Role Did Christianity Play In Ronald Reagan's Conception Of Freedom

Chelsia Allison
God and Ronald Reagan paper
April 27, 2013
What role did Christianity play in Reagan’s conception of freedom?
Ronald Reagan was a man that lived out his faith in every aspect of his life. It’s not that he lived his life just to be “good,” but Reagan lived his life as a light for Christ. This is exactly what he wanted for America as well. The US was to be a “shining city on a hill,” as he quoted from scripture quite frequently during his presidency. (91) Reagan felt strongly that this country was chosen for a distinct purpose, and that our forefathers established that purpose. “We’ve come a long way since those first settlers reached these shores, asking nothing more than the freedom to worship God. They asked that He would work in our daily lives, so America would be a land of fairness, morality, justice, and compassion.” (90) Reagan saw this country just as those original settlers saw it- as a
gift from God. God gave the freedom that America has and takes for granted. Freedom is nothing if it is separate from Christ. This type of God-centered thinking influenced all of Reagan’s decisions. Christianity did not only just play a role in Reagan’s definition of freedom; Christianity, and Reagan’s personal relationship with God, was the overall purpose of everything he did.
Kengor begins by introducing Reagan’s home life and the strong Christian mother that raised him. With her leadership and involvement in church, her son quickly followed her and became saved as a young boy. He grew, and so did his faith and stability in the Lord. Small decisions that he made as a child, like reading That Printer of Udell’s, made an impact in his personal and political decisions, and eventually changed his identity of freedom.
Unlike many politicians, Reagan wasn’t only concerned with an overseas crisis as a type of political platform. He was very passionate about defeating communism because he saw it as his duty as a Christian citizen of the US. Reagan saw that “totalitarian communism is an absolute enemy of human freedom” (140).
He began to notice and speak against communism in the early 1940’s at Hollywood Beverly Christian Church, while living in California during his acting career (51). Reagan was passionate about anticommunism because he felt sympathy for the victims that lost their freedom, and was also concerned for all people. He saw the USSR as a strong atheistic power that could threaten the entire world (140). The USSR government stripped every ounce of liberty from the people and was redefining their definition of ‘freedom.’ As a result of the Bokshevik war on religion, Lenin had robbed every corner of Russia and turned churches, religious buildings, and schools over to the state (63). Religion was the enemy, according to Lenin, and the enemy “had to be taken care of” (63).
The soviet government did actually originate on some terms of freedom.
Marx was a utopian and wanted a classless society. He believed that with such a society crime would disappear, the span of life would increase and life would be generally better. Marx called this a “leap from slavery into freedom” (61). This type of “utopian government system” may have been okay by itself. Unfortunately, Marx saw religion as “the opiate of the masses.” The Soviets wanted complete freedom from religion, and in doing so, it resulted a take-over from the state. Reagan saw this and wanted quite the opposite for the Soviets and for America. He claimed that this war was a simple and old quarrel. It was a “struggle between those of us who believe that man has the dignity and sacred right and the ability to choose and shape his own destiny and those who do not so believe.” Also, he believed the main difference in these two countries, worlds apart in beliefs, was those who “believe in the sanctity of individual freedom and those who believe in the supremacy of the state”
(104).
Reagan believed that there was no freedom apart from Christ, and that freedom was a need of the soul. His definition of freedom revolved around his love for Christ, and to him, a forced atheist nation would never be able to have this. He saw Jesus Christ as the ultimate source of freedom, and he believed that these two topics were inseparable. Freedom was a God-given inalienable right (102).
The battle against communism wasn’t the only situation that Reagan sought God’s divine freedom in; he also applied the concept in America. Reagan criticized the US government for becoming involved in more than it should be. He saw that the more money the government was taking from citizens, the more it robbed individuals of their freedom.
Above all, Reagan stressed his desire to get America as free and without government intrusion as possible, because he believed that a free nation could better serve the Lord that we were created to serve. This disciplined and determined practice he had came all the way from Nelle Reagan and the church in Dixon, and lasted through his acting career, his two terms of presidency, and every battle he fought. But although he was a disciplined Christian man, he was free by the grace of Jesus Christ, and that is exactly what he wanted for everyone else too. Freedom for Reagan was not a political standpoint; it was a state of one’s heart.