Posted on 12/21/2011 11:06:58 AM PST by ProgressingAmerica
America is worth preserving against the assault of progressivism. But what's under assault? What are you really losing? Your faith is certainly a part of that, but it's so much bigger than that. There can certainly be a form of tyranny that's Christian based, but that's one of the very things our Founding Fathers sought to break free of. No religion has a stake above any other to the point of shoving it down people's throat. But the exact opposite can be just as tyrannical, to the point to where you can't even have a display at Christmas time out in your own front yard without catching heat from it. The very concept of calling Christmas the "Christmas holiday" or saying "Merry Christmas" to certain people has become controversial. How? How did we get here? Through the process of secularization. Continuing with an examination of the words of Ravi Zacharias, in his message titled "Secularization: It's Power and Control" from the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries parts: (1 2 3 4). I lifted the following small clip out of part 4:
Ravi Zacharias - America no longer knows what it believes, can it defend itself?
This is why the first place the progressives started, was in the universities. They knew full well that they had to steal our Founding Fathers away from us before they could ever snuff out our liberty. Today, it's routinely implied, or even outright taught that our Founders were just a bunch of old rich racist white guys(and athiest!) that hated blacks and enslaved them. Sure, there was an abolitionist movement, but often times that's looked at as being separate from the Founders. And the black patriots that were instrumental in the revolutionary war have all but been eliminated from just about every modern text book you could lay your hands on. The revisionism that goes on in education has gone way beyond universities at this point, it's long since perverted the lower levels of education as well. Middle school and high school. So bad has the revisionism gotten and so long has it dominated, that someone who has documents to prove their case such as David Barton does, can easily be laughed off of the stage all the while he points to the very document proving what he's saying. The faith that all our founders had in the Protection of Divine Providence is something that progressives knew they couldn't compete with. So they had to eliminate it. It was Woodrow Wilson who once said that "If you want to understand the real Declaration, do not repeat the preface". Have you read the preface of the Declaration of Independence lately? What do you see there? That's all the stuff the progressives wished wasn't there. And at this point(almost to 2012) it can be said as a matter of practicality, that stuff isn't there. Go ask your high school son/daughter - that's all the proof right there, your high schooler hasn't been taught the preface. This is all being done on purpose.
Sure, there are religious leftists out there, but they're not in the majority. And those who are of a higher profile see the word merely as a tool. Jim Wallis is very open about this, stating that "the gospel is all about wealth redistribution", even though Benjamin Franklin stated rather plainly that wealth redistribution is what tyrants do. And progressives have been abusing their Christian faith for a very long time, to reach an authoritarian end. After the small clip of Ravi you see above(further in part 4), he makes the point that students are lost in high school, they have no meaning in their lives. And isn't that true to a large degree? Has life in America gotten better or worse over time, since all evidence of religion has been expunged from schools. One of the communist goals of 1963 is the elimination of meaningful art(see 22/23), it's certain that they'd target other meaningful things as well. And I'm not advocating that one particular faith be placed above another, rather that certain underlying foundational core beliefs that all religions believe in(even those outside of Christianity) that used to be taught in America's schools are no longer there. What are the results of this? It certainly can't be a coincidence that over time we're not in a better place. For those of you who are fans of the book "The 5000 Year Leap", will be familiar with the following which used to be an elementary school book: A Catechism on the Constitution. Another book titled "The New England Primer is a book that used to be in schools, and is one of the earliest known books printed in America. As Ira Stoll writes in his book "Samuel Adams: A Life", Adams was likely taught as a young boy with this very book, given that there wasn't much else around. That was the book to use back then. Here's a cover picture of one that came from the printing presses of Benjamin Franklin. The New England Primer, which also goes by another name, "The Little Bible of New England" because so much of what's in it is overtly religious. But it doesn't place one over the other.
And now as I look above I see that it's official, I ranted. Oh well. Someone has to put all this stuff together to show it's relevance and relation. Without core, meaningful, and foundational things being taught to students, is it any wonder why school shootings have happened, and have even appeared to be on the rise? When Columbine first happened, everybody was shocked and mortified. Sure, school shootings are still shocking and mortifying to a point, but the numbness has set in because it's happened so many times now. And as I asked in the beginning, why is all of this happening? How did we get here? There's been much that's happened outside of the realm of religion that's salient in answering this question(like what Wilson said above), and that's primary what my blog has been and will continue to be about. But for now, I'll leave you with the words of Benjamin Franklin:(In his letter to Thomas Paine)
I would advise you, therefore, not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person, whereby you will save yourself a great deal of mortification by the enemies it may raise against you, and perhaps a great deal of regret and repentance. If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?
Ravi ping..............
Shouldn’t that be pink instead of purple . . . ? Purple is traditionally the color of royalty.
You over look something..... VITAL..
Not christians are christians.. AND...
The American Constitution mentions a generic “God”..
You over look something..... VITAL..
Not ALL christians are christians.. AND...
The American Constitution mentions a generic “God”..
You’re just the sort of intellectual who can benefit from actually listening to what Ravi is explaining int his series. Try it, you’ll like it!
Pingalingaling ... the audio is quicker than the read. All four parts at the audio links.
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