By LeRoy Lawson
Washington Journal: Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon”s Downfall
Elizabeth Drew
New York: Overlook Hardcover, 2014
Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness
Eric Metaxas
Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013
The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated
James Emery White
Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2014
I have been reliving a nightmare. Not just my bad dream, but our nation”s. Nightmare isn”t even my word. It”s Gerald Ford”s, part of his August 1974 swearing-in remarks. Richard Nixon had left the White House in disgrace. “My fellow Americans,” Ford told the country, “our long national nightmare is over. . . . Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men.”
So much of the tension of those scary days came back as I read Elizabeth Drew”s Washington Journal, published in 1975 (then republished and updated in 2014). She kept a journal of the unprecedented events””not only what was happening, but why our survival as a democracy was threatened. She wondered what bombshell would explode tomorrow and tried to figure out where or whether, in a culture of lies, was the truth to be found? Who could be trusted? Apparently not the president.
The nation”s confusion in those days was personal, as well. By the time Nixon fell, I had voted three times to elect him president. He lost to John Kennedy the first time, then won his next two presidential races, the last time by a landslide. But even before his second inauguration, his political base was eroding and rumors were running wild. More dirty tricks. We”ve never had a more complicated, insecure, self-destructive occupant in the White House””nor more brilliant. He is America”s tragic hero, brought down not by his supposed enemies, which he saw everywhere, but by his own flawed character.
This is a painful read for a Christian. When Nixon was first in office, I was proud to identify with him in many ways: like me he came from a Christian family and grew up in Christian Endeavor. He seemed committed to Christian values (he talked the Christian talk); he invited Billy Graham to conduct services and consult with him in the White House; he held conservative political views. He even played the piano””and so did I! He seemed to be “one of us.”
Then came the revelations of his execrable language, his excessive drinking, his uncontrolled vindictiveness against his enemies (he kept a list), his willingness to do whatever it took to perpetuate himself in office (including allowing a host of his aides to go to jail to protect himself), and finally his disregard of the Constitution he promised to uphold. What kind of person had I voted for?
When Nixon left Washington, I shared the nation”s sense of relief. I was grateful that Gerald Ford, whose strongest asset was his decency, was now at the helm. We were going to be OK.
Toward the end of the 19th century, Lord Acton wrote to Mandell Creighton, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I think of Acton often, not just when watching the circus in Washington, but in pondering the flaws in all human organizations, including the church.
I”d feel a lot better if I didn”t also remember that little verse in Romans 3:10, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” That takes care of my self-righteousness””and makes me cut a little slack for Richard Nixon.
Seven Great Men
For relief from the horrors of Watergate I turned to Eric Metaxas”s Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness.Â
Who are these seven men and what do they have in common? You don”t see it immediately. A more diverse group would be hard to imagine:
1. George Washington: the father of his country””and slave owner.
2. William Wilberforce: eminent reformer””and victorious slayer of slavery.
3. Eric Liddell: Olympic runner””who would not compete on Sunday because of his Christian convictions; he would later distinguish himself in Christian missions.
4. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: brilliant martyred theologian and would-be assassin of Adolf Hitler.
5. Jackie Robinson: courageous African-American baseball giant who broke the color barrier in that sport.
6. John Paul II: dynamic “young” Pope who served the church in his strength and then, through his Parkinson”s, in his weakness.
7. Charles Colson: President Nixon”s “hatchet man” who went on to become one of American Christianity”s most inspiring leaders.
It”s not a list I would compile. Perhaps you wouldn”t either. But to Metaxas, the devout Christian author who gave us inspirational biographies of Wilberforce and Bonhoeffer, these are seven men who rose from unlikely circumstances to serve their causes (country, abolition of slavery, Christian missions, resistance to evil, overcoming a nation”s racism, leading a worldwide church, and taking the gospel to prisoners). What they had in common was their uncommon courage.
It was especially gratifying to read about the change Christ made in Charles Colson, welcome evidence that the conversion preachers talk about can be real indeed.
How to Reach the Nones
There isn”t much news in James Emery White”s Rise of the Nones, but it is a serious read for pastors and church leaders who, not content to watch church participation decline, want some help in turning the tide.
The nones of the title are the growing numbers of people who, when asked to name their religious affiliation, don”t hesitate to say, “none.” This doesn”t mean they don”t believe in God (most of them do) or don”t consider themselves spiritual (again, most do); they have just lost all interest in organized religion.
This prognosis, says White””a pastor determined not to let these people slip away from church at its best because they”ve been hurt or bored by church at its worst””is not favorable. He points to the 1990s as the decade of the “secular boom,” when 1.3 million more adult Americans joined the nones. The trend may be slower these days, but in the same direction. Young adults, now out of their adolescent rebellious years, just aren”t returning to the fold as expected. The “young and unchurched” have become the “older and unchurched.”
The nones are the nation”s “fastest-growing and second-largest religious category,” second only to Catholics. They even outnumber the Southern Baptists. They are mostly male (56 percent), young (one-third of Americans under 30), white, “not necessarily” atheistic but certainly not very religious, and overwhelmingly Democrat (three-quarters voted for Obama in 2008).
On social issues, they vote liberal: pro-abortion and pro-legalized same-sex marriage. They are indifferent to but not necessarily hostile toward religious institutions. And they are most likely Westerners, certainly not Southerners.
Their views on Christianity? They believe it is antihomosexual, judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned, too involved in politics, out of touch with reality, insensitive to others, boring, not accepting of other faiths, and confusing.
What would appeal to them, then? A church with a mission, devoted to a cause that helps people. Working together for that cause will create community, and in such communities, White believes, it is possible to introduce people to Christ. These communities will embrace in the love of Christ those shut out of more “respectable” circles. First comes the acceptance and community, then the introduction to the Christ who can rescue and renew them. Not the reverse order.
A strength of Rise of the Nones is that every chapter closes with discussion-raising and complacency-shattering questions. You won”t like this book if you are content with doing church as usual.
LeRoy Lawson is international consultant with CMF International and professor of Christian ministries at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Johnson City, Tennessee. He also is a Christian Standard contributing editor and serves on Standard Publishing”s Publishing Committee.
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