JAMES AKERS

The French writer, Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said "I sought the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample fields, and boundless forests-and it was not there. I sought for it in her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions - and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her Constitution - and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of the land and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness, did I understand the secret of her power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!"

I recently read some of a publication called: "The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators," a statistical review of American behavioral trends over the past three decades. Among the findings they list are that while the gross domestic product has nearly tripled, violent crime has risen 560%. Divorces have more than doubled. The percentage of children in foster homes has tripled. And by the end of the decade, at least 40% of all births will occur out of wedlock. These are not good trends for our country.

There is, unfortunately, a coarseness, a callousness and a cynicism, to our era. Our culture seems almost dedicated to a form of cultural rot that deepens. People are losing respect for others and no longer react with disgust, shock and outrage when terrible crimes against citizens occur in our streets.

The ancient peoples called this problem "acedia," which means "an aversion to spiritual things," and a greater desire for external pleasure and worldly goods. Acedia also is the seventh cardinal sin, and it does not mean mere laziness or sloth. The slothful heart is steeped in the world, hates the spiritual, and wants to be free of its demands. A modern writer, when asked what concerned him most about the future, answered "Probably the fear of seeing America, with all its beauty and freedom, gradually subside into decay though default, not from foreign threat, but from within, from weariness, boredom, and helplessness before its great problems. I believe only when we turn to the  things that are enduring, will life get better."

Most important, we must return religion to its proper place. Religion provides us moral bearings, and the solution to our chief problem of spiritual impoverishment. Our future depends on spiritual renewal. The fact that we have surrendered our strong beliefs to accommodate our public lives has demoralized society.

Today we must carry on a new struggle for the country and the churches that we love. We must push against an age that is pushing hard against us. Even if we have full employment again and economic growth, but our children have failed to know how to walk in goodness, justice and mercy, then the American image, no matter how admired, will have failed! There is a direct relationship between personal integrity in a society and that society’s progress. Societies that are built on faith in God, honor, trust, and the law, blossom. They flourish because they have a belief in something beyond themselves.  Tocqueville had it right. "America is great because America is good. If America ceases to be good, she will cease to be great."