Last night, President Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask a court for the release of all relevant grand jury testimony from the prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein. Bondi responded that she is “ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
Mr. Trump has been under intense pressure after the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a two-page memo last week stating that Epstein left no “client list” of those involved in his abuse of underage girls. The department also stated that no further evidence would be released and no additional charges would be brought against third parties.
However, only 3 percent of those surveyed are satisfied with the amount of Epstein information that has been released; in another survey, 63 percent disapprove of the Trump Administration’s handling of the issue. House Republicans agreed last night to lay the groundwork for a potential vote calling on the DOJ to release material from its investigation of Epstein.
In totalitarian countries, this wouldn’t be an issue. What people want to know about their government doesn’t affect their government.
According to a recent report, 72 percent of the world’s population—5.7 billion people—live under authoritarian rule. When I traveled in Russia and China, I was told to assume that the government was bugging my hotel room and listening to my conversations. In my many trips to Cuba, I had to be careful never to criticize the Communist Party, or the pastors and churches we served would face persecution after we left.
But America is founded on the belief that “all men are created equal” and that our government should therefore be “of the people, by the people, for the people.” As a result, we are free to criticize our leaders and seek transparency in their actions.
Why are Americans so generous?
People are responding to the Central Texas floods with a massive outpouring of financial support and personal engagement. This should not surprise us: Americans are by far the most generous people in the world. Our annual private philanthropy as a percentage of GDP is twice that of Canada, four times that of the UK, and fifty times that of China.
What explains this?
According to theologian Peter J. Leithart (PhD, University of Cambridge), the Great Awakenings and other revival movements “fundamentally shaped the shape of the church” in America. This emphasis on the individual’s relationship with God stood apart from institutional Christendom with its clergy-driven liturgical collectivism.
In Leithart’s view,
Revivalism is the main source of the uniquely vibrant social activism of American Christianity. Temperance, urban renewal, prison ministry, abolitionism, and education reform were all energized by awakenings. . . . Thanks to revivalism, Americans donate a larger portion of their money to charities than any other people on the planet. . . .
Without revivalist Christianity, America would have rolled over and succumbed to secularism long ago. Without the unchurchy American church, we’d be so much more like Europe.
Religion is still at the heart of American generosity today:
- Those who attend religious services twice a month or more give over four times more to charitable causes than those who never attend religious services.
- Among Americans who have volunteered within the last year, three-quarters belong to a religious organization.
- The US states that are the most religiously active are the most generous; some of our wealthiest but less religiously active states are the least generous.
The First Great Awakening and the birth of America
Now we have a choice to make.
The revivalism that has produced sacrificial generosity has also shaped the larger American culture. For example, the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s made a huge impact on colonial society, encouraging the notions of individual rights that became embedded in our Declaration of Independence and US Constitution.
But absent spiritual renewal, our individual rights become ends rather than means. We engage in political activism to advance political agendas but confine our service to secular outcomes. We climb the ladder of individualistic faith only to kick it out from beneath us.
The reason is simple: Our innate desire to help those in need is a reflection of our creation in the image of the God who is love (Genesis 1:27; 1 John 4:8). However, our created character is deeply at odds with our fallen nature and our quest to be our own god at the expense of others (Romans 3:23; Genesis 3:5).
The good news is that Jesus can not only forgive our sins but remake our sinful hearts (2 Corinthians 5:17) so that we are “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). His Spirit will produce the selfless character of Christ in every Christian who truly wants to be like their Lord.
Then, the more we become like Christ, the more altruistically and sacrificially we serve others as he serves us. The more secularized our culture becomes, the more urgent and unique our service. And the more we attract others to the Source of our differences.
Worshipping in my high school auditorium
When I was a teenager, I joined the Christian Student Union at my very secular high school. We met before class in the balcony of the auditorium, where we would pray and sing worship choruses. One especially inspired me: “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
Over the decades and across the six continents I have traveled, I have yet to witness a more powerful way to change the culture.
Have you?
Quote for the day:
“It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.” —Mother Teresa
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