to Sarah, “What’s a decade between friends?”

When the US Constitution was written, Benjamin Franklin was asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” His response: “A republic, if you can keep it.”¹

You may remember what some of the other founding fathers said about being able to keep the republic. In his farewell address, Washington said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”² John Adams later added, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”³

It’s not what you think

Now, this is where some would try to support the use of government to ensure a Christian America. But that misses the point. It is not the government that supports religious morality; it’s the morality that supports the government. I do not think it works the other way around.

I find Ben Franklin’s life interesting for this moment because it illustrates the risks of American moralism. A recent episode of The Rest Is History podcast⁴ (“Franklin: Revenge of the American Genius”) discussed how Franklin’s post-puritan moralism was separated from the doctrine and specifics of biblical teaching. This very American influence, no doubt shared by many throughout subsequent generations, has left a mixed bag of results.

As a sort of deconstructed Puritan, Ben Franklin’s departure from Boston to a much more tolerant Philadelphia is instructive. He left the Biblical doctrines and trappings of religion but retained a brand of Christian morality. This individualized, homespun, and thoroughly American lifestyle may sound like a win since Puritanism did its job by impressing its character on people even if they don’t go for all the church stuff. But there is more to that story.

Along with a host of positive contributions which I will not describe here, one not-so-positive legacy of puritan New England was the utopian mission mindset employed in its founding and westward expansion. While meant to reform society in a godly way, this mindset eventually presented itself as forced conformity to appearances of morality, applied in the civil and social realms. But, like Franklin, the society that focused on externals eventually distanced itself from the internal spirituality that established it.

The culture that values love and kindness but stands apart from the righteousness, justice, humility, and yes, even the gospel revealed in God’s word, devolved into religious and social progressivism. Indeed, it adopted the kind of progress that turns biblical morality on its head, creates a new religion, and demands celebration of it from everyone, in the name of love, of course. In both the culture and many of the resulting churches, the appeal of forced conformity remains but to a morality that has left the biblical God and His word behind.

The driving force of American Christianity has long since relocated from the north to the south. But will the church of the south learn from the Puritans? Of course not. For better and worse, it’s well on its way, trying to force its flavor of morality on everyone, regardless of belief, personal affections, and true discipleship. Ah, there’s nothing new under the sun. In time, it too will keep the pattern of compulsion, but to a morality that replaces the gospel with something else. Maybe it’s starting already.

The church does not need to push a modern Christendom upon the republic. The church just needs to be the church.

• Live peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified, praying for those in authority (1 Tim. 2:1-2).

• Prioritize gospel-based conversions of those who can actually make a profession of faith over the regulated moralism of unbelievers. As Al Mohler recently said at the GARBC Conference at Cedarville University, “Put the baby down.” (A side comment about infant baptism.)

• Speak graciously toward outsiders, not as their judges.

• Speak the truth in love. One without the other is counterproductive.

• Never outgrow the gospel. It will ground our morality in the person and work of Jesus.

• Close the mouths of accusers by aggressive good works, not aggressive rebellion (1 Pet. 2:15).

Christian, we still have to win souls by appealing to those individuals God is calling into His family. In the long run, just declaring that we must be a Christian culture does little to aid the cause. True Christianity is expressed by a people who joyfully submit their lives to God as He’s shown us in His word. It loves others enough to show them the good news of the gospel in loving words and actions, without coercion.

America still needs the church to be the church. Are we still here for it?

1. National Park Service. (2023, September 22). September 17, 1787: A Republic, If You Can Keep It. U.S. Department of the Interior. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/constitutionalconvention-september17.htm

2. Washington, G. (1796). Washington's Farewell Address 1796. The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp

3. Adams, J. (1798, October 11). From John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798. Founders Online, National Archives. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102

4. Holland, T., & Sandbrook, D. (Hosts). (2021, December 6). 684. Franklin: Revenge of the American Genius (Part 2) [Audio podcast episode]. In The Rest Is History. Goalhanger Podcasts.