Why Are America's Cities Disintegrating?
It's the usual culprit: bad theology
Make no mistake. America’s large cities are in crisis.
On July 2, a huge crowd gathered at Baltimore’s Brooklyn Homes public housing project for a block party. The “Brooklyn Day” celebration culminated in the worst mass shooting in Baltimore’s history, with 30 victims, including two fatalities; police recovered shell casings from as many as 16 guns. Let me quote from an article in City Journal: “State’s attorney Marilyn Mosby is a committed Progressive. When she assumed her role she helped unleash an unprecedented crime wave by dropping cases, refusing to prosecute serious crimes, that keep violent criminals out of prison. During Mosby’s first year in office alone, Baltimore homicides soared 62 percent; they totaled 2,653 during her tenure. Mosby was guided by an ideology that sees criminals as victims, police as criminals, and victims as collateral damage, even when most of this last group are black (as are 95 percent of all Baltimore homicide victims).”
Between 2020 and 2022 two million people left America’s largest cities. Between 2019 and 2022 homicides increased by 40%. A reporter from CNN in San Francisco, in town to investigate a surge in crime, has been robbed three times in the last few weeks. My own son was robbed the first month he moved to the city. Rental car companies advise you not to put luggage in the trunk of your car when you rent at San Francisco International Airport, because it may well be stolen. Elon Musk says downtown San Francisco looks like a Zombie apocalypse.
In 2020 America saw the largest single year increase in homicides in our history, almost all of them in urban areas. America’s most violent cities have a higher homicide rate than the worst countries in the world.
The giant retailer Target is closing a number of its big cities stores due to theft. Last year it lost $500 million dollars because of shoplifting. Walmart, Walgreens, even Whole Foods, have made the same decision.
The Wall Street Journal wrote: “Readers of a certain age probably think of retail theft as individual acts of shoplifting. But today a growing threat is from organized retail crime. Gangs plan their raids on retail stores, warehouses and trucks or rail hubs. The goal isn’t personal consumption. It’s to resell the stolen goods at a profit, often over the internet.”
In the past two years cities like Portland and San Francisco have seen a dramatic increase in deaths due to drug overdoses, with 3,000 deaths in those two cities alone.
What has caused the Crisis? There are a number of factors but the biggest is the political power of the Progressive Left. The voters and the district attorneys they elect hold a non-Christian view of man. They deny original sin and believe people are basically good. If people are basically good how can they do evil things? When they commit crimes it cannot be their fault. They are victims of an oppressive capitalist society and if they were treated more justly they would stop their criminal activity. Along with man’s sinfulness the Progressive Left denies the Christian doctrine of personal responsibility. God’s word says, that no matter your personal circumstances, you are individually responsible for making the right decisions. If you don’t you will face the judgment of God. Progressives deny this.
Because of bad theology Progressives in big cities have gone to war against their own police departments, arguing that policemen are worse criminals than the people they arrest. Incidentally, if everyone is basically good how can policemen be bad? The answer is textbook Karl Marx—their goodness is erased when they become part of the oppressor class. Progressives have argued that reducing the arrest and incarceration rates of criminals would be beneficial generally and especially for minority populations. Of course, the opposite has happened and the people who suffer most from Progressive policies are black and brown minorities.
The British publication, Unherd got it right. It said, Progressives aren’t just choosing the wrong candidates. They are voting for the wrong ideas. Or, to use my terminology. They are casting their votes based on wrong doctrines.
The problems in America’s cities are theological. Your basic view of man—affects everything you do: not just how you deal with crime but how you educate children; how you parent children; how you deal with homelessness. The religion of the Progressive Left calls for saving yourself by doing good works. These good works are the implementation of Left-wing policies. The result is an unmitigated disaster.
Let me quote again from City Journal: “It’s an article of faith among New York City’s progressive leadership that punishment does not deter crime and that putting criminals in jail is at least as evil as whatever they did to get there. From this perspective, sending someone to jail is the worst thing that society can do: it not only destroys the life of the perpetrator but also creates a false sense of accomplishment, while ignoring the socioeconomic “root causes” of crime.” This is bad doctrine in action.
As a consequence hardened criminals are not being locked away. On the basis of these false doctrines they are being released to wreak havoc on society. New York City’s incarceration rate is the lowest it has been since 1946.
Progressives view violent crime as akin to a public health issue. We don’t accuse smokers of being evil. We help them quit. Criminals aren’t evil. They are victims. Increased law enforcement only make them suffer more.
What can be done for cities in the grip of the false doctrines of Progressivism? The collapse of cities will force people to the truth. Just like the Supreme Court reinstalled Christian truth in their recent decision on affirmative action, as I discussed in an earlier video. America’s cities can return to a biblical view of man.
Ungodly doctrine produces ungodly government. God uses the results of sin to punish sin and to put people on a path of righteousness. I pray that will happen in America’s cities. And the preaching of the gospel, as always will do more good than anything else.
Walter Russell Meade was right: The only hope for America’s inner cities is religion. And by religion he means overwhelmingly Christianity.
As always, our great hope is our God and His truth. Thanks for listening. May the God of truth bless you this day in a mighty way.
San Francisco: What it is like to live in a city that believes its problems cannot be solved:
San Francisco is suffering because it is a city of bad ideas:
https://unherd.com/thepost/why-wont-san-francisco-save-itself/?mc_cid=fd5d71c105&mc_eid=5b400e1632
Why is Target closing its big city stores?
The story of one Progressive prosecutors destruction of a city:
https://www.city-journal.org/article/kimberly-gardners-irredeemable-legacy
The curse of George Soros: https://www.city-journal.org/article/george-soross-bad-bet
The religious basis of Progressive law enforcement: https://www.city-journal.org/for-nyc-progressives-not-even-violent-crime-warrants-police-intervention
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