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The Long Retreat in the Culture War
Townhall.com ^ | April 10, 2015 | Pat Buchanan

Posted on 04/10/2015 10:53:16 AM PDT by Kaslin

The Republican rout in the Battle of Indianapolis provides us with a snapshot of the correlation of forces in the culture wars.

Faced with a corporate-secularist firestorm, Gov. Mike Pence said Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act would not protect Christian bakers or florists who refuse their services to same-sex weddings. And the white flag went up again.

Politics follows culture. And the cultural revolution of the '60s is triumphant. Traditional Christianity, driven out of schools and the public square, is being whipped back into the churches and told to stay there.

America has gone over to the revolution.

Looking back, the sweep of the capitulation becomes stark.

First came the plea of atheists not to have their children forced to participate in prayers at school. Fair enough. Americans do not believe in compelling people to do as they disbelieve.

Then followed the demand that no child be exposed to prayers or religious books, including the Bible, nor have any day or week set aside as a holiday if connected to Christianity.

Out went Christmas and Easter. In came winter break and spring break. Coaches of high school teams were ordered to dispense with prayers before games. The coaches complied.

No matter what the majority wanted, the minority prevailed, thanks to a Supreme Court whose dictates were never challenged by democratically elected presidents or Congresses, nor ever defied by a Christian majority.

In the sexual revolution there came first the plea that abortion in extreme cases be decriminalized, then legalized, then subsidized, then declared a right. From crime to constitutional right in two decades!

Under Obamacare, Christian businesses must dispense abortion-inducing morning-after pills to employees.

On gay rights, first came the demand that a bar in Greenwich Village patronized by homosexuals be left alone by the cops.

Next came the demand that homosexuality be decriminalized and then that this, too, be declared a constitutional right. And so it went.

Soon, same-sex marriages will likely be declared a right hidden in the Constitution and entitled to all the privileges and benefits accorded traditional marriages. Next, those who refuse to provide services to same-sex weddings will become the criminals.

Thus does biblical truth become bigotry in Obama's America.

And the process has been steadily proceeding for generations.

First comes a call for tolerance for those who believe and behave differently. Then comes a plea for acceptance. Next comes a demand for codifying in law a right to engage in actions formerly regarded as debased or criminal. Finally comes a demand to punish any and all who persist in their public conduct or their private business in defying the new moral order.

And so it goes with revolutions. On the assumption of power, revolutionaries become more intolerant than those they dispossessed.

The French Revolution was many times more terrible than the Bourbon monarchy. The Russian Revolution made the Romanovs look benign. Fidel Castro's criminality exceeded anything dreamt of by Fulgencio Batista.

Looking back, one appreciates why we hear so often, "This isn't the country I grew up in." For it isn't.

But how did this moral-cultural revolution succeed so easily?

How was it that the Greatest Generation that won World War II let itself be intimidated by and dictated to by nine old men with lifetime tenure who had been elected by no one?

How did this happen in a republic where minority rights exist but the majority rules? Why did Middle America meekly comply and not resist?

By the mid-'50s and early '60s, black folks were engaged in civil disobedience, refusing to move to the back of the bus, sitting at segregated lunch counters, getting clubbed by cops, and marching for equal access to schools, hotels, motels and voting booths.

And across the South there was resistance to the civil rights revolution: Southern manifestos, governors standing in schoolhouse doors, federal marshals and federal troops called out.

Whatever side of the civil rights revolution one was on, folks on both sides fought for what they believed in.

Amazing. The old segregationists who, morally speaking, held a pair of deuces resisted. But a Christian majority that had the Faith that created Western civilization behind it rolled over and played dead.

Christians watched paralyzed as their country was taken from them.

What explains the rout in Indianapolis? The GOP simply cannot stand up to media denunciations as intolerant bigots, especially if the corporations upon which they depend threaten economic reprisals.

With the Democratic Party irretrievably lost, and the Republican Party moving to neutrality in the culture wars, traditionalists should probably take comfort in the counsel, "Put not your trust in princes."

When that father and daughter at Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Ind., said their religious beliefs forbade them from catering a same-sex wedding, they were subjected to a hailstorm of hate, but were also showered with $840,000 from folks who admired their moral courage.

Religious folks who do not believe in collaborating with what they think is wrong should go forth and do likewise.

Courage as well as cowardice is contagious.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: buchanan; christianity; culturewars; homosexualagenda; religiousfreedom; rfra
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1 posted on 04/10/2015 10:53:16 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

When only one side is fighting, the outcome is obvious


2 posted on 04/10/2015 10:58:43 AM PDT by GeronL (CLEARLY CRUZ 2016)
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To: Kaslin

“What explains the rout in Indianapolis? The GOP simply cannot stand up to media denunciations as intolerant bigots, especially if the corporations upon which they depend threaten economic reprisals. “

The GOP is currently 100% CONTROLLED by money.


3 posted on 04/10/2015 10:58:49 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: Kaslin
traditionalists should probably take comfort in the counsel, "Put not your trust in princes."

From Psalm 146

4 posted on 04/10/2015 10:59:37 AM PDT by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: Kaslin

So. We are to spend our money on Christian businesses, as nearly exclusively as possible.

OK


5 posted on 04/10/2015 11:02:37 AM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto!)
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To: chajin

bttt


6 posted on 04/10/2015 11:04:19 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: combat_boots

It would be voluntary, but if you want to thank God for not being the devil that’s one way to do it!


7 posted on 04/10/2015 11:05:53 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Kaslin

Like Santa Anna at the Alamo,the left is sounding the deguello-— no quarter. Christians,conservatives,and all other decent Americans are surrounded by a hostile culture. We must fight back against evil no matter the seemingly desperate odds.


8 posted on 04/10/2015 11:06:25 AM PDT by liberalism is suicide (Communism,fascism-no matter how you slice socialism, its still baloney)
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To: liberalism is suicide

Bringing God back into the picture, into your picture, is the only way to beat evil. No worldly method works; none.


9 posted on 04/10/2015 11:08:53 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Kaslin

Seems Republican leadership is retreating, but conservative citizens are not.

It’s why I’m no longer a republican. They are not my party. Haven’t been for going on ten years.


10 posted on 04/10/2015 11:08:53 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: Kaslin

Years ago I used to spend a lot of life fighting in the culture war. I spent most of my time on another site. I once organized an inter-state meeting with various speakers and in which I spoke on the problem of the homosexual agenda. I was eventually prohibited from posting my views on that other supposedly conservative site.

In recent years I have spent much less time in the fight, mostly because I think that the war has been lost. I haven’t changed my views. I once said that I expected to go to jail during my lifetime for my views and that, indeed, I intended to. I still believe that and I still intend to. But I believe that my energies are now better spent in other areas.

I believe that the biggest problem in the loss of the culture war wasn’t the activists on the Left, but those on the Right who never understood that there was a war going on, or who were embarrassed by conservatives, or who were in reality (ahem) moderates hoping to secretly hinder the actions of conservatives until times changed enough and they could eventually reveal their more liberal views. For many, by the time that they realized or admitted to themselves that there was a war going on, the war was already over.

I used to say “They are coming.” It has been obvious for several years that they are now here.

Beware of those who want our votes but not our values.


11 posted on 04/10/2015 11:10:47 AM PDT by Engraved-on-His-hands (Conservative 2016!! The Dole, H.W. Bush, McCain, Romney experiment has failed.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

I agree. Without Jesus,we can do nothing.


12 posted on 04/10/2015 11:10:55 AM PDT by liberalism is suicide (Communism,fascism-no matter how you slice socialism, its still baloney)
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To: cuban leaf

That can mean a number of things. It can mean how you register in regions that have closed primaries. It can mean that you do not boost the party qua the party on principle. It can mean that you want to spite the party if the candidate it puts forth is insufficiently perfect even if the competition is worse.


13 posted on 04/10/2015 11:11:12 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: liberalism is suicide

This sounds exactly like the path the Muslims take when working to infiltrate a country. Secondly, I have told some that this will be a 40 year slog. It has been that long for the abortion debate but some victories are now coming. Plus, to be honest these issues have been voted on and defeated but corrupt government has allowed the issues to be overturned. It is not totally the church just rolling over for dead. Yes, many have turned from the faith, but the politicians have also turned from following the Constitution. All this has put Christians in a perilous position.


14 posted on 04/10/2015 11:13:20 AM PDT by taterjay
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To: Engraved-on-His-hands

I think we ought to say that we can’t expect to win it by worldly methods. Society is too blase now to get inspiration through secular politicking.

This never surprised God. God sets up desperation situations sometimes to get people to call upon Him in earnest, which is never totally in vain though He may wait to answer.

You might go to a physical jail or you might just end up being in a lot of people’s doghouses. Don’t be vain about the actual circumstances. It counts for the Lord in both cases.


15 posted on 04/10/2015 11:14:41 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

One of Claire Wolfe’s 101 things to do before the revolution:

Don’t vote. It only encourages them.

;-)


16 posted on 04/10/2015 11:19:23 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: Engraved-on-His-hands
The Left has a huge advantage - for them, politics is their religion, and they never sleep. Their loyalties are not divided between God and Caesar - they are devotees of Caesar.

For many conservatives, religion is religion and politics is politics, and politics is secondary. So we typically don't put the energy into politics that the Left does. We are not good at organizing boycotts and letter campaigns and such because - ironically - we have more of a live-and-let-live attitude than progressives do.
17 posted on 04/10/2015 11:19:55 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: cuban leaf

I try not to plan things out of spite... it just paints me into a foolish looking corner.


18 posted on 04/10/2015 11:21:42 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Steve_Seattle

We can’t hate like liberals hate, and we shouldn’t try to outhate them unless we really want to enter a Satan look alike contest.

Our ace is that liberals can’t love like we can — through folding the spirit of God into the situation.


19 posted on 04/10/2015 11:23:25 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: cuban leaf

I’m reminded of a sticker that a popular humor magazine had in one of its special issues back in the 70’s:”Vote! It won’t do any good,but vote!” I still vote,but its getting harder to convince myself to do so.


20 posted on 04/10/2015 11:25:35 AM PDT by liberalism is suicide (Communism,fascism-no matter how you slice socialism, its still baloney)
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