Let us live to make men free

I was chatting about the Battle Hymn of the Republic with a Quaker friend (which was complicated because he doesn't know any hymns, as in zero). The finishing line of one of of the stanza used to read like this:

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.

In recent years, people have taken to singing "let us live to make them free". I find the new version equally daunting, but I like the liberation tone.

Ironically, this hymn is also the unofficial hymn of the Republican Party of the United States.

Over here in the UK, it is a major anthem for social progress and an ode to collective action: (Old) Labour ministers are fond of singing it. There's even a socialist-friendly version which substitutes "Glory Alleluia" for "Solidarity Forever!".

Which leads me onto a topic that's been brewing in my head for a couple of weeks: it's all very well sharing pretty hymns and woolly reflections in here, but what concerns me as a political scientist is the relationship of christianity with collective action.

To give an example: in European social democracies, we all pay lots of taxes that go towards helping the poor and disadvantaged. So technically, as a collective entity, we have not (always) let them down. In other words, we feed the poor and clothe the naked, we just believe in doing it collectively, anyone who pays taxes takes part in it, so I'm curious to see how we can separate the sheep from the goats.

What's more, as Nancy Fraser and Linda Gordon point out in their stunning article "Contract versus Charity: Why Is There No Social Citizenship in the United States?", the notion of rights, entitlements, and social citizenship is actually quite valuable on the political plane. As a citizen of a European country, you have a right to take part in the heritage of this country, you have the right to free education, free healthcare and so on. Your job is to defend this collective heritage and not let it slide.

I still care about where the country as a whole is going. I'm unwilling to inhabit solely the radical margins. I still believe in my fellow mainstream citizens. I'm proud of collective social achievements of which the church speaks so little. I'm bored with personal ethics, but I don't know what I think yet. This is so frustrating.

Let's christianise the system a bit. My intuitive wisdom on the topic is "keep going and extend", which could mean, keep going with the social democratic achievements, but extend them to folks living and working abroad and let's pass some kick-ass laws already! Maybe I'm more anglicised than I realise, but the Battle Hymn of the Republic will always mean that to me. Our God is marching on!

In an era of reckless capitalism, post-fordism and "area competitiveness", it would not be business-like, would it? "No, sir, to be business-like is sometimes to be devil-like. But I would not have you business-like when it is so. Out on your business; be Christian-like!" (Spurgeon's 145th sermon)