What is it that has made the USA a great nation?
A French philosopher, who toured the United States about 170 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville, published his poignant observations. He said:

"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there.

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her fertile fields and boundless forests, and it was not there.

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there.

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her public school system and her institutions of learning, and it was not there.

I sought for the greatness and genius of America 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 flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.

America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

Goodness as a fruit of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer and the church flows over into the basis of civil goodness and civil responsibility and duty.

Today, it would appear, many pulpits in the USA no longer “flame with righteousness” and do not exhort people to be perfect as God himself is perfect and holy as God himself is holy. Instead, what is likely to be presented is a lukewarm soup of self-help psychology mixed with shallow political liberalism, couched in the language of Zion and expressed in a jolly experientalism. The vibrant biblical theme of the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof is generally ignored or not appreciated by the clergy of today.

The war declared by terrorists on the USA in September & October has raised the level of public decency, cooperation and goodness and brought out the best in many American people.

How long will it last? And does the present “goodness” match the more solid “goodness” that De Tocqueville saw?


The Revd Dr Peter Toon Oct 24, 2001