A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Survive

A House Divided: an Interesting Talk

This morning, I was reading Mark 3:24-25, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” I remembered history and Abraham Lincoln quoting that. However, I did not remember the context in which he said it. Curious, I visited the Web. There I found my answer in the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler et al. I thought about Lincoln’s reckoning the true depth of the division in America in 1858. I then ask myself, are we again a divided nation? It seems we are. I share my thoughts on how divided we are and how we got here.

The following quote comes directly from that same web site as above. “On June 16, 1858, more than 1,000 delegates met in the Springfield, Illinois, statehouse for the Republican State Convention. At 5:00 p.m., they chose Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for the U.S. Senate; he was to run against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. At 8:00 p.m., Lincoln was to delivered an address to his Republican colleagues in the Hall of Representatives.

“Even Lincoln's friends regarded the speech as too radical for the occasion. His law partner, William H. Herndon, considered Lincoln as morally courageous but politically incorrect. Lincoln read the speech to him before delivering it, referring to the ‘house divided’ language this way: ‘The proposition is indisputably true ... and I will deliver it as written. I want to use some universally known figure, expressed in simple language as universally known, that it may strike home to the minds of men in order to rouse them to the peril of the times.’

“The speech created many repercussions, giving Lincoln's political opponent fresh ammunition. Herndon remarked, ‘when I saw Senator Douglas making such headway against Mr. Lincoln's house divided speech I was nettled & irritable, and said to Mr. Lincoln one day this – “Mr. Lincoln -- why in the world do you not say to Mr. Douglas, when he is making capitol out of your speech, -- “Douglas why whine and complain to me because of that speech. I am not the author of it. God is. Go and whine and complain to Him for its revelation, and utterance.' Mr. Lincoln looked at me one short quizzical moment, and replied 'I can't.’”

The opening paragraph of Mister Lincoln’s speech follows “Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention. If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. ….’”

Every member of the of Lincoln’s audience was familiar with Mark 3:24-25, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” Are not we, the people of the United States of America, again divided? Are not politicians sounding the alarm that this next election may well end in bloodshed? We, the Church, need to understand where we are and what got us to this point if we are to have any hope of replacing animosity with friendliness.

One of the reasons given by many people for this division is the news media. So, let us look at that. In the middle of the 20th century, television networks believed that providing news was a responsibility, a public service, and a not a moneymaking part of the television business. ABC, CBS and NBC built high-quality news divisions. CBS’s Walter Cronkite, “the most trusted man in America” ended his broadcasts with “And that’s the way it is.” In 1986, Loews Corporation purchased CBS. Loews, a mainly hotel and movie theater company, expected CBS to make as much money as its entertainment divisions, that meant improvements in profitability were necessary. Therefore, cost cutting began with slashing the size of foreign bureaus, far fewer documentaries and less people in the newsrooms. At the same time, market segmentation was on the increase.

Advertisers began to analyze large amounts of demographic data and targeting their products’ advertising more precisely. National audience were sliced and diced. Advertiser aimed at audiences that were likely interested in a particular product. Nearly simultaneously, cable television began. Unlike ABC, CBS and NBC, cable television targets narrow niche audiences. Instead of spending big money to reach mass audiences, advertisers could spend less money and reach the narrow demographics that they were seeking. Cable brought another change to television, the 24-hour news cycle.