The
Forsaking of Old Landmarks and Where It’s Brought Us
Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 8/11/19
Three entities have played a major role in producing
the culture we now live in: homes, schools, and atheism. Our culture is one of weakened families, high
out-of-wedlock birthrates, therapy-soaked education, mass shootings, drug use
(including our pet drug, alcohol, the evils of which most adults refuse to
acknowledge), opioid deaths, declining worship attendance, political
incivility, ugly language, ubiquitous pornography, and loneliness.
These
are not the only characteristics of America today. Neighborliness still exists, charitable
giving continues, most citizens are law-abiding, and the economy is strong. Yet, there is currently a sure slide toward
pure rancor and a decline of reasoned discourse.
Quite
a few unhappy souls in the media and politics are blaming one person for this
slide even though that person was their creation. It was they who ignored the American worker,
who sought to trade the role of nations for the glories of globalization. Preaching tolerance, they practiced
intolerance toward Middle America.
Perched behind television anchor desks, in Hollywood studios, or
resplendent Congressional offices, they scornfully dismissed all Americans who
were not as “progressive” as they.
When
their creation won the presidential race in 2016, they cried, literally. Blind for a solid year and a half to what a
presidential campaign was revealing, and accepting polls as absolute truth,
they viewed their creation as a fun toy, enjoying him since he gave politics a
spark which they considered novel. Then,
Uh-oh! Half of the nation’s voters took
their toy seriously. He got elected. His
warts were preferable to the snarky attitudes and squishy beliefs of his
creators and their preferred candidate.
The
losers forgot or simply didn’t know that many Americans still believe in
(“cling to”) certain landmarks.
Historically and literally, a landmark was a stone or a tree marking the
boundary of land. You know, borders. But there are non-literal landmarks as well
such as traditions or beliefs, held dear because they have held together
civilization itself.
The
home, which is to say marriage and family, is a landmark. It absolutely speaks of boundaries. Is not a man’s home his castle? His wife his beloved? His brood his future hope? Yet, even “wife” is now a bad word. Family is anything you want it to be. A couple?
A trouple? You decide while the
unraveling of monogamous marriage, a western civilization landmark,
continues. Kids don’t need a mommy and a
dad anymore. Marriage and family are a
mere social construct. What’s nature or God got to do with it?
The
words of C.S. Lewis are relevant: “We remove the organ and still demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them
virtue and enterprise.” But “men” and
“women” have gotta go. Call your
state-supported university (even if you live in the South) and ask if it has
sent out memos on the proper and expected use of pronouns. You might obtain first-hand knowledge of how
academia is attacking the foundations of traditional culture, unless the Vice-President
for Diversity refuses to talk to you.
Speaking
of diversity, it is higher education’s primary goal, displacing excellence. Diversity, as a goal, has become ruinous by the
very fact that it politicizes education.
Higher education’s aim is no longer learning but having on campus a certain
percentage of different people, based on factors such as race. And don’t dare speak of “seeking the truth,”
a former goal of western universities, unless you can endure being laughed to
scorn. The university is the land of no
truth.
Atheism’s
role? Its numbers are growing and their
books are selling. Atheists desire a
total religious lobotomy on America. If
any nation’s birth resulted from a belief in the transcendent, it was America’s. Wherever America’s Judeo-Christian roots have
spread, schools, hospitals, and orphanages have sprouted. Not so with our atheist friends who, as far
as we know, don’t build schools, hospitals or orphanages.
One of my three atheist friends told me he
complained to his Kiwanis Club president because of the Christian prayers. When challenged, he denied that atheism is a
religious position, but a purely neutral secular stance.
Ah,
atheistic secularism! The supposed
default position of humanity. The refuge
of those who resist the very thought of anything transcendent. There’s only
matter and energy. We’re all mere dust,
no matter what the Psalmist or Shakespeare’s Hamlet claimed. Could such a view affect an 18-year-old
male’s conduct? His understanding of
right and wrong? Mom and Dad, if he ever
knew his dad, are out of the picture. To
whom is he responsible?
Landmarks
are not imaginary. They are steady markers that show us the way. We best restore them.
Roger Hines
8/7/19
No comments:
Post a Comment