The City on a Hill and American Exceptionalism
“This is a Christian nation!” is the cry of many today as they seek to enshrine a form of Christian supremacy into our laws. (Early Baptist leaders in America like Roger Williams and John Leland must be turning in their graves, not to mention the framers of our Constitution.) A hyper-nationalism has infected large swaths of American Christianity which elevate the flag above the cross. The sociologist Robert Bellah coined the phrase “civil religion” to describe the nation itself as a religion, with its scriptures, hymns liturgies and festivals. One of the articles of faith of our civil religion which has become popular is the belief in “American exceptionalism”.
The topic of “American exceptionalism” is being hotly discussed in these days of pandemic as some cling to American superiority, others see unveiled the terrible injustice in our land, and the world looks on as America is handling this crisis far worse than many other countries.
At its best American exceptionalism encourages the moral idealism of the nation, whether referring to the light of democracy we shine on the world, or to our willingness to come to the aid of other nations in peril.
At its worst it believes that our nation is morally superior to other nations, made from a different cut of cloth than other nations. It has maintained that we have an almost divine right to shape other peoples in our image. It says that we are smarter and better than other nations and so are largely immune to the dangers that other nations face. The doctrine of American exceptionalism is fraught with peril.
The debate has been going on since our beginnings. In the heady language of those early years America was called “The New Adam”, “The New Israel”, “God’s Chosen Nation”. Thomas Paine, the famous Enlightenment deist wrote: “We have it in our power to begin the world all over again”.
But John Adams, who would become our second President, warned against American exceptionalism, writing that there was “no providence for Americans, and their nature is the same with that of others”. The Constitution was written with the sober awareness in mind of both human strength and human weakness. One result of this awareness was an extensive system of checks and balances built into the government.
Abraham Lincoln, aware of both the promise and peril of American exceptionalism called America, in his beautifully nuanced phrase, God’s “almost chosen people”.
We have observed the shadow side of American exceptionalism in many forms through the years, including “Manifest Destiny” in the 19th century, and the centuries of political policies of racial inequity which has harmed and continues to harm people of color. A white supremacy has been woven deeply into our nation’s laws and our religious practices.
Is there a way to retain the moral idealism of American exceptionalism without succumbing to its shadow side? This is, I believe, an important task for us today.
We have been a shining light to the nations in our grand experiment in democracy and in our willingness to come to the aid of other nations. But the pandemic is revealing the cracks in the foundation of what John Winthrop newly elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, called “The City on a Hill”.
President Reagan loved to use the phrase to summon our pride in our nation. Governor Winthrop wrote: “For we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us”. Winthrop was using the words of Isaiah (49:6), “I shall give you as a light to the nations”, combined with Jesus’ words, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14).
But few people have read what Winthrop wrote just before that famous sentence: “Now the only way to provide for our posterity is to follow the counsel of Micah: to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God”.
Nor do many know what he wrote just after, words of warning to the new nation if it fell away from the ways of God:
“So if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken…we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world: we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all professors for God’s sake: we shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants….”
Has an overweening pride in American exceptionalism led to the shaking of the foundations of our “City on a Hill?” If we are to rebuild the foundations we must work with all people of good will, of all religions, races and economic class, to follow the counsel of Micah: to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly. And, we may need to start with the last one, walking humbly, knowing anew the limitations of human power, wisdom and goodness, recognizing our need of one another, and calling upon a power greater than ourselves.
And as for the church in America, may this crisis help us see with clearer eyes and cleaner hearts the difference between the religion of Jesus and American civil religion.
Written for Baptist News Global, May 2020