On July 4, 2026, the United States of America will observe its 250th birthday. On the eve of this historic occasion, we might expect to find Americans united as they celebrate the founding of the world’s oldest continuous democracy. Instead, we see a nation deeply divided between those who would “make America great again” and those who believe, as former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, “America …was never that great.”

Americans long for a better country but are unsure what will make it “better.” Should we move forward on the path charted by Republicans, or one marked by Democrats? Is there more to consider?

As a member of the British Navy during World War II, William Golding witnessed the atrocities of war firsthand. This led him to question human nature and mankind’s capacity for both good and evil. Golding’s Nobel Prize-winning novel, “Lord of the Flies,” was a cautionary tale warning against the prewar optimism of British political intellectuals who believed humanity was destined for a utopian future.

In 1937, secular scholar H.G. Wells proclaimed the views of this elite class, saying, “Can we doubt that presently our race will more than realize our boldest imaginations, that it will achieve unity and peace, and our children will live in a world made more splendid than any palace or garden we now know, going on from strength to strength in an ever-widening circle of achievement?” But after the Holocaust, Lord David Cecil lamented, “The philosophy of progress had led us to believe that the savage and primitive was behind us, but it turns out, it was within us.”

Philosopher C.E.M. Joad explained the shattered worldview of secular thinkers: “It was because we rejected the doctrine of original sin that we on the (political) Left were always so disillusioned. Both the behavior of the people and the leaders were inexplicable to us … because we did not believe in sin.”

The biblical Doctrine of Original Sin was depicted in Golding’s novel featuring British choirboys, nurtured in the warm environment of privilege, who descend quickly into chaos, savagery and murder after their plane crashes, and they are stranded on a deserted island. In 1983, during a rare interview, Golding said:

“The theme of the novel is an attempt to trace the defects of society to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system, however logical or respectable… The darkness of man’s heart is the central theme of the story.”

Golding’s conclusions are profoundly biblical. As Jesus said, “For out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts — murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander…” The darkness of man’s heart is the central theme of all recorded history.

The defects in our society can be traced back to a defect in our nature. This defect is found in every heart: in the rich and poor, young and old, male and female, Republican and Democrat. Our circumstances do not cause this defect; instead, they only reveal the darkness of our hearts.

The traditional levers of government — economics, law, education, and social structures — are powerless to change the heart because a lasting change of the heart occurs from the inside out, not from the outside in. Democracy cannot change or heal our hearts.

What could heal our hearts and our national division?

President Abraham Lincoln believed that only the spiritual path leads to healing. In 1863, Lincoln cried out to a country torn apart by slavery — “our national sin” — saying, “We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God … we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”

The heart is broken by sin — the defect of our human nature — and it is healed only by God’s gracious mercy.  As Scripture states, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted…He heals the brokenhearted … and saves the contrite in spirit.”

Have Americans forgotten God again? Could we yet humble ourselves and pray that God might heal our hearts and country?

What the hell do we have to lose?

James O. Cunningham is a civil trial lawyer practicing in Orlando and a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/10/01/commentary-longing-for-a-better-country/