To be sure, many conservative Protestants are gung ho for political activism of the conventional kind such as voting and lobbying congress. But the historic mainstream of Protestantism has generally held a "two kingdoms" view in which the Kingdom of God is not overtly manifest in the political order and therefore the church is not to be directly involved in politics....
....Cultural renewal means the renewal of American society's order, the vast complex of her laws, rules, regulations, customs, traditions, habits and so on. And to be renewed, this order would have to be changed so that it is no longer (as it is now) largely based on the false worldview of the Left, but instead reflects a more accurate worldview, one based on Christianity, on the accumulated wisdom of millennia of human experience, and on the unique experiences of the American people.
Alan Roebuck is professor of mathematics at Chaffey College (a community college in Southern California which certainly doesn't share his views) and a theologically reformed (i.e., Calvinistic) Christian.
John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul strongly disagree with Professor Roebuck.
First, I’m a novice at FR; could anyone tell me how to make a general comment not aimed at anybody in particular?
Many of the comments on this essay continue, here and at other sites, to miss my point: Culture never changes spontaneously, Culture is whatever its leaders say it is, regardless of the convictions of individuals. Culture only changes when people engage in purposeful activity designed to change it. If Christians (not the institutional church, but Christians) do not change the culture, either it will be changed by non-Christians, or it will not change.
Yes, faith in Christ is necessary. I never said it is not necessary. I said that it is not sufficient, which is a different assertion. We need to review our lecture notes from Logic 101. We need both faith in Christ and deliberate action to restore a properly ordered society, or to retake the culture, or however you wish to express it.
Another thing: Most people instinctively think that “attempting to change the culture” means “voting, lobbying government, or giving logistical support to the foregoing.” While these are important, they are not decisive. As I pointed out (perhaps too briefly) in the essay, what is needed is to defeat the rule of liberalism by publicly defeating its fundamental ideas and by placing those who reject liberalism in positions of leadership. That’s what I really mean by “attempting to change the culture,” and, rather than being an un-Christian distraction from the Christian’s real business, it bears a strong resemblance to Christian evangelism and apologetics.
Since most people have never considered the idea that this is how to win the culture war, we must constantly correct their instinctively-held understanding of how culture war is to be fought.