A City On a Hill with Bodies in Its Basement

In 1630, John Winthrop made a speech in which he inspired the Pilgrims to create a utopia in the New World. A Model of Christian Charity utilized Jesus' imagery from where he tells the crowd at the sermon on the mount that a city on a hill cannot be hid. In case you don't want to read the whole speech, here's the pertinent part:

For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, 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, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.

In 1989, Ronald Reagan made a speech wherein he utilized the same imagery also. Here's what he said:
The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the "shining city upon a hill." The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free.

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.

And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago.

I quote these these two men two for a purpose. Now I don't believe it was possible, nor necessarily proper for Winthop to seek refuge from the "popery" of the Anglican Church and leaving for the "unblemished" New World. However, I do admire his stance that they (the Church) would serve as a "by-word through the world" and by their example others would come to a better understanding of God by their right living. Enough people have pointed out how Reagan completely misunderstood Winthrop's (let alone Jesus') idea, so I don't feel the need, merely reading the difference is illuminating enough. Reduced from a New Jerusalem (or like Israel, we lose our place in this Promised Land) to an arrogant commercial Canaan is almost nauseating. Almost.

Then in the news yesterday and today they were talking about how our government is debating whether we should loosen the strictures on interrogation techniques for suspected terrorists for CIA operatives. I remember when I first read Richard Foster's Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, one of things that leapt out at me was the idea of praying with the newspaper & Bible open. In this way, we practice mindfulness and contemplation with regard to Scripture. Now I suck at praying, but as I read that piece about loosening our standards about torture (and yesterday's older article that we now acknowledged CIA secret prisons in Europe) all I could think was - how much farther away we continue to drift away from Winthrop's vision of a City on A Hill. Listen to the article:

According to recent public opinion polls, Roberts is not alone with his concerns. In an August poll conducted by Time, 55 percent of those surveyed said they support the harsh interrogation methods sometimes used to obtain information from prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a separate poll also by Time, 15 percent of respondents favored torture, even though it is against the law.

Since our polls continue to state we are a conservative nation & continue to speak of the power of the Church (I do not wish to make harsh judgments against the religious right here, so I will characterize it as a monolithic "Church"), it would appear that at least some proportion of that 55% and 15% are made up of Christians. Christians who are called to love their neighbors as themselves. christians called to die (daily) for Jesus. Christians called live humbly and seek justice and mercy- and advocate waterboarding occasionally, I guess. Even Reagan's vision, skewed as it was, is closer to the mark than what we are getting now. Reagan's hubris still viewed the US as a place where we were a place people wanted to come- now as the world hears of secret prisons, renewed efforts at torturing those we suspect, or harassing and assaulting illegal immigrants to this country. City on a Hill. Pretty sure at this point, we're getting pretty close to where, "We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us."

FYI: Jim Nussle's email; Tom Harkin's email; Chuck Grassley's email;
Dick Durbin's email; Barack Obama's email; Lane Evans' email

pax,

jefe