There was the following passage in Maureen Dowd’s article titled, “The spies who didn’t love her” in The New York Times (March 11, 2014).
Barack Obama, … vowing to clean up the excesses and Constitutional
corrosion of W. and Cheney, will now have to clean up the excesses and
Constitutional corrosion in his own administration. And he’d better
get out from between two ferns and get in between the warring
Congressional Democrats and administration officials … because it
looks as if the C.I.A. is continuing to run amok to cover up what
happened in the years W. and Vice encouraged it to run amok.Langley needs a come-to-Jesus moment — pronto.
As I was unfamiliar with the meaning of the word, “come-to-Jesus moment,” I checked CED, OED, and Merriam Webster. None of them carries this word.
However,
the online English-Japanese / Japanese-English dictionary site Weblio
provides the definition of “come-to-Jesus” as:
- to experience or display a conversion or recommitment to Christianity or to undergo a related ritual, especially public confession of one’s sins or weaknesses.
- to become committed or display commitment to a cause.
And Dictjuggler defines it as ‘unwilling / reluctant (to do),’ e.g., a come-to-Jesus meeting.
I understand Langley is the CIA headquarters. But what does “Langley needs a come-to-Jesus moment” exactly mean? Does it mean simply a ‘trial’ or ‘investigation’?
Is “come-to-Jesus” (moment / meeting / stage) a popular phrase? Can I say “I feel like come-to-Jesus meeting to present the annual sales plan to management for their review?”
Best Answer
Come-to-Jesus means, in a general sense, to come to or return to core principles.
It comes from making a commitment or conversion to Christianity.
In both instances, a come-to-Jesus moment may include a public display where one shows that they have accepted their need to change.
When you face the figurative come-to-Jesus moment in your life (at work for example), you face the error in your ways. (You accept the fact that you have erred. A typical expression in common with the literal and figurative expression would be that you have strayed). Once you have recognized your error you then make a commitment to return to core principles.
In your example about the CIA* running amok, it means they have strayed from their defined behavior. A come-to-Jesus moment should bring them back to the fold or change their behavior to be more compliant with what is expected of them.
As to whether its a common or popular phrase, I would say it's well known in the U.S. and used occasionally in private communications. It's one of those phrases where, when you hear it or read it, if you don't already know what it means, you may still have a fairly good sense of what it means without asking. With religion being such a charged topic here, I wouldn't expect to hear it coming from our news networks (written or broadcast) unless they were quoting someone. It's an informal expression, so you'll hear it in informal dialog or see it in informal writing. You may see it within quotation marks in anything formal.
(*The CIA is referred to as "Langley" because their headquarters is in Langley, Virginia.)