The following article was written by a dear friend who has kindly given permission for its inclusion here. Your comments are appreciated.
“Faithful accounts of the 17th Century exodus from Europe, crossing treacherous Atlantic waters to a new land, chronicle the hearts and minds of humanity seeking relief from religious and economic oppression. Amid despair and sickness, deprivation and
suffering beyond modern capacities to fully comprehend, a determined people began to build a nation…..a Judeo-Christian nation.
So committed were these fresh air pilgrims that any obstacle, even those perpetuated bythe indigenous peoples, terrified at the prospect of white man disease, or conceding land and cultural treasures, were overcome, at times, in brutal, unforgiving, nonChristian fashion. One need only examine the demise of the Cherokee with over half of
its population dead from Small Pox and the ancestral lands lost from Virginia to Tennessee to Arkansas and finally, an unjust degradation of a proud and intelligent people caught up in the shamefully ordered and executed “Trail of Tears”.
The birth of a nation, our nation, was bloody, so bloody that the cumulative sacrifices of white, red and black men and women engaged in that mammoth struggle, rendered this land forever sacred. Magnificent was the day when scars of tribulation became sanctified through the creation of a divinely inspired Constitution, a document as never before witnessed in world history. It became the governance “bible” of a free people and would stand so long as the people kept it in tact and honored its values, its ethics, and its doctrines. But can the people keep a God given instrument of democratic freedoms intact? That is a question on the minds of millions both here and abroad.
Since its canonization, the United States Constitution has been under attack. Evil never was compatible with good nor ever will be. The attacks have come from within and from outside forces bent on domination and compulsion as a way of life. What if Hitler,
Mussolini, and Hirohito had prevailed in their ambitions? It is doubtful there would be anywhere near as much flexibility as was proffered the Jews, while subjugated by Roman rule, to worship their God. Under the Third Reich, worship would undoubtedly be relegated to secularism’s god, the worship of power preached by coercion. Liberty,
religious liberty, with its breath of life and spiritual nourishment, would flee. The dreams of pilgrims would vanish. Light would smother under an acrid blanket of oppression. Humanity, relying on self alone, degenerates into self induced slavery.
Recently, a speech was delivered at an American university. Less than 1 percent of the American population would be aware of the messenger, the content and warning. It was delivered by a brilliant young professor of Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He is a graduate of Harvard and Yale with a Ph.D in religious studies.
Skillfully and without guile, the messenger addressed the fundamental status of religion in the public arena stating at the outset that “Religious liberty is being redefined in America.” That statement brought me up in my chair as did the second statement which
echoed in my brain so loudly that I missed the end of his thought. Said He, “Our secular establishment wants to reduce the autonomy of religious institutions and limit the influence of faith in the public square” followed by, “We’re in the midst of climate change…..one that’s getting colder and colder toward religion”. (R. R. Reno, Ph.D, Religion and Public Life in America)
Reflecting on our Constitution, and relying on rule of law, it is clear that religious liberty is protected in two basic ways. First, it prohibits laws establishing a religion thus preventing emergence of a dominate religion, even a state religion, that gains sufficient political power to impose its doctrines to the disadvantage of all others. Recall the Spanish Inquisition! Second, it prohibits laws that limit the free exercise of religion. With that knowledge, and basis of governance, one must ask how and why secular liberalism, itself a form of demented religious ideologies, aggressively seeks to expand or re-define the prohibition of establishment of religion? And, is seeking to silence religious voices, disenfranchise religiously motivated voters and narrow the scope of free exercise of religion. Could it be that the so-called emerging secular morality desires to position itself to dominate American society and its institutions unimpeded? What then of the synagogue, the church, the temple or the mosque?
It is fascinating how otherwise brilliant minds may easily be encumbered with the warped and failed philosophies of men. Since the founding of our nation, individuals with a “we should do it different” attitude, as though the Fathers of America somehow fell asleep during act three of the formative play, have advanced political theories and promoted laws that argue legislation on the basis of so-called “public reason”. Sounds good! However, public reason is an ambiguous, ill-defined concept, thoroughly rehearsed and ultimately dismissed by the framers. Public reason, as promoted by judicial allies to the secular movement, is code for establishing privileged status to liberalism which has long been incubating, and is now aggressively being launched under the banner of secularism. For example, Federal District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, the same who overturned a democratically voted Proposition 8 in California, asserted that “The evidence shows conclusively that Proposition 8 enacts, without reason, a private moral view that same sex couples are inferior to opposite–sex couples.”
The Judge continued his biased “reasoning” with the assertion that supporters of Proposition 8 were motivated by their religious convictions which, he presumed, should not be allowed to govern public law. The implication of this ‘progressive’ reasoning is devastating to religion and the free exercise of it, a structural pillar in ourconstitutional framework. Even so, the judge’s decision was loudly applauded by secularists and would- be secularists throughout the nation and has directly led to legislated restrictions on the use of religious reasons or even religiously-influenced commentary in public debate. The lid is closing on freedoms voice.
I would ask…what American moral view, what act or expression of righteous behavior is not supported by or finds its genesis from religious teachings and doctrine. The very core of the Declaration of Independence and the sacred text of the Constitution are predicated on religious principles and beliefs. Judeo-Christian people, those whoworship a true and living God, are keenly aware of the rights and responsibilities of moral agency. Most important, they labor for the preservation and practice of the “Golden Rule”. They have sacrificed to the limits of human capacity to establish and maintain the greatest nation on earth. Who then seeks to destroy that which God has created and which fostered the greatest advance of civilized beings in the history of all humanity? Who? Perhaps the companion question is why and for what purpose?
Could it be that we are witnessing a reflection of underlying religious or counterfeit religious trends? Is it possible that as the religious or “none religious” demographic of society changes, so must our assumptions regarding religious freedom? If this be the case, there may be some statistics that support what is apparently transpiring. The US Census, the demographic/cultural/political thermometer of public and private institutions, provides some disturbing evidence. In the 1950’s, about three percent of
Americans checked the “NONE” box when asked about their religious affiliation. That number has grown and as of the 2010 census, over 20 percent profess to be a “NONE”. What is interesting, when the detail of this statistic is examined, is that the raise of none’s heavily lean toward the educated, the elite of society and important institutions of our culture including academia, media and the motion picture and video industries in all their variations.
Yet, over the past 50 years or so, Americans claiming to go to church or synagogue has remained constant, at around 35 percent. However, some sociologists, researchers and demographers believe this self-reported number may be higher than reality which is estimated to be more in the range of 25 to 28 percent. Regardless, one thing has become quite clear. The raising “NONES” are conscious of their power. They sense the momentum of their growth, and are dedicated to garnering as many converts as possible. Secular seeds are planted in elementary schools, fertilized in high-school and harvested in universities across the nation.However, the alarm is sounded. Across pulpits, in Sunday schools and in American synagogues, as well as within the chambers of civic organizations, people of faith have awakened, for the most part, to the onslaught of a hostile secular culture. They are beginning to understand its aims to dissolve a Christian Nation or at least modify it to a condition akin to that of a dhimmitude society for all who remain fastened to the faith of their fathers.
There is, in fact, a widening divide between the irreligious, the nones, and the religious.The PEW organization recently studied religion in America and confirms that “NONES” are the single most ideologically committed cohort of white Americans,rivaled only by Evangelical Protestants. American secularists overwhelmingly support
abortion. They are devoted to gay marriage and vehemently denounce any reference to God in public discourse. And, they pontificate their objections and ideology with a mean spirit, with contempt lathered with guile and force. There should be no doubt that the NONES and religious Americans will culturally and politically collide. That
collision is in progress and the grinding sounds of impact are theologically grounded.
In their recent work, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, Robert Putnam and William Campbell focused on the practice of saying grace before meals. In an effort to find indicators of religious commitment, they discovered a striking and ponderous
correlation. Seventy percent of those who never say grace (thanking God for the food that sustains them) identify themselves as Democrats, compared to slightly more than 20 percent who say they are Republicans. Secular NONES are ideological to the extreme.
Meanwhile, of those who do say grace daily or at each meal, 40 percent identify as Democrats and 50 percent say they are of the Republican persuasion. Religious people are measurably more diverse. However they trend toward the political right, and are more devoted to religion. In fact, as found by the authors, “the more religious they are the more likely they are to vote Republican…or Independent”. Is it any wonder that we have and are now witnessing a “values” based political campaign without pause or season?
Did not (and it was a first in American history) the Democratic Party deliberately attack God in its public discourse and at its national political convention strike God from the platform? Then, in brazen and hypocritical fashion, restore God in a sadly orchestrated
and somewhat comical session where officiators pronounced the whole matter to be frivolous.
These moral choices, these acts of commission, clearly represent the deepest threat to religious liberty ever witnessed in America. One may, and perhaps should, shudder with revulsion when the most numerous and powerful constituency in the Democratic Party has no time for religion and rejects God out of hand. Shudder also, if you will, at the reality that secularist ideologies have the effect of encouraging the rest of the Democratic Party to view religion…particularly Christianity… as the enemy. Couple that with Judges and Law Professors espousing reasons why the Constitution doesn’t (should not) protect religious people and you have the ingredients for a cultural bomb as or more destructive as was the American Civil War of the 1860’s.
The obvious question is; what may be done to stem the “Rising Nones” from succeeding in their liberal secularism and anti-Christian and anti-Jew enterprise.
First and perhaps most obvious: Live Judeo- Christian principles and be an example for good. Honor the Golden Rule. Be honest and faithful.
Second, defend religious principles and liberties in the public square and institutional forums including schools and universities, and in the courts of the land. Assert the proven truth that the surest guarantee of freedom itself is religious freedom.
Third, expose, denounce and fight against emerging legal theories that undermine religious liberties. Take specific aim on the secular hypocrites and defeatists and reveal the corruptive influence of their failed ideologies.
Fourth, strategically engage in the cultural battle. Work toward a religious consensus where the preservation of religious freedoms is paramount in America and public life. Remember, as did the Founders who wrote the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and Bill of Rights, that “the laws of God trump the laws of man”. Remember
also that a declared independence appeals to the unalienable rights of mankind, rights given by our Creator which cannot be overridden or taken away.
the words of a great man, the late Gordon B. Hinckley: “Great buildings were never constructed on uncertain foundations. Great causes were never brought to success by vacillating leaders. Faith has always been, and always must be, at the root of any meaningful
practice and endeavor.” (Standing for Something, p. 109)
At present it may seem that the NONES, rising from a cesspit of contention, have the momentum in dictating the future of religious freedoms, Americans in general, and perhaps the world. But, like the school yard bully who habitually proves himself a coward, what seems “powerful” may not be so. Over eons of time, religious faith, enduring faith, has proven to be the most powerful force etched in the DNA of humanity. Who then shall stand for what is right, what is Godly…and against those that would destroy the faithful?
As concluded by the messenger from Creighton University, “Where now, I ask, are the Russian and Polish aristocrats who dominated Jews for centuries? Where now is the Thousand Year Reich? Where now is the Soviet workers paradise? They have gone to dust. The Torah is still read in the Synagogue.”
May I suggest that the Church and the Synagogue have a tremendous solidity born of a communion of wills fused together by a desire to be obedient to God. This fusion represents a power that gives people of faith the ability to fight with a “white fury” for what is perceived to be a divine cause, which is, after all is said, a force for righteousness…the cause of liberty.”
Norman Jay Landerman-Moore
Anacortes, Washington