In 1980 President Ronald Reagan invoked both Christian and American history by referring to the nation as “a shining city on a hill.” The phrase originates from Jesus’s description of the ideal Christian society in the Sermon on the Mount. Puritan leader John Winthrope, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony, also used this phrase in a speech to the first colonists. American leaders have a long history of equating American actions with Christian morality. President Reagan carefully chose these words to portray the nation as the epitome of a prosperous society based on Christian values. The romantic image of America as a beacon to the world dominated the 20th century, but this imagery no longer pertains to what America has become.