How America Got Mean

The conservative columnist David Brooks recently wrote an article in the Atlantic with the provocative title, “How America Got Mean.” It is a fascinating piece of research and writing and helps shed light on how civil discourse in our country has become so acrimonious. The two questions he addresses are: “Why is America so sad?” and “Why have Americans become so mean?”

Brooks wonders why a melancholic mood has taken hold of large numbers of people in America, both young and old. Mental health issues such as depression, despair, drug abuse, alcohol addiction, and suicides are at all-time highs across broad spectrums of our society, especially in the heartland. In interview after interview people lament that they don’t have meaningful friendships. More than half of all Americans say that no one knows them well. Forty-four percent of high school students have persistent feelings of sadness in what should be one of the most care-free times of their lives.

Then, in what Brooks considers a related question, he asks, what has driven Americans to become so angry and mean-spirited? Brooks writes about medical personnel, waiters, and many others who work in the service sector who complain of abusive behavior by patients and customers. Since 2020 hate crimes have risen to their highest level in 12 years. Social trust has fallen off the charts, as has charitable giving. In 2000, two out of every three Americans gave to charity; in 2018, less than half did.

Words such as conspiracy, polarization, mass shootings, trauma, and safe spaces define the age in which we live. Just this past weekend mass shootings occurred all across our country, including my city of Jacksonville, Florida. Brooks warns that “We’re enmeshed in some sort of emotional, relational, and spiritual crisis,” and it threatens to unravel our democracy.

Brooks notes that many factors have contributed to our dysfunctional and violent society. Social media, the loss of community, the fear by many white people of losing their racial majority, and the widening gap between the rich and the poor have all contributed to our loneliness and meanness.

While these issues have certainly played a part in our declining culture, Brooks places the greatest blame on our moral decline. He writes that Americans are “terrible at moral formation.” We Americans appear unwilling or unable to adhere to moral standards of right and wrong that require us to be self-disciplined and self-controlled.

Our Founding Fathers recognized the depravity of human beings and stressed forming moral foundations in children and young adults above everything else. Early Americans believed that character development was at the heart of an enduring republic. According to Brooks, the shaping of character is developed the same way “we learn crafts, through the repetition of many small habits and practices.” John Adams, our second president, was fond of saying to his children, “Be good and do good.”

Brooks acknowledges that America has never been a moral paragon of virtue. Past sins, such as slavery, the subjugation of men over women, uncharitable acts by Christians toward Jews, and homophobic slurs toward gay people have marred our progress to become a more perfect union ever since our founding. But in today’s society it seems that we are wallowing in our darker side. Instead of trying to better ourselves, we too often celebrate our worst instincts and behaviors and take pride in our ignorance and crudeness.

The Christian philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre wrote that in our culture today, whatever feels good has become our moral standard. This kind of hedonism didn’t just happen, but was cultivated over a number of decades, probably beginning after World War II.

Tragically, too often the church has helped to grease the slide that has contributed to our culture’s moral collapse. In the fifties, sermons were preached and books were written that emphasized becoming one’s authentic self. The self-awareness theology grew throughout the 60s and has continued all the way to the present day. Frequently, in order to attract new members, the church has served as a kind of workshop for religious narcissism, emphasizing individual feelings that stress personal happiness and contentment over sacrifice and commitment. Rarely in today’s church culture do you hear messages or read books by popular clergy who emphasize moral or ethical values. Sermons are frequently geared to the psychological well-being of the individual. Prophetic exhortations that challenge people in the pew to a higher moral standard—caring for the poor, the sick, the homeless—are seldom heard.

Over the course of my ministry I became acquainted with many pastors, priests, and rabbis. The vast majority were/are incredibly good people. But these men and women are under enormous pressure to grow their churches and parishes. Consequently, too frequently these devout clergy give people what they want. We may criticize our church leaders, but too few of us speak in their defense when they challenge us to live more simply, more ethically or morally. We are more concerned with growing the church than growing more like Jesus.

Regretfully, I, too, share in the blame. Too often during my life as a pastor I succumbed to the prevailing cultural fad and preached what I knew would not antagonize or offend church members. I justified my approach by convincing myself that in order for the congregation to swallow the medicine, a little sugar was needed. Even now, in retirement, I agonize over whether my ministry offered more dessert than nutrition.

Christian faith is tied inextricably to virtuous living. When the church ceases to endorse the necessity of moral and ethical behavior, the church ceases to be the church. The issue, of course, is not whether we are made right with God through good works; no one can earn God’s favor. What is of fundamental importance, however, is whether Christians are living the life they profess.

I believe the church can make a difference in our critically ill culture, but only if it follows the way of Jesus. Melancholy and meanness, the Bible tells us, can only be cured through love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). After all, the only tangible proof of God’s presence in this world is the authenticity of a believer’s life.

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