If there ever was a question as to why we need Christian unity, I would suggest that a look at pop culture might be a good place to start. It does not take a prophet to survey American pop culture and see that it is morally lacking and leading our youth astray. In the name of freedom and political correctness we have allowed license and an excess respect for diversity to overturn decency and respect for all which, by the way, includes the majority. This country was founded on the Christian principal that "all men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Recent national news has been dominated by the sordid and sad story of Anna Nicole Smith, pop stars flashing the public, and shock jocks and rappers crudely insulting various groups. Recent local news includes sex between a high school student and a teacher and a high school assembly where students were encouraged to experiment with sex and drugs. This brings home the notion that our culture is in trouble.
I believe a major reason our culture is in trouble is that liberty and the pursuit of happiness have been perverted to license and the pursuit of depravity. The founding fathers' idea of liberty and the pursuit of happiness allowed everyone to pursue what was good and right for themselves, their family, and the greater community. It presumed a moral judgment founded on Judeo Christian values so that the practice of faith, whether Methodist, Quaker, Catholic or Jew would not be illegal. What this liberty has become is something quite different and quite detrimental to the common good. Now the idea of liberty has become license for crudeness and pornography. The pursuit of happiness has become the pursuit of depravity and alternate lifestyles. It is now even considered illegal to mention God in the public square.
What does all of this have to do with Christian Unity? I believe that the squabbling among Christians has allowed a "culture of death" centered on selfishness, license, and anarchy to grow and become the dominant culture of our day. When Christians expend more effort squabbling about their differences than working to build a culture of life where people are encouraged to walk humbly before God, then a culture of selfishness, crudeness and death becomes dominant.
A friend of mine once prayed and asked God how all the churches could be brought together without watering down the doctrine. The answer she received was "I will bring the churches together in my time and in my way and the only thing that will be watered down is man's pride". In January this was echoed in what Archbishop Chaput said in an article on Christian Unity. "For Christians, unity is something God does. We play a vital part in that search for unity because God calls us to actively cooperate with His Grace "so that all may be one". But when unity comes, it will be God's work in God's time".
What is clear to me is that now is the time for all Christians and, indeed, all people of good will to unite and begin to work together for the good of our culture. People of faith must work together to promote a culture that encourages concern and care for each other, the promotion of decency, the elimination of violence, the building up of the family unit, and a respect for God and all people. We are a secular society which means we do not practice a particular religion. We must not become a Godless society which does not tolerate religion. Freedom requires the self discipline that organized religion provides. Working together, we can begin to clean up our culture and build a decent, honest, humble and caring society where our children and grandchildren can grow up to be decent, honest, caring, and productive citizens. I believe this is what Jefferson meant by the pursuit of happiness. Shall we put aside our petty differences and get started?