Where Are Our Better Angels? The Moral Decay of Christian Nationalism

I imagine President Lincoln hunched over his desk, penning his inauguration speech, which he would deliver to an extremely divided nation. As he wrote, he must have contemplated the importance of his words in fending off the threat of civil war and appeasing the people's fears.

Seven southern states had already seceded from the Union, and his presidential victory was far from a landslide. The number of people who voted for the candidate who would have galvanized slavery into America’s future was high enough to put him in second place, giving Lincoln only 40% of the popular vote.

Lincoln was a gifted writer, evidenced by one of his most powerful speeches—the Gettysburg Address. He routinely revisited his work, rewriting to clarify and soften the edges of tenuous points. Perhaps understanding the gravity of his first address to the nation after being elected President, Lincoln asked his Secretary of State, William Seward, to read it and provide edits. Seward returned with 49 edits, some of which Lincoln accepted and others he rejected.

The final sentence of this speech is cemented as some of his most profound and inspirational words..

"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

Although they are memorialized as Lincoln’s own words, they actually originated from Seward’s edits to his original speech. Lincoln, however, made a significant change to Seward’s final sentence that, had it not been made, may have lost its impact.

Seward had written, …”as surely they will be, by the guardian angel of the nation,” which Lincoln had rewritten to say “the better angels of our nature.”

Did you feel that shift?

It’s subtle but must not be missed. What Seward had written invoked an outside spiritual force that implied that no matter the challenges faced in America, a higher power surrounded the nation with a blanket of covering. This perspective, or more accurately this belief, is not surprising. In a country where Christianity was the primary religion, those listening to the President's speech would welcome the protection of guardian angels.

The belief in angels extends beyond organized religion. There is an array of perspectives on the power and hierarchical structure of the angelic realm. It is said that these spiritual beings differ from the human soul. This belief made Seward’s notion that guardian angels were protecting the United States comforting to a country facing civil war.

Lincoln, however, shifted the responsibility of the “mystic chords of memories” to the American citizen. His point was clear: guardian angels may protect the physical vessel in which the soul resides, but our better angels protect our destiny.

He used symbolic language to invoke a sense of responsibility to do what is morally and spiritually right.

Some may say our better angels exist to expand our consciousness beyond our need for personal comfort, which can lead to complacency. The better angel isn’t silenced by ego. It isn’t locked away inside us, so it has little chance of influencing the decisions we make. It bypasses the wounds of our inner child that warn us that nothing matters but to ensure we are never harmed again.

This better angel is as close to us as our next breath, because in its purest form, it is us. It is who we are without the weight of our life’s experiences.

Lincoln knew this. Lincoln also knew that to have the support to “do all the good you can,” even if that good meant war, he would need to bond those supporting him to something greater than himself.

And it worked. The sentiment in his inaugural speech has stood the test of time.

I’ll be the first to admit that my better angel has not always been the filter through which my decisions have passed. In some situations, my ego was loud, convincing me that my humanity was more important than another’s. I allowed my wounds to burst forth where a threat did not exist.

Regardless of how we have silenced the better angel inside of us, they wait for their chance to influence our decisions and become the catalyst for the good we can do in this world.

But in today’s America, our better angels are not only quieted by personal ego or fear, they are being drowned out by the noise of Christian nationalism. This ideology weaponizes Christianity to divide and control. It silences the compassionate voice of our collective conscience and replaces it with rigid dogma that elevates power over people.

Christian nationalism silences our better angels by suffocating morality with the rot of bigotry. It teaches that morality is about conformity, not compassion. This movement does not call forth the better angels of our nature. It suppresses them with the weight of white Christian supremacy and political control. It may seem harsh to equate Christian nationalism with moral decay, but consider the teachings of Christian leaders who equate empathy with sin.

Then tell me where better angels are driving any part of this movement.

There is no reconciling compassion and empathy with an ideology that is rooted in white supremacy.

This isn’t just a political crisis. It’s a spiritual one.

I take comfort in knowing that our better angels haven’t disappeared, but the question is will others awaken to their own better angels? They are still here, ready to guide us back to a goodness reflected in our words and actions. That goodness is expansive. That goodness is love in action.

This is how “the better angels of our nature” protect our destiny.

And they are needed now.

They have been silent for far too long.