A failing 50-year search for a center

When Martin E. Marty, who has been labeled the “dean of American church historians,” spent 38 weeks in 38 cities during America’s 200th birthday in 1976, he ended his odyssey with his assumptions dismantled. Marty, a fierce critic of “Christian America” and the author of the award-winning Righteous Empire, had already solidified his reputation as a critic of American exceptionalism. During the bicentennial, Marty expected to find a “chauvinist show of colors,” and an “orgy of American self-worship.” He feared the nation would return to the altars of Puritans and Pilgrims—dismissing the recent blunders of Vietnam and Watergate.

Instead, he witnessed a nation lacking direction.

Had the bicentennial fallen at the peak of America’s crusade against communism in 1956, Marty reckoned, it would have produced an overflow of self-assurance regarding the American way. Had 1966 been the 200th birthday, the tensions of racism and the Vietnam War would have further entrenched the divide between left and right. Against his assumptions, Marty surmised that 1976 was a year when Americans were tired and the nation seemed to be crowding the center.

Fifty years later, Americans no longer lack direction. To the contrary, Americans are heading in multiple directions in 2026—none leading to a center.

While the bicentennial, in Marty’s estimation, revealed a wandering nation, the event also produced visions for the nation that echo in 2026. Evangelicals published multiple works that aimed to recapture the biblical foundations of the American founding. Churches sponsored celebrations with banners declaring “200 Years Lord of Our Nation,” and “Let Christ’s Freedom Ring.” These displays of Christian America illustrated the civil religion sociologist Robert Bellah brought to the public eye in 1967. The nation, for the most part, believed itself to be one nation “under God.”

Fractures in that conception of Christian America had appeared following the height of American civil religion during the 1950s. Critical turns in historiography, exemplified by Marty, and an influx of national critique during the Vietnam War signaled that the idea of chosen nation no longer permeated the political left and right. In 1976, debates over national identity were in seed form with the battlelines already drawn. Evangelicals retained the hope that the “Christian America Thesis” could halt the tide of secular humanism. Intellectuals like Marty believed Americans could move in a more positive direction once their past sins were lamented.

Neither mainstream side in 1976 sought to dismantle the American experiment itself. They disagreed over its meaning, but both largely assumed its institutions and constitutional order would endure. Critical history, which viewed America’s history as imperialistic, sought to sway people from presumed innocence and being chosen by God. The Christian America defenders on the other hand, wanted to steer the nation back from secular humanism, which was their response to the histories written by critics of American exceptionalism.

The last 50 years have proven that the divide over Christian America was more than a historical squabble.

On both the left and right, dissatisfaction with the American experiment has deepened. Critics increasingly question not merely particular policies but the legitimacy of the nation’s founding assumptions. The 1619 Project has furthered the project of anti-colonialism just as a new breed of postliberal Christian nationalism has emerged. The debate is no longer simply whether America should be Christian or secular. Increasingly, the debate is whether America should continue with its constitutional order intact.

The parallels between America’s disillusionment in 1976 and 2026 are there. Race riots, controversial military action, poor economics, assassinations, and divisive presidencies appeared on the eve of the bicentennial and America 250. It is understandable why Americans searching for a center in 1976 never reached a settlement in 50 years. Issues such as abortion, pluralism, and sexual liberation make neutral spaces unsustainable. But a center will only hold as long as there is enough agreement about what the nation is. For 250 years, Americans have argued over that question without settling it.

As the nation celebrates another milestone, the future of the American experiment will depend on whether enough citizens still believe the argument itself is worth continuing. Christians in America need to be in the forefront of making that argument.