If you believe, as I do, that organized religion, and Christianity and Judaism in particular, is a force for good in America, and that our success as a nation is in large part attributable to the prominent role religious faith historically has played in our public life, then it was good to see prominent news anchors this evening—Fox News’ Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, for instance, as well as CNN’s Chris Cuomo—with ashes on their foreheads.
The ashes are there, of course, because today is Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent. And Lent is the beginning of the Easter season, which, for Christians, is the most important and solemn time of the year.
Lent is, as Chris Quilpa well puts it in the Suffolk News-Herald, when we Christians “observe and commemorate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God, our Savior and Redeemer.” It is, as Father Paul Scalia explains, “a time of entering into combat: to ‘take up battle against spiritual evils.'”
But you don’t have to be a Christian to respect and appreciate the significant role Judeo-Christianity has played in American political life and in making the United States one of the freest and most prosperous countries in all of human history.
The great 19th Century social thinker, Alexis DeTocqueville, for instance, “claimed that the first political institution of American democracy was religion,” writes political scientist Michael Novak.
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports,” said George Washington in his farewell address.
Certainly, Judeo-Christianity in America has helped to foster certain habits and dispositions—industriousness, a work ethic, thrift, delayed gratification, a sense of reciprocal obligation to our fellow man, et al.—that lend themselves to political and material prosperity
Which is why the decline of religious affiliation in America, especially pronounced it seems in the past 20 years, is worrisome. All of us, as Americans, benefit from our nation’s religious and cultural inheritance. But what happens when that inheritance is exhausted and unreplenished?
Symbols Matter. The display of ashes on Ash Wednesday matter because symbols and symbolism matter. They spark interest and discussion. They incite curiosity and inquiry. They invite reflection and thought. They are a way to bear witness to the faith without being heavy-handed and doctrinaire.
Indeed, when children—and adults—see the ashes, some will ask: Why are they there? What do they mean? Why are they important to some people? And some of these children and adults will follow-up and learn more about Christianity and religious faith more generally.
Some might even become religious believers. But even if they remain agnostic, perhaps they at least will have a newfound respect for the contributions that people of faith can and do make to our commonweal.
Perhaps they will at least appreciate the role of religion in American public life. And, given our history, and given the challenges that confront us, that would not be a bad thing.
Feature photo credit: www.SevenDays.nl.