Posted on 02/14/2010 6:30:49 PM PST by tcg
The moment Barack Obama was elected to the Presidency of the United States, Radio/TV commentator Sean Hannity began a steady drumbeat of calls for a "conservative" revolution. Soon, he will release his plan for America. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is leading a group of "conservatives" in releasing what they will call a "Conservative Manifesto" at the CPAC convention next weekend.
Make no mistake, I am NOT a liberal. Nor am I what is masquerading as "progressive" these days. I would welcome a debate over whether the so called "right" to reach into wombs and kill our youngest neighbors and to give homosexual practice equal legal status to marriage is really "progressive" at all. I contend that those claiming the label "progressive" are really "regressive."
I am 55 years old. An aging "former hippie" whose rejection of the misguided values of a consumerist, secularist culture led me to re-embrace the Catholic Christian faith, I looked forward to hearing one of my favorite old rock groups, the Who, at the Super Bowl. They tried hard to summon up their aging voices at that Half Time Show. I rooted for them. I was struck with the haunting words of one of their songs, "We don´t get Fooled Again." I am afraid we will be fooled again if we buy the idea that a "conservative revolution" is the solution to what is needed in this nation.
The collapse of Western civilization will not be remedied by "conservativism" or "neo-conservativism." They are inadequate for the task. Crippled by the lies of the culture of death and indoctrinated by what Pope Benedict XVI rightly called a "Dictatorship of Relativism", we need so much more. We do not need a "conservative revolution" we need a Christian revolution.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
Sorry, but trading a Thugocracy for a Theocracy does nothing for me...
An authentic "culture of life" is something that has its source and sustenance as a gift of God, and is not something that can be built or constructed by men solely through their "political, social, and cultural efforts." Where is the author's acknowledgement of the originating and sustaining power of God's Providence in this paragraph? I for one don't see it there or elsewhere in the essay -- instead, I see ample evidence of a knee-jerk Enlightenment humanism that would have made my old university professors giddy.
I'd argue that the "hippy-dippy" and platitudinous positions taken by the author throughout the paper go far to prove my point.
The collapse of the West can be averted; but only through the influence of the Church. It is her vision of the person, the family and the common good which will pave the way for our true and genuine liberation. It is the Church which is the vehicle of true progress. Christianity is the antidote to the descent into barbarism arising out of the neo-paganism masquerading as liberation.
"The West" -- which appears to have been collapsing ever since it was first identified by political thinkers -- will fall if God wills it to fall.
The Roman Empire in both the West and the East fell despite the contemporary presence of "the Church." Which leads me to believe that, apparently, "the Church" may have more important things to do than to be an instrumentality for the propping up of societies, civilizations, or whatever.
The author's use of vague, hippy-dippy boilerplate phrases like "true and genuine liberation" and "vehicle of true progress" is eerily reminiscent of the SovCom and ChiCom propaganda that was popular in the 60s and 70s. Caveat emptor
We don't need a Cultural, or a Conservative, or a Christian Revolution. We don't need a Revolution, period. God forbid. Instead, we need God. And whether or not God gifts us what we need -- to bless our efforts...and more -- is up to Him.
the author Fournier was one of the leaders of the Christian Coalition back in the early 90’s. Some people will be offended by that, no doubt.
The collapse of the West can be averted; but only through the influence of the Church. It is her vision of the person, the family and the common good which will pave the way for our true and genuine liberation. It is the Church which is the vehicle of true progress. Christianity is the antidote to the descent into barbarism arising out of the neo-paganism masquerading as liberation.
The Decline of Western Civilization: a Historical Time-line
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/index.php/weblog/historical-timeline/
The country is melting away. While the philosophers ponder, some of us are hoping the country is saved from total destruction. Or else there won't be a country left when this “Christian Revolution” arrives.
Conservative Revolution. Moderate Revolution. Mixed-up Revolution. Whatever it takes to keep the country in one piece until the people sober up.
I didn't specify Catholic. The Puritans conducted witch hunts that resulted in innocent people being killed. Please don't misunderstand me about this. Freedom of religion is paramount to liberty but I don't want that to be the basis of it. Too many things can go wrong there.
The Christian ideology, because of the thousands of years of Catholic thought that aligned itself to Natural Law, is the only religion on earth that affirms Natural Law with all its tenants. The United States was founded on John Locke's theory of Natural Laws and Gods Laws. Cicero stated that Laws that go against Natural Law and God's Laws are unjust. So Christianity has always been the perfect religion for a Republic founded on Natural Law and God's Laws.
The Founders stated that the Republic is not viable without a moral and religious people. They would be appalled at promoting Wicca or any other sect that demeans Christianity and goes against Natural Law because it would be unconstitutional.
The reason for the first Amendment left freedom to all people, because that freedom is necessary for any religion that subscribes to Free Will. But just the title, "Religion" should not have recognition or acceptance when it goes against our Constitution. People should never be granted citizenship if they are Muslim or other cults that do not embrace this country's constitution.
Moral absolutes were also the bedrock of our laws. Only the Bible gives us those. Moral relativism destroys all freedom in every country it has ever been practiced.
I say learn from history (unlike the Progressives) and we need to get back to conforming to the ideals of the Constitution which means promoting moral absolutes in all the school systems in this nation. I guess that means promoting Christianity because that religion is the only one which has the same principles as our Founding documents. Our rights come from God so we have to be able to mention God in schools. We can do that (and have done that) without promoting a particular Christianity or Judaism. But atheism could not be promoted because the U.S. states our rights come from God and that denies our ideals.
When the Progressives eliminated moral absolutes and God from our schools, the moral relative, atheists took over. That is a religion also but is anathema to our constitution so needs to be booted. There is always a dominant "religion" in a culture where we are going from Christian to Atheism (or maybe Muslim--heaven forbid). There has to be a dominate moral code that is based on telling the truth, not cheating, stealing, respect for others property rights, otherwise we evolve into chaos, like most African nations where there is rampant sexual immorality, bribes for everything, etc.
Agreed, but with the caveat that most of the idiots whining about "theocracy" don't have the slightest clue what they're talking about. According to them, the first Congress, passing a bill that was signed by President Washington, were "theocrats" because they used public funds to print and distribute Bibles among the population.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of FReepers - most of them secularist yahoos of some sort or another - who are basically ignorant when it comes to early American history.
What are you talking about?
Just so. “Culture” is derived from the Latin word “cultus,” or cult. All cultures originally derive from religion. The basic culture underlying the West is Christianity, and behind that as well as running like a thread through it, Judaism, along with borrowings from Rome and Athens that can already be found in the New Testament.
As I said earlier, this does not mean that everyone must be forced or obliged to be Christian. We would still have freedom of religion (but not the ACLU’s freedom from religion). It means that we need a religious and moral renewal, another Great Awakening, and only God can do that. We can hope and pray that we live to see it happen. Otherwise our culture will continue to die.
In the event that such a renewal happens, those who choose not to be Christians will have the freedom to refuse, but they, too, will benefit from such a renewal of our cultural foundations, so long as a critical mass is swept up in the religious conversion experience.
This has happened often in the past. The Wesleyan renewal in England. The Great Awakening in 19th century America. Many moments of reform and renewal throughout the long history of the Catholic Church.
Inquisitions. The occasional burning at the stake for perceived unbelievers. Does this explain it?
Cicero was a pagan. Locke was born/baptised a Puritan. Neither was "Catholic" in the sense usually used at Free Republic.
...most African nations where there is rampant sexual immorality, bribes for everything, etc.
African nations? You mean those African nations where Christianity is waxing, not waning as it is in the West?
As for rampant sexual immorality, tell me: who has the biggest porn industry in the world -- the U.S. or some African nation? Which nation consumes the most porn?
Fan of Toynbee, I see?
Paul became a Greek to the Greeks, “to win as many as possible” (1 Corinthians 9:19).
Something that Fournier could think about:
Reagan often used the term “cultural revival” because that is the language of America and isn’t seen as some sort of threat for a political takeover.
The term is close to what Fournier means, but “Christian Revolution” is a parochial term that is not part of American culture. Fournier (and other pro-family political types) will have to become “American to the Americans” and learn to speak the language if they ever wish to be understood by people outside their niche audience.
True, but saying something like that would make libs’ heads start rotating, and they’d start spewing! I mean, look at the wailing and gnashing of teeth because of Sarah Palin’s simple, ‘looking for God’s guidance’ comments!
Not a fan, exactly. I think Toynbee is interesting, but he was a great simplifier. It’s a common enough notion. Oswald Spengler has some useful analysis, but on a more positive note I’d again cite Christopher Dawson, for example, Understanding Europe or Progress and Religion.
A “Christian Revolution” isn’t going to happen. It says so in the Bible.
Christ is the only one who will make things right one day. The “falling away” from the faith is in full swing. The apostates you see/hear today on the so-called “Christian” channels like TBN, Daystar, etc. prove it.
Even so, come Lord Jesus...
At some point, we need to figure out how to bring religion back into the Public Square, as First Things has been arguing for some time. That doesn’t mean that the politicians have to become proselytizers. Sarah makes no secret of her religion, and she refuses to be embarrassed about it, but she makes no effort to impose it on anyone else.
I don’t think (although maybe I’m wrong) that Fournier is saying that we need to go out and found another Moral Majority movement, or start talking like Huckabee. I think he’s saying that we need to realize that a true American revival is going to need a Christian revival to support it, probably both in the Catholic Church and in many or most of the Protestant Churches. Maybe even the Episcopal Church.
Some people will be doing politics and some people will be doing religion, although there will be no true religious revival unless God wills it. But, one way or another, we need to go back to being a Christian nation, as we were at the founding and through most of our history.
Post 22
Well said. Our problem is lack of virtue, which has lead to a rejection of the code of duty and honor. This has made us weak and indecisive, which is why we don’t effectively confront the political excesses that have become so prevalent..
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