Uploaded April 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Notes from Richard Hughes
One correction: Dr. Hughes erred in saying that one of the people who did the most to propagate that notion in New England was "John Bradford, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony." he corrected his statement, saying, "In point of fact, that person was "William Bradford, first governor of Plymouth Plantation. "
Myths. The myths that I discuss in Myths America Lives By: White Supremacy and the Stories that Give Us Meaning, are all bottom-up myths, i.e., they percolate up from a broad cultural consensus. No one sets us down and teaches us these myths. Rather, we absorb them. Having said that, myths like the myth of white supremacy, while originating out of a bottom-up cultural consensus, is used to impose top-down control over others. What an irony. In addition, politicians committed to a top-down vision exploit all these myths (America as chosen nation, Christian nation, nature’s nation, innocent nation, etc.), routinely, affirming them for their own benefit and advancement. Ronald Reagan, for example, routinely spoke of the United States as chosen by God for a special mission in the world. And Donald Trump has exploited the myth of white supremacy to achieve his ends. That myth plays especially well in a time like this when white people, and especially white Christians, are rapidly becoming an American minority. On this point, see Robert Jones, The End of White Christian America. Also, see my brief discussion of the myth of restoration at the end of this brief summary of my interests. Race. White Supremacy is Top Down as the very word “supremacy” connotes. On the other hand, the black and brown revolution from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter is Bottom Up. History and historians. Conventional History has tended to be top-down history, written from the point of view of presidents, generals, capitalists, and entrepreneurs. Howard Zinn and others like him, on the other hand, wrote bottom-up history (see Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States) in which Zinn tells the story of American history from the perspective of the “little people,” i.e., Native Americans, slaves, women, the labor movement, the Civil Rights Movement, etc. Religion. Evangelical Christians in America today embody a great irony. American Christianity—especially today’s America’s evangelicals—are top down, concerned chiefly with control of American culture, making certain that the United States remains a Christian nation (though, legally and constitutionally, it has never been a Christian nation). This has been true ever since Jerry Falwell launched the Moral Majority in 1979. On the other hand, Jesus was bottom up in the most radical sort of way. You lose yourself to find yourself. You die in order to live. If you want to have influence, you become a servant of all. You put others’ interests ahead of your own. Likewise, early Christians were “under the cross,” i.e., persecuted by the Roman Empire, without power and standing in the Roman social order. The earliest church, therefore, was bottom-up in the most profound sense of the word. More on religion. The First Amendment—“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”—is profoundly bottom-up concerning religion. Democracy is bottom-up as well. But many evangelicals today seem to undercut the First Amendment, seeming to prefer autocracy to democracy, as long as the autocracy supports their own aims, goals, and power. How ironic that this would come from people who claim allegiance to the bottom-up vision of Jesus. My story. I have been profoundly
Notes from Richard Hughes
One correction: Dr. Hughes erred in saying that one of the people who did the most to propagate that notion in New England was "John Bradford, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony." he corrected his statement, saying, "In point of fact, that person was "William Bradford, first governor of Plymouth Plantation. "
Myths. The myths that I discuss in Myths America Lives By: White Supremacy and the Stories that Give Us Meaning, are all bottom-up myths, i.e., they percolate up from a broad cultural consensus. No one sets us down and teaches us these myths. Rather, we absorb them. Having said that, myths like the myth of white supremacy, while originating out of a bottom-up cultural consensus, is used to impose top-down control over others. What an irony. In addition, politicians committed to a top-down vision exploit all these myths (America as chosen nation, Christian nation, nature’s nation, innocent nation, etc.), routinely, affirming them for their own benefit and advancement. Ronald Reagan, for example, routinely spoke of the United States as chosen by God for a special mission in the world. And Donald Trump has exploited the myth of white supremacy to achieve his ends. That myth plays especially well in a time like this when white people, and especially white Christians, are rapidly becoming an American minority. On this point, see Robert Jones, The End of White Christian America. Also, see my brief discussion of the myth of restoration at the end of this brief summary of my interests. Race. White Supremacy is Top Down as the very word “supremacy” connotes. On the other hand, the black and brown revolution from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter is Bottom Up. History and historians. Conventional History has tended to be top-down history, written from the point of view of presidents, generals, capitalists, and entrepreneurs. Howard Zinn and others like him, on the other hand, wrote bottom-up history (see Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States) in which Zinn tells the story of American history from the perspective of the “little people,” i.e., Native Americans, slaves, women, the labor movement, the Civil Rights Movement, etc. Religion. Evangelical Christians in America today embody a great irony. American Christianity—especially today’s America’s evangelicals—are top down, concerned chiefly with control of American culture, making certain that the United States remains a Christian nation (though, legally and constitutionally, it has never been a Christian nation). This has been true ever since Jerry Falwell launched the Moral Majority in 1979. On the other hand, Jesus was bottom up in the most radical sort of way. You lose yourself to find yourself. You die in order to live. If you want to have influence, you become a servant of all. You put others’ interests ahead of your own. Likewise, early Christians were “under the cross,” i.e., persecuted by the Roman Empire, without power and standing in the Roman social order. The earliest church, therefore, was bottom-up in the most profound sense of the word. More on religion. The First Amendment—“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”—is profoundly bottom-up concerning religion. Democracy is bottom-up as well. But many evangelicals today seem to undercut the First Amendment, seeming to prefer autocracy to democracy, as long as the autocracy supports their own aims, goals, and power. How ironic that this would come from people who claim allegiance to the bottom-up vision of Jesus. My story. I have been profoundly
