The Basic Problem - The Only Hope
Fifty years ago (1970) Newsweek magazine asked a group of academics “What ails the American spirit?” One professor of history answered: “When a growing portion of the nation’s youth loudly proclaims its defection from everything; when even the most traditional and conservative campuses seethe with perpetual turmoil; . . . when the country is racked with fear, foreboding, and hopelessness—then we had better declare a state of spiritual crisis. . . .” (“The Spirit of ’70. . . ,” Newsweek, 6 July 1970, p. 25).
Twenty-seven years following this Newsweek article another generation had come and the late William F. Buckley, Jr. authored his 1997 autobiography: Nearer, My God. Buckley references John Cuddihy (1922-2011), former sociology professor at City University of New York who said, “[Religious talk] is unseemly and bids fair to destroy the fragile solidarity of the surface we call civility” (280). The question was asked, “Why don’t we bring up the subject of God?” Cuddihy had cited Buckley as providing the answer: “Because of the sense of the social situation . . . [but how] can we discuss ethical questions if we cannot bring up God?” In addition Buckley asked, “How is a society that strives for virtuous conduct going to encourage right-minded institutions and right-minded behavior without invoking the divine sanction?” (232). Buckley’s premise was “What has happened, in two generations, is the substantial alienation of the secular culture from the biblical culture . . . [resulting in] the necessity of a spiritual revival in order to enhance civilized life” (233-34).
Another generation has now followed the two mentioned above and, instead of spiritual revival, “we have lost our sense of history . . . [and] in our churches the effort to see man [from the perspective of the eternal] has been displaced by a ‘social gospel’—which is a polemic against the supposed special evils of our time” (Boorstin, Democracy and Its Discontents 45). The basic problem of humanity involves something much greater than the loss of a “sense of history,” though that is a crucial loss. Furthermore, true spiritual revival will not occur by applying the bandage of a “social gospel,” which is really no gospel (cf. Galatians 1:6-9).
The absent word from most of the current conversations concerning the anarchial chaos in our society—the taproot of it all—is sin. Buckley wrote, “Sin sits in the back of the bus. But it is still there, an agent of conscience. . . . The rediscovery of sin as defined in the Bible would cause us to look up and note the infinite horizons that beckon us toward better conduct, better lives, nobler visions” (234-35, emp. added). Just as Buckley, the late psychiatrist Karl Menninger had been on target when he identified sin as the basic problem of humanity in his landmark 1973 book, Whatever Became of Sin? Menninger spent six decades as a dominant figure in American psychiatry, and Buckley was recognized by many as the greatest conservative figure in the late 20th century. However, neither described the basic problem in American homes, government, cities, schools, churches, entertainment, sports, etc. any better than the following: “The basic problem of mankind is sin, rebellion against the laws of God. We tend to become preoccupied with human frustrations, maladjusted personalities, social injustices, unhappiness—all of which are fruits of sin. . . . A great warfare of varying intensity is raging within every human heart . . . the conflict between the physical and the spiritual . . . described well in Romans 7:14-25. . . . Sin is the parent of every other malady of man” (Eldred Stevens, 3rd Annual Spiritual Sword Lectureship, 1978, p. 313-14).
Menninger said, “Preach! Tell it like it is. Say it from the pulpit. Cry it from the housetops. . . . Cry comfort, cry repentance, cry hope . . .” (228). A true apologetic of Christian faith includes Christological argument, which entails the gospel of Jesus Christ—the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and how to access the infinite benefits of this glorious, uninventable message (Romans 6:1-23). It is our only hope!
Charles C. Pugh III
Executive Director
Works Cited
Boorstin, Daniel J. Democracy and Its Discontents: Reflections on Everyday America. 1971. New York: Random House, 1974.
Buckley, William F. Jr., Nearer, My God. New York: Doubleday, 1997.
Menninger, Karl. Whatever Become of Sin? New York: Hawthorn, 1973.
“The Spirit of ’70: Six Historians Reflect on What Ails the American Spirit.” Newsweek. 6 July 1970: 19-34.