As our streets are once again running in blood and unrest, I wonder what God is saying as His children are letting the sins of racism, misogyny, and lying eclipse anything that most Americans are trying to do for their brothers and sisters affected by COVID-19. None of us deserve the hatred, violence, and cut-throat negativity that have reared their ugly heads in recent days in Minnesota. These three sins need to be destroyed forever. Only Christian love and true humility can heal our divisions.
Looking for the healing we all need, I want to describe a president who truly represented the possibilities of uniting us as a nation…Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The truth of history, the teachings of Christ, and the path to a happier, more civilized nation is “the highway of fellowship.” (A Christian and a Democrat- page 37) Our lives must be moral; we must believe in the concept of morality as it can lead us towards a more caring society. Christ taught us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Ordinary people thought Roosevelt liked and cared about them. They saw him as strong and effective, as warm and understanding. They were willing to follow his authority because they trusted his humanness. For FDR, the government stood as the moral agent of the community, and it should serve society by taking responsibility for an equal balance between liberty and unity. The presidency should be above all a moral office. Freedom should be for everyone, and no one has the right to usurp that inalienable right. He believed faith, hope, and charity should strongly support American values, and the greatest guide for safe-guarding these values is through moral principles.
FDR believed the government’s ability to formulate policy as a means of garnering public support could be attained through persuasion, leadership, sacrifice, and teaching. Above all, the greatest duty of a statesman is to educate. As a teacher, Roosevelt promoted different interests by empowering Americans to create their lives around the spirit of charity. We are our brother’s keeper.
Roosevelt viewed charity in three ways: “in God’s love toward humanity, in human love towards God, and in self-giving love towards others.” (A Christian and a Democrat-page 107). As people of faith gather to be in community with God, Roosevelt spoke to our nation on the importance of faith at a time when the future was unclear. He said three institutions were paramount to the American way of life: religion, democracy, and international good faith. Any society that placed these three institutions in the rear of any policy decisions would not find a place for the teachings of Christ in its ideals.
In 1942, Roosevelt was the most powerful man in American history, perhaps in the world. He conveyed a spirit of goodwill, stayed focused on the details amid the chaos, kept his sight on accomplishing important objectives, and kept the country moving towards victory and peace. His cheerfulness and strength inspired Americans to do the tough, confusing, and the often impossible jobs. Just as Christ used humor to disarm, quiet, and inspire His flock, so Roosevelt adapted to the ever-changing demands of his office and life and learned to laugh at himself. He understood the boundaries of power and admitted his own faults.
In his message to the nation on Christmas Eve, 1941, FDR prayed for forgiveness of the nation’s past dealings, hoped for blessings on the present tasks, and asked God’s help for the future. He said, “The American people need divine guidance to remain humble in spirit, but strong in conviction of the right; steadfast to endure sacrifice, and brave to achieve a victory of liberty and peace. We set our faith in human love and in God’s care for us and all men everywhere.” (A Christian and a Democrat- page 184) In our government today, we need people of great faith and those who are willing to make the hard decisions without expecting a thank you in return.
A man’s life should be guided by the fundamental purpose of love as Christ had preached to His followers. “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” (John 17:19) From my standpoint, in looking at the unrest, protests, and violence that have broken out in our cities since a humble Black American man was killed by a White policeman, I believe faith, hope, and charity are no longer values that many Americans consider valid in their lives. The sanctity of life has been put on the back-burner while many of us stand idly by watching. Like FDR believed, Christ is finding no room in our American stables. I do believe that Americans are desperately seeking presidential leadership of faith, hope, and charity, but they are finding only hollow promises. And like our grandparents and our parents of 1942, we are seeking God’s care for our troubles and trials from the past, the present, and the future.
Roosevelt realized that faith does not come from within but from without. It is a gift from the life and the teachings of Jesus Christ. He is “the point where eternity has intersected time.” (A Christian and a Democrat- page 209) FDR brought our nation together during the Depression and World War II by stating, “The necessity of greater cooperation will put every individual into closer touch with every other. More and more we become interdependent.” (A Christian and a Democrat-page 240) Maybe in an extremely sad and violent way, the murder of a humble Black American man will move us back towards the path of faith, hope, and charity. Maybe when we put love back into everything we do or say, we won’t have to bury anyone else because we will know we are really “One nation under God.” For me, I humbly ask God to forgive us for we know not what we do.
Anna Hartt
