(This post is very different from my usual Prodigal's Walk fare. First it's not at all about the struggle to walk upright with our Savior. And it takes me, for the first time here on these pages, into politics and political philosophy. I've studiously avoided this, but, still, today's topic is very relevant to Christians. Your Humble Blogger)
I was disturbed last week when I read that an atheist group in Santa Monica, California appears to have managed to manipulate circumstances in that city in order to block a parcel of city property from being used, as it has traditionally been, for various nativity scenes. The park in question has served for generations as a local "must see" during the Christmas season with it's many displays.
But when a local atheist group complained the city, acting under the impetus of the current iron hand of political correctness, decided to parcel out the spaces in an open lottery in order to be "fair minded." That's where the problem arose: through some scheme the atheists wound up with nearly all of the spaces. Then cynically left them all but unoccupied. Only token displays were erected, and those exhibited the usual hurtful, slanderous style of these atheist evangelists.
So what these misguided folks have revealed to us is that, despite their claim to a higher adherence to reason and fairness, what they truly seek is not a open dialog - a forum for opposing points of view - but to stifle and contain opposing points of view. They seek not merely the freedom to believe (or not) as they wish, but the power to deny others the same.
I've watched in sadness as this upside down point of view has gained traction within the hearts of a huge swath of our fellow Americans. It's amazing to someone my age or older who grew up in a very, very different society to witness the extreme speed by which our time tested national mores have been undermined and conquered. (I have a lot to say about this in regard to prophecy, but that's a whole 'nuther blog post.) But, though it's new to us in the here and now, historically this sort of thing is old news. The whole of human history is littered with one or another tyrant (or tyrannical political system) attempting to stifle truth and freedom of conscience.
A few years before my salvation, but still embarrassingly late in life, I sort of had an earthquake in my own political thinking. I'd grown up on a steady diet of music, films, TV, and books which pushed the liberal point of view. Virtually all who'd I'd come to regard as heroes shared this point of view. So I'd come to see conservatism as being a cold, lifeless, heartless political philosophy bent on denying all of us freedom of conscience. I swallowed the progressive point of view unexamined.
Then came the emergence of "political correctness." The heavy handed and nearly insane crushing of any divergence from progressive thought by force of firings, boycotts, slander, even the enactment of clearly unconstitutional "hate crime" legislation. The central characteristic of this PC movement was imbalance. While claiming to herald a new era of fairness the PC crowd consistently behave in just the opposite manner. Rather than counter a point of view they disagre with with reasoned argument, these folks opt for shouting down the opposition, and with a huge leg up from the press. But why, I pondered, would there be any need for coercion if that point of view actually the best, most reasonable option? Well, there wouldn't be. Truth stands alone, but lies must be constantly propped up. To which side, then, should we attribute coercion?
As I began to take note of all this, it dawned on me that I'd been had. That I'd grown up free to speak my mind and think as I wished in a country run predominately by conservatives, and that I had only begun to feel that my rights were being abridged once liberalism gained traction. Since then I've watched as the left has consistently abused every power they've come to gain. The scales fell from my eyes and I abandoned my liberal inclinations.
Today we're witness to this latest manifestation of progressivism - the early stages of genuine religious persecution taking root within the very country founded on the basis of liberty - religious and otherwise. Sobering, to say the least.
Last night I watched a movie which featured a segment set in revolutionary China. Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear should recognize that the level of oppression represented by that era of history represents the logical end of progressive ideology. Those who weren't true believers and/or didn't find themselves in a position of power within that China were nothing more than slaves. When a government finds it necessary viciously root out any and all literature, music, or art it does not specifically sanction and force it's citizenry into re-education camps, then the ism they're imposing is obviously illegitimate. It's hopelessly counter to human nature. It can't stand on it's own because it's not truth. Men can only be forced to espouse such an ideology at the point of a gun.
Well, the point of all this is to offer a word of encouragement to fellow Christians who may be feeling uneasy with this environment of anti-religion -and specifically anti-Christian - sentiment among so many in the U.S. There may be tough days ahead. We may see our rights stripped. It's conceivable that we or our children could see Christianity outlawed in the future. Those working under the deception of The Enemy are hard at work on the underpinnings of our society and have been for sometime.
But consider where the Maoists or Stalinists are today. What of this communism that was to "liberate" mankind in the last century and dominate the world? Where are any of the many, many isms that were imposed upon an unwilling populace throughout history? They've all fallen one by one. Gone. Dust.
Truth has a plucky tendency to endure because men are hardwired, I think, to seek it out. Governments can ban books, art, theater. They can send those they're unable to cow into gulags or to the gallows. They can proclaim God dead and posit some mere flesh and blood human as a pathetic substitute. And men might obey and pretend to believe for a time out of fear - but these tyrants will never, ever snuff out truth. Like a stubborn ember, it will always smolder within the human breast regardless of circumstance and endure to reignite.
Take heart, Christians. The Savior in which you've put your faith emerged from within the heart of just such oppression I've described. His word has to spread the world around. His church has outlived every attempt to snuff it out. While the Ceasars , and Pol Pots, and Maos, and Stalins, and Pharaohs, all the kings of this world are all long dead heaps of dust, He lives. Why? Because truth endures and He is truth.
Pray for our country, but remember also to pray for those still enslaved by darkness.
I was disturbed last week when I read that an atheist group in Santa Monica, California appears to have managed to manipulate circumstances in that city in order to block a parcel of city property from being used, as it has traditionally been, for various nativity scenes. The park in question has served for generations as a local "must see" during the Christmas season with it's many displays.
But when a local atheist group complained the city, acting under the impetus of the current iron hand of political correctness, decided to parcel out the spaces in an open lottery in order to be "fair minded." That's where the problem arose: through some scheme the atheists wound up with nearly all of the spaces. Then cynically left them all but unoccupied. Only token displays were erected, and those exhibited the usual hurtful, slanderous style of these atheist evangelists.
So what these misguided folks have revealed to us is that, despite their claim to a higher adherence to reason and fairness, what they truly seek is not a open dialog - a forum for opposing points of view - but to stifle and contain opposing points of view. They seek not merely the freedom to believe (or not) as they wish, but the power to deny others the same.
I've watched in sadness as this upside down point of view has gained traction within the hearts of a huge swath of our fellow Americans. It's amazing to someone my age or older who grew up in a very, very different society to witness the extreme speed by which our time tested national mores have been undermined and conquered. (I have a lot to say about this in regard to prophecy, but that's a whole 'nuther blog post.) But, though it's new to us in the here and now, historically this sort of thing is old news. The whole of human history is littered with one or another tyrant (or tyrannical political system) attempting to stifle truth and freedom of conscience.
A few years before my salvation, but still embarrassingly late in life, I sort of had an earthquake in my own political thinking. I'd grown up on a steady diet of music, films, TV, and books which pushed the liberal point of view. Virtually all who'd I'd come to regard as heroes shared this point of view. So I'd come to see conservatism as being a cold, lifeless, heartless political philosophy bent on denying all of us freedom of conscience. I swallowed the progressive point of view unexamined.
Then came the emergence of "political correctness." The heavy handed and nearly insane crushing of any divergence from progressive thought by force of firings, boycotts, slander, even the enactment of clearly unconstitutional "hate crime" legislation. The central characteristic of this PC movement was imbalance. While claiming to herald a new era of fairness the PC crowd consistently behave in just the opposite manner. Rather than counter a point of view they disagre with with reasoned argument, these folks opt for shouting down the opposition, and with a huge leg up from the press. But why, I pondered, would there be any need for coercion if that point of view actually the best, most reasonable option? Well, there wouldn't be. Truth stands alone, but lies must be constantly propped up. To which side, then, should we attribute coercion?
As I began to take note of all this, it dawned on me that I'd been had. That I'd grown up free to speak my mind and think as I wished in a country run predominately by conservatives, and that I had only begun to feel that my rights were being abridged once liberalism gained traction. Since then I've watched as the left has consistently abused every power they've come to gain. The scales fell from my eyes and I abandoned my liberal inclinations.
Today we're witness to this latest manifestation of progressivism - the early stages of genuine religious persecution taking root within the very country founded on the basis of liberty - religious and otherwise. Sobering, to say the least.
Last night I watched a movie which featured a segment set in revolutionary China. Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear should recognize that the level of oppression represented by that era of history represents the logical end of progressive ideology. Those who weren't true believers and/or didn't find themselves in a position of power within that China were nothing more than slaves. When a government finds it necessary viciously root out any and all literature, music, or art it does not specifically sanction and force it's citizenry into re-education camps, then the ism they're imposing is obviously illegitimate. It's hopelessly counter to human nature. It can't stand on it's own because it's not truth. Men can only be forced to espouse such an ideology at the point of a gun.
Well, the point of all this is to offer a word of encouragement to fellow Christians who may be feeling uneasy with this environment of anti-religion -and specifically anti-Christian - sentiment among so many in the U.S. There may be tough days ahead. We may see our rights stripped. It's conceivable that we or our children could see Christianity outlawed in the future. Those working under the deception of The Enemy are hard at work on the underpinnings of our society and have been for sometime.
But consider where the Maoists or Stalinists are today. What of this communism that was to "liberate" mankind in the last century and dominate the world? Where are any of the many, many isms that were imposed upon an unwilling populace throughout history? They've all fallen one by one. Gone. Dust.
Truth has a plucky tendency to endure because men are hardwired, I think, to seek it out. Governments can ban books, art, theater. They can send those they're unable to cow into gulags or to the gallows. They can proclaim God dead and posit some mere flesh and blood human as a pathetic substitute. And men might obey and pretend to believe for a time out of fear - but these tyrants will never, ever snuff out truth. Like a stubborn ember, it will always smolder within the human breast regardless of circumstance and endure to reignite.
Take heart, Christians. The Savior in which you've put your faith emerged from within the heart of just such oppression I've described. His word has to spread the world around. His church has outlived every attempt to snuff it out. While the Ceasars , and Pol Pots, and Maos, and Stalins, and Pharaohs, all the kings of this world are all long dead heaps of dust, He lives. Why? Because truth endures and He is truth.
Pray for our country, but remember also to pray for those still enslaved by darkness.
