The nation’s Semiquincentennial is approaching. Will we last till then?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #257 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
I’d assume most Americans know that this coming July 4, 2026 is the 250th Anniversary of the nation’s founding, but if you read surveys or watch person-on-the-street interviews conducted by news anchors or comedians you’ll discover that many Americans evidence an appalling lack of understanding about even the most basic facts about American history, like for example, “Who won the Civil War?”
So, I am not surprised to learn that American citizens do not know much about their homeland or citizenry.
A 2023 survey “indicated that over 40% of Americans did not know the specific reason for Independence Day, with 45% incorrectly identifying the year of the signing.” “When asked what July 4 is meant to officially commemorate, only 59% gave the correct answer: ‘The signing of the Declaration of Independence.’”
An April 2026 survey discovered, “Thirty-seven percent of respondents view the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence as ‘a proud national milestone,’ while 24% say it is ‘not something I think much about,’ and 18% describe it as ‘mostly symbolic and ceremonial.’” “A majority of respondents, 59%, said the founding ideals of the Declaration of Independence still guide the country in meaningful ways, while 41% said those ideals are mostly disconnected from today's reality.” “When asked about progress over the past 250 years, 57% said the United States has achieved the nation's founding ideals either "a great deal" or "a moderate amount," while 33% said "not very much" or "not at all," and 10% were unsure.”
The Pew Research Center, “in a 2025 survey…asked people in 25 nations to say – in their own words – what makes them proud of their country. In several ways, Americans’ answers stand out from those of people in other countries.
Americans are among the most likely to emphasize freedom as a source of pride. They are also more likely than people in many other surveyed nations to offer a negative sentiment when asked what makes them proud.
And Republicans and Democrats tend to highlight different sources of pride.”
“Few Americans (3%) mention U.S. history as something that makes them proud of their country.”
In 2001, Gallup asked Americans, How proud are you to be an American — extremely proud, very proud, moderately proud, only a little proud or not at all proud? 87% responded affirmatively. In 2025, twenty-four years later, this same question was asked, and only 58% responded affirmatively. In 1976, during the Bicentennial, 94% of Americans said they were proud of their country.”
So, the steady media drumbeat on how bad, sad, and mad America is today, is having its effect, especially among young Americans. Aside from media messaging, why is this?
One reason is something called polarization. Americans are divided, fragmented. Another is the existential nihilism and exhausted fatalism gripping American culture in the early 21st Century. Culturally, we’re not only divided, we’re lost, drifting, searching for meaning everywhere but where it can be found.
As Christian believers, we know how to respond with the truth that meaning entered history in a person, Jesus Christ, who confronted suffering and injustice, experienced death on our behalf, and rose again breaking death’s finality, thus Jesus fulfills all longing as “the way, the truth, and the life.” (Jn. 14:6).
But this simple yet profound truth is largely not welcome at the American cultural table, less so in Europe, certainly not at all in academia, except perhaps for the university revivals we’ve been hearing about.
Americans are struggling with an identity crisis. We don’t know who we are, so many of us are not proud of a heritage they’ve never learned or about which they’ve been misled.
We know from the study of past empires certain centrifugal forces can tear a civilization apart. The Roman Empire unraveled over centuries due to a combination of internal weaknesses and external pressures: corruption and ineffective administration eroded trust and stability, heavy taxation and debt, barbarian invasions, decline in civic pride. There is no guarantee this cannot happen or is not already happening to the U.S.A.
Meanwhile, America’s founding ideals are still there. America coalesced around two critical, fundamental principles: the then-self-evident truth of individual equality and the unalienable right of liberty endowed by the Creator.
For all the immigration fuss in recent days, America is and has always regarded itself as an idea. Being an American is not exclusively about being “made in America,” i.e., born here . Being American is not about soil or tribe or blood or lineage or ethnicity or nationality or race or religion. American identity is a civic identity rooted in shared founding ideals.
Sometimes it’s called the American Creed, a set of beliefs that emphasize liberty, justice, and the rule of law, insisting that government exists by consent, of, by, and for the people. The American Creed also celebrates opportunity, individual responsibility, and civic virtue. We tend to think about “rights” but we’ve forgotten about “responsibility.”
Unlike many nations with rigid hierarchies, the American Creed holds that political authority is not inherited, not a matter of class or wealth or “privilege,” certainly not about race or sex, but granted through active citizenship.
America has been gifted both faith in freedom and freedom of faith, precious blessings most of mankind has never known.
The United States is far from a perfect union and sometimes we struggle to realize “liberty and justice for all.” But no nation’s history even remotely approaches America’s efforts to believe in, to fight to protect, and to celebrate human freedom.
In his book, Biblical Patriotism, Adam Wyatt said, while “God has created all nations with love and care according to His plan, there is something unique to the American experiment. Even a cursory look at American history shows that God has indeed used this country and blessed it in a way that few countries have had the honor to experience.”
So, we as Americans, as Christians, as conservatives, or frankly however you align your beliefs, if we care about passing on to our children and grandchildren a country and culture that is a land of freedom and opportunity, then we need to stand up, speaking the truth in love, that politics cannot solve our crises.
As the British author and social commentator G.K. Chesterton noted, we need ordinary men and women who have accepted the message of the Gospel, who embody its incredible transformative power, who then live out or “externalize” their religious beliefs in their everyday life. We need people who believe in truth because God Is There and He Is Not Silent, that he is Truth. We need people who are weary of politicians who mouth platitudes to get elected but then in office go along to get along, never really voting to change anything in the interest of freedom and opportunity. We need people who believe in marriage, family, procreation, an admirable work ethic, and generosity, the building blocks of society.
We need Christian nonprofit organizations who help the Church help others in both spiritual and humanitarian need—the “truly needy,” as Ronald Reagan called them, people who life has dealt them hard knocks but people who want to contribute to the good of their families and society. We need citizens who affirm right and wrong, law and order, mercy, responsibility and accountability, blind justice.
We need people who commit, with the Holy Spirit’s enablement, to be the light of the world and the salt of the Earth. This is a centripetal force greater than all others.
E Pluribus Unum, Out of Many One, served as a de facto national motto from 1782 until “In God We Trust” was officially adopted in 1956. E Pluribus Unum is a Latin phrase rooted in a Christian conception of society. Significantly, it is not E Pluribus Tantum, Only Many. The “diversity” being marketed today, often religiously absolutized as a value with little or no concern for unity, is a recipe for social disaster.
The USA, God be praised, is still a land where religious liberty is honored, and with it, freedom of speech. It is a place where all people, including Christians, can learn to discern how their faith can contribute to lives and culture. May this struggle, this Great Experiment, continue.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best.
If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. For more Christian commentary, see my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com, or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2026
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