What made America great?

Unity amidst diversity is what has made America unique.

The unifying factor has been the common fundamental ¹values that drove men and women to leave their homeland and establish a new country. Ever since America's founding, these same values have drawn men and women here over the years from every part of the world. The same values ²embodied in our founding documents.

The diversity has been the richness of our various cultural backgrounds.

So while we are different (described as a melting pot) culturally, we have also been the same i.e. had the same basic common values. On the great seal of the United States is the phrase "E Pluribus Unum" which in Latin means "out of many, one." Many nations and cultures but one united by the same values and a common goal -  freedom to carry out our lives as we see fit under God's guidance and direction. 

Both unity and diversity made America great and strong. We all marched to the same drummer (i.e. had the same common values/goals) while bringing a richness and variety of resources, cultures, and skills in pursuit of this common cause. All of which blended to show the richness and diversity of God himself and how each of us uniquely reflected his image.

Both are necessary for America to continue to be great and strong. However, we have drifted from our common values over time which has been the glue that has held us together in all our diversity.

Freedom was the primary common value that moved our forefathers to come. The main one among the very earliest settlers was being free to worship and serve God as they believed he had called them to, without government interference. And not just any God, but the God who says loving Him with all our heart first is the most important thing, and out of this loving our neighbor. According to the bible (often derided in today's culture), the pursuit of this is good and right; not pursuing it is destructive. All other freedoms flowed from this.

In all that America has offered, we have never guaranteed happiness, only the freedom to pursue happiness. (Think of the Will Smith movie "The Pursuit of Happiness").

This is not theory but our history. Yet some today -- not the vast majority but a tireless, driven and loud minority (politically, not ethnically) -- want to throw away the common values our country was founded on that have proven to make us the bastion of liberty and flourishing over the years.

The foundational value of what made America great is we recognized God is great. This was the primary value held by the vast majority of Americans. It should be mentioned that the "Great Awakening" had occurred only 30 years prior to the Declaration of Independence. The fundamental values of that awakening were still fresh in the hearts and minds of many Americans. 

A free people must be self-governed to remain free. The governing principle/values of loving God with all we are and have and our neighbor as ourselves is what keeps and makes us free. These internal governing principles/values minimized the need for external governing, allowing maximum freedom. Our need to return to greatness is not rooted in a political, economic, and cultural solution but a spiritual one. We can not love God and others -- treat others with value -- as we are designed to until we know the love of God ourselves, individually and as a nation i.e. we won't and can't value others unless we understand how God values/loves us, demonstrated in Him sending His Son to restore us back to Him. 

If we, as a people, are to continue to be the country where men and women are free to develop their abilities to the maximum of their potential for the glory of God we must return to those common values of loving God and neighbor that made us strong from the beginning. In short, we need a spiritual awakening, not just a political or moral change. Political and moral change is the fruit of loving God with all we are and have. This starts with God's people - i.e. the "church" universal - first. 

¹For a further discussion on values, culture and racism, click here. 

²Though racism was a part of our society in the beginning, it was the founding principle that all men are created equal that eventually lead to the black man being recognized as someone with the same rights and dignity as every other citizen. The HBO series on John Adams is an excellent recounting of how the compromise of this principle was an unfortunate, destructive, and unwanted part of our beginning for many.