Missouri Senator Josh Hawley last week persistently questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland about the FBI’s over-reaction last September in its heavily armed arrest of pro-life Catholic Mark Houck at his home––for an alleged assault that local law enforcement had already declined to prosecute. Houck was tried, and a jury acquitted him in just an hour.
For citizens of faith, the raid and trial demonstrate how many “public servants” in our federal agencies have an animus against Christians, a peculiarity given that the DOJ and other agencies are so vigorous in protecting Muslims from alleged Islamophobic persecution. Christophobia, on the other hand, apparently is okay, and Christians’ First Amendment rights can be violated to serve partisan political agendas.
Once again, the self-styled “brights,” the technocratic, progressive ruling elite who “follow the science,” are abusing their power to intimidate and marginalize Christians while violating their 1st and 14th Amendment rights in order to discredit Christianity, long a threat to the technocracy and its authority.
The Houck case is not an outlier in the Feds’ sorry record of targeting Christians. In January there surfaced an FBI field office’s report called “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities,” which was disavowed only after an FBI whistleblower exposed it.
Or consider the FBI’s double standards in pursuing attacks on reproductive services offices, which are violations of the FACE Act used to charge Houck. According to the Heritage Foundation, “The DOJ charged 26 pro-life activists with FACE Act violations in 2022 alone, but did not charge a single pro-abortion activist with FACE Act charges in 2022, despite over 100 apparent pro-abortion attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches across the nation, according to Catholic Vote trackers.”
Nor is this a recent development. During the Obama administration, starting in 2010 the IRS targeted conservative and Christian non-profits. Losing a subsequent lawsuit did not slow the IRS down. In 2021, the agency pulled a Texas prayer group’s tax-exempt status because it “benefits Republicans.” As Ohio Senator Jim Jordan commented, “The Obama/Biden IRS targeted conservatives for their political beliefs. It looks like the Biden/Harris IRS is already up to no good as well. Every American should be concerned, but sadly, not surprised.”
This disdain for Christianity has been intensifying for a century, and goes back even farther to the 18th century Enlightenment. When not atheists, many of the new rationalists were Deists, reducing God to the “first mover” responsible for the created world. The theology of Christ’s divinity, incarnation, death, and resurrection, and the miracles attending Christ’s mission, was rejected. Christians, when not decried as tyrannical, intolerant instigators of slaughter, were patronized as “shamans or witch doctors from savage tribes whom one humors until one can dress them in trousers and send them to school,” as Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz satirized this attitude.
By 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche memorably expressed this new sensibility and its cause: “Wither is God?” the madman in a fable asks. “I will tell you. We have killed him––you and I. All of us are his murderers . . . . God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” The only question left is, what will take God’s place as the foundational source of our ideals like virtue or human rights, if these can even survive.
The progress of science and the new technologies that followed, and the spread of political structures like political freedom and equality, human rights, and social justice gave one answer: The new authority of science based on its material improvements changed radically human existence, and disproved the Christian doctrine of mankind’s innate corruptibility. The dream of endless progress brought on by education and scientific new knowledge, took hold and started the long process of secularization. The new knowledge and “human sciences” could now improve human nature and usher in an age freed from the destructive behaviors that once blighted human life.
It didn’t take long for that dream to become a nightmare. Yet not even the 20th century’s gruesome catalogue of industrialized slaughter, genocide, and gulags written by political religions like fascism, Nazim, and communism has weakened this faith among our cognitive elites.
For Americans in particular, this growing authority of science and distaste for religion began to erode the 1st Amendment’s rights of free speech and religion. The provision was distorted to mean a “wall of separation of church and state,” a phrase created by Thomas Jefferson. The “establishment clause” proscribed a church established the federal government with authority over the whole nation, like England’s Anglican Church. State-level established churches already existing in many states were left alone. Now they are forbidden by Supreme Court rulings that extended the 1st and 14th amendments to the states.
Today this misreading of the Constitution has been used to justify banning any public connection of politics to religion, which of course violates the 1st Amendment’s freedom of religion and speech. But this unwarranted interpretation conflicts with the thinking of the Founders about the viability of the Constitution’s freedoms given the destructive “passions and interests” and lust for power that all humans are prey to.
As John Adams expressed this importance of religion for the new nation’s success in his 1798 “Letter from John Adams to Massachusetts Militia”:
“Because we have no government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by Morality and Religion, Avarice, Ambition, Revenge, or Gallantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Indeed, even atheists like Voltaire acknowledged the utilitarian value of religion in his famous quips, “If God didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent him,” and “God is dead, but don’t tell that to my servant, lest he murder me at night.” Or as Napoleon put it, “Religion is a kind of vaccination, which, by satisfying our natural love for the marvelous, keeps us out of the hands of charlatans and conjurers. The priests are better than the Cagliostros [famous occultists and frauds, Andrew Roberts’s gloss], the Kants, and all the visionaries of Germany.”
As advanced materially as we are, as successful as our science has been at unlocking the secrets of nature and using its powers to create life-changing technologies, our science still can’t give us an answer to the question why we shouldn’t just follow our impulses and appetites, no matter how evil. Instead, it falls back on dubious Darwinism like the “God gene,” or various forms of determinism like Freudianism or Marxism, both of which have been dead-ends in the attempt to find a substitute for God. At least Nietzsche was honest, acknowledging that God’s death has undercut all our virtues like charity and empathy for our fellow humans that make us humane rather than just clever chimps.
Finally, the discrediting of faith and the idealization of science as the royal road to ultimate happiness on earth, has created an emptiness in our civilization, which lacks a convincing story of who we are and what is best for us, how we should live and act, what is good for us and what we are good for.
Into that void have stepped cults and political religions like Marxism, which has co-opted much of Christian salvation theology. Only now, original sin is called the “alienation” of people from nature, their fellow man, and their labor, a fallen condition that the abolishing of capitalism and private property will redeemed. And the “born-again” Christian will be the “new man” communism creates through revolution, inheritors of a new “salvation” here on earth––“a higher sociobiological type, a superman . . . . Man will become incomparably stronger, wiser, more subtle,” as Leon Trotsky preached. As the Catholic thinker Andre de Lubac asked, “On which side are the miracles greater?”
We know the cost of this low-rent religion––100 million killed by famine, torture, gulags, and mass murder. Yet still the Left promotes the false knowledge about people and their natures that contributed to such carnage and cruelty. The history of communism alone answers the question that Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov raises: whether “without God and immortal life . . . all things are permitted.”
Yet science still has not been able to give a convincing answer to that question, as all around us belief in more and more secular “miracles” proliferate.
I think the most profound article Bruce Thorton has written. A keeper
Fred Glass
Agreed, it is profound.
All those other religions that proliferate:
Environmentalism
Socialism
Marxism
Diversity
Inclusion
Equity
Globalism
All replacements for God
Pretty pathetic attempts at replacement.
The vacant stare of Resident Joe-Bite is the quintessential picture of our demented age. Nietzsche would take one look at men like us and burst into a belly laugh.
No, I think he’d puke in disgust.
Bellies are involved, either way.
You are so right. The dark side of the enlightenment has moved on gradually toward the secularist/atheist manifestations of our time. It started gradually at first, with the outbursts of the French revolution being, perhaps the first red flag. The restraining influence of western Christianity remained for a time. Now the impact of atheistic materialism is causing an acceleration of the moral decline.of the west. God may or may not give a revival of Christianity in the west, according to His will. But, what God predicted for the end of the age, and stated by Jesus Christ, will come eventually. Fallen man will have his day in the predicted, short lived, world government, and then God will have his day in the setting aside of the world system for the kingdom of God in Christ.
Absolutely on target. Well stated.
Merrick Garland is absolute lying trash. One of the few accomplishments of Bltch McConnell was to keep that low-life Garland off the Supreme Court.
As for Garland’s bullshit excuse that he’s too incompetent to prosecute crimes at night, I guess that explains his “I’ll get around to it” response to the multiple arson attacks.
(Also; since I can expect two dozen jack-booted goons to batter down my door if I defend my son from some thug, I might as well maul the prick and get my money’s worth.)
C’mon, Bruce, the FBI & federal government targets conservative groups whether religion is involved or not. You don’t believe they are going after Liberation Theologists? Black Churches?
This was just an excuse to attack secular philosophy including those of our founders who were less than traditionalists in religion. Even your quote of John Adams is taken out of context. The whole speech was about secular virtues that could easily be found in the Greek and Roman writers taught in colonial colleges. There is no mention in his speech of the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. Just good Roman virtues.
Adams did believe that both secular philosophy & religion were both needed. He modeled his life on his hero, Cicero, whose Des Officiis is the most influential treatise on ethics in Western History. I suspect you know this but why you keep going back to discredited 19th century atheists is puzzling. Western philosophy has a 2500 year history and the poison of the 19th century post-Kantian period doesn’t represent its entirety.
I ask myself this, the poison of irrational and nihilist philosophy, ideology, and ideas come from the philosophers at the universities. These philosophers are post-Kantians, i.,e. post-moderns, under the tutelage of Kant philosophy has now reached total bankruptcy.
The West is now simply drifting in a vacuum.
Something will have to fill the vacuum. Modern Jews and Christians want the vacuum to be filled with their religions not understanding, or refusing to understand, or being ignorant of, or evading and denying that their religions in their pure form will lead the West back to a Judeo-Christian Dark Age.
Bruce Thornton is too intelligent, too educated, too erudite, not to know this on some level.
The dark ages of a thousand years ago, rather than the enlightened, logical, rational and reasonable ages of religion today?
Listen Mo, I’m interested in freedom, liberty, individual rights, private property rights, and capitalism, in other words I’m interested in the pursuit of happiness and flourishing on earth. Peace and prosperity on earth. The question is how does one achieve those earthly, this-world, this-life, values?
Is Christianity the answer? If I’m not a Christian I can’t believe in or defend peace and prosperity on earth?
the “judeo-christan dark ge”? Really? Take a good hard look at what you refer to as “the dark age”. That was NOT the result of faithfully adhering to the clear teachings of God’s Word. Nope. That was the work of men taking them, twisting them, and using them for control and domination. Same thing the communists, marxists, etc, do, along with most of the “enlightenment” crowd.
There is the old saw, which I might miss by a bit, about how the romans made christianity into a philosophy, the Brits made it into a government, (their king declared himself pope) and we Yanks made it into a business.
What dark ages are you talking about? The Islamic ones? Have you read the book I recommended by Emett Scott? No? Well, read it and then consider the “Christian” or even more nonsensical “Judeo-Christian” dark ages and get back to me, Grasshopper.
Freedom from Jehovah (God) makes misery.
Ingratitude to God makes misery. Facts of life.
When SCOTUS rejected Cuomo’s decrees in 2020 that was a welcome reminder that free exercise of religion is an important part of the Bill of Rights
Hello Bruce Thornton, and thank you for this article. For sure I do note some of the blatant double standards in this area. I
You point out that “This disdain for Christianity has been intensifying for a century, and goes back even farther to the 18th century Enlightenment.” It certainly has been intensifying, but doesn’t it go back much further than that? At John 17:14, Jesus himself said: “I have given your word to them, but the world has hated them, because they are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.”
Has Christianity ever been acceptable to “the world”, the current system of things on the earth?
It was acceptable to the Roman Empire and essentially all worldly governments of the Middle Ages was it not?
Hello Marlow and thanks for the response. I know that Christendom has been a powerful player in the world, in both its political and its military affairs. But aren’t followers of Christ to be no part of such things?
Jesus famously taught all who followed him to “lay down” their swords. In contrast , haven’t the nations of Christendom turned on each other in war, two of those wars so terrible they are called World Wars?
My point was simply that worldly powers, including some of the most powerful in history, seem to have been perfectly capable of being Christian. You’d probably argue they weren’t “real” Christians. I don’t know much about Christian theology, but I think that, for example, Eusebius would probably think he was a real Christian, even though he was all in for Emperor Constantine.
“Has Christianiy ever been acceptable to ‘the world’…?”
No more than is mother Judaism has. Let’s face it, the world isn’t ready for our message yet. Pity them and move on.
Hello Lightbringer. Thanks for the response, but truly many people are listening to their Creator, the God of Abraham, and if you pay attention to Bible prophecy you can
see that our Creator will soon act to “bring to ruin those ruining the earth”.
People urgently need to know this.
The established religion of US government is secular humanism deemed a religion by various US courts. Under humanism, man is god. Science is its bible as interpreted by the humanist worldview that there is no God. School classrooms are its brick-and-mortar churches with its salvation message preached by teachers from behind school desks. Its tenets are clearly spelled out in Human Manefestos I, II, and III for anyone to read. It has been so successful, it is not even mentioned in this article.
The divide is not between secular and sacred, but between religions. A “secular” state is not one devoid of religion, but is itself deeply religious, serving a horrible god.
Look objectively at the history of the world and decide what religion creates the most peace, prosperity, happiness and freedom for everybody. There is only one answer – Christianity.
So non-Christians can’t be decent and moral people? And no Christian has ever done evil in the name of Christ? Becoming a Christian will make you a good and decent person, not being a Christian automatically makes you indecent and immoral. That’s interesting.
“[John] List gave critical financial problems, as well as his perception that his family members were straying from their religious faith, as his motivations for the murders. He believed that killing them would assure their souls a place in Heaven, where he hoped to eventually join them. List died in prison in 2008 at the age of 82.” – Wikipedia
There’s not much evidence that non-religious people are decent and moral is there?
Question:
Would you rather spend a night with random two youths from a ghetto who had been to church on Sunday or two from the same neighbourhood who hadn’t?
There is considerable evidence that religious people often behave worse than non-religious people precisely because they are religious. For example, oh, I don’t know… 9/11?
I don’t think individual character depends on professed beliefs, or going to Church on Sunday, or reading the Bible all day long, but on actions. Anybody can say I’m a decent and moral person because I’m a Christian or I’m an Objectivist and actually be a scoundrel or worse.
Actions speak louder than words.
Non-religious people can be morally upright, but religious people must be so.
Religious people often “must be” morally debased, such as when their scripture commands them to do horrible things they would never do otherwise.
Modern Christianity is quite different from Medieval Christianity. Protestant Christianity is quite different from Catholic Christianity. Different sects, branches, and denominations of Christianity differ drastically from one another. Throughout Christian history different kinds of Christians persecuted and killed each other over doctrine, dogma, and interpretation of Holy Scripture.
So please tell me, which kind of Christianity is the true Christianity? If I decide to become a Christian how will I know which church to join? How will I know I’m finally a good and moral person?
I asked a theologian what was the difference between Catholics and Protestants, I asked because of the troubles in Northern Ireland, he replied “Catholics believe Mary went to heaven alive and Protestants that she died first” Apparently that’s about the main difference.
But I also learned that the division in Northern Ireland was not really about religion, it was political.
Which Christianity is the true Christianity? How do I finally know I’m a good and moral person?
Catholics and Protestants divide over many things: the authority of the Pope, the authority of Tradition, authority of the Church, the sufficiency of the Scriptures, etc. But the most significant difference is the answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved?”
The Reformed theology of the Gospel is summarized in 5 points called “The 5 Solas.” The Catholic Church and the Reformed Church disagree on every one of these points:
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-are-the-five-solas
The Gospel is the heart of Christianity. This being so, understanding the differences in the theology of the gospel between Catholics and Reformed Protestants is essential to understanding the differences between Catholics and Protestants.
When you accept the fact that you are a sinner. And being so, you are in need of a Savior. When you accept the fact that the Creator God provided Himself as a lamb that was slain on your behalf. To pay for your sins. When you can love your neighbor as you love yourself. When you can forgive your enemies. When you can treat other people as you want to be treated. When you can say that Jesus died for your sins, was resurrected from death, and sits on a throne in Heaven at the right hand of the Father. That’s the sign of a Christian.
You constantly hammer away at the acts of people who weren’t/aren’t true Christians. The next time you want to bash Christians or Christianity in general, please reread the above first.
If my neighbor is Ted Bundy or Adolf Hitler, why would I love him? Why would I love my enemy? Why you someone else be made to pay for my sins?
It makes no rational sense nor is any of it objective justice or rational, objective, love.
I want to be treated with objective justice, objective love, objective respect, and objective forgiveness.
I believe love, respect, and forgiveness should be EARNED. I don’t want to be respected if I haven’t earned respect, I don’t want unearned love, and I certainly don’t want undeserved, unearned, forgiveness.
Shouldn’t spiritual values, just like material values, be earned?
You confuse things. I’m not hear to debate you. Again, see above for what a true Christian is all about.
Ted Bundy and Adolph Hitler may have claimed to be Christians. Their actions do not match those of a true Christian.
If you want to live as a rational human being and achieve rational happiness then not everything is permissible, even if you’re not a Jew or a Christian.
If life is your choice and happiness is your choice then both these values require and demand absolute and consistent loyalty to the facts of reality by using your mind to THINK consistently and intransigently about how to achieve and maintain your life and happiness. Successful living, flourishing, and happiness are such DEMANDING, life long, ACHIEVEMENTS only a minority of human beings ever achieve them.
“But neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to survive in any random manner, but will perish unless he lives as his nature requires, so he is free to seek his happiness in any mindless fraud, but the torture of frustration is all he will find, unless he seeks the happiness proper to man. The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.” – Ayn Rand
All human beings are made in the image of God. That is where sameness and equality begin and end.
To force sameness upon human diversity is to destroy what God created and intended for good.
It’s really a very simple answer, satan is the ruler of this world and he hates God, as do all those who follow satan. To follow satan all you have to do is reject God, the Bible, His Son Jesus and God’s ways.
There is only male and female, marriage between male and female. Do not kill, which also includes abortion…etc.
Right now we are in the birthing pains portion which will lead us up to the worst time in history as the antichrist will take control of the world before Jesus returns to save us all from this. We aren’t going to be able to stop it or hold it back, but Jesus will save us, who believe out of it.
Yeah, you’re not crazy…
No, I’m not crazy. That’s what the Bible says will happen in the last days.
One day the Jews will be able to rebuild their temple and have sacrifices again. 3.5 years later a man will walk into the temple and declare himself god, and will rule the world, it will be the worst time the world will ever know.
When you see these things happen turn to God! Believe in Jesus who took the punishment for your sins, believe and be saved from the lake of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
You’re out of your goddam mind.
Have you heard of the temple institute? They are wanting a new temple in Israel and in that end they identified men of the tribe of Levi and began training them in the ancient customs. They also had priestly robes made and the temple implements.
I have even heard they have a prefab temple so that when they can build it it can’t go up in a hot second.
The only thing missing was the unblemished red heifer needed for the priests purification. Though the years they thought they had one but it never panned out. Last year they were gifted 5 from America. The heifer has to be two years old and these have about a year to go but if one can stay unblemished it can be used for the ceremony. I think then the institute will make a big push for the temple to be built.
Have you heard of the Abraham accords? Where Israel has treaty’s with some of the Arab/Muslim neighbors already? The Bible says a 7 year treaty will be brokered between Israel and her neighbors so she can set up a temple so Israel can worship God and resume sacrifices. 3.5 years later the antichrist walks into that temple and proclaims himself god. 3.5 years after that Jesus returns. Get right with God now for your sake.
Again, you’re out of your goddam mind.
Dostoevsky was right. If there is no God … all things are permitted. And that means ALL things. No one is more dangerous than a serious atheist. Fortunately most Dawkins style “atheists” are not that serious. Even an atheist should want to live in a religious society if only because it is only there that he would be at least relatively safe.
Every human has a God shaped hole. The modern era tries to fit it with vaguely similar objects, but socialism, equity, one-worldism, plain old vanilla liberalism all have substantial body counts and are are poor substitutes for the Real Thing.
I know for a fact that as an infidel I wouldn’t be safe in a Muslim or Christian theocracy.
If you really want to discuss Christianity, the only reasonable, and intelligent thing to do is to give some real time and effort to understand Christianity from its only true source, and that is the bible. You would find that Christianity was never meant to be a theocracy that would overthrow the political systems of the world. There will be a millennial Messianic Kingdom in relation to God’s earthly people (Israel) in the future. However, the work of God presently is to call out a people for Himself that await the heavenly kingdom, They are separate from the political systems of the world, yet they can influence morally these various systems. There is no use of taking up a “Christianity” that is simply used for propaganda purposes, for your own atheistic philosophical position..
I have tried to make you aware of you lack of understanding before, but you are unable to comprehend the simple exhortation to go to the source of Christianity before you claim yourself an expert on the criticism of Christianity. If you have no real understanding of the source of Christianity, how can you give an honest unbiased opinion on the subject. This is not the proper use of your God given powers of reason. .
I have recommended books and tried to explain history to him, but I doubt that he reads anything that is not by or related to Rand. She is his True North and nothing will change his mind, not even the truth.
“The theology of Christ’s divinity, incarnation, death, and resurrection, and the miracles attending Christ’s mission, was rejected.”
Did it ever occur to you that people rejected these things because they sincerely believe them to be untrue and, indeed, ridiculous? Would you prefer them to bow before what they consider a false god? Or perhaps force them to do so?
“The new knowledge and “human sciences” could now improve human nature and usher in an age freed from the destructive behaviors that once blighted human life. It didn’t take long for that dream to become a nightmare.”
They also led to enormous improvements in health, education, technology, hygeine and numerous other fields of life. Would you prefer to live in the Middle Ages, when you could die of a tooth abcess? I have a strong suspicion you wouldn’t.
“Science still can’t give us an answer to the question why we shouldn’t just follow our impulses and appetites, no matter how evil.”
Guess what: neither can you and neither can religion. Basically, your only answer is “because God says so.” Ok, so how do we know God isn’t evil? He certainly seems to, at the very least, tolerate a very great deal of evil. And how do we know he exists in the first place? Can you prove it? I’ll answer for you: No, you can’t. Nobody can. If we are to ever reach an idea of the good and doing good, we’re going to have to do it ourselves. That requires courage, not descending into unthinking “faith.”
Actually, one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord! As is God’s due for being the creator of this world.
Proof of God..well let’s see we are born in a world that caters to us. There’s plenty of air to breathe, there’s food to eat, there’s beauty all around us, God Himself says He created all of this for us.
He created humans, man and woman, there are no others. Men and women are only able to procreate together. Same sex people cannot procreate, God made it so. Our bodies are incredible..no one dr can know or understand it in its entirety, that’s why there are so many different specialties.
Many people like to believe it all happened over millions of years by accident…but that’s more pie in the sky than God creating everything.
As to why He allows sin to get so bad, He wants everyone to be saved and is giving people time to change their minds and be saved..because He is good!
You’ve got it backwards. The world wasn’t created to cater to us. It appears to cater to us because, if it didn’t, we wouldn’t exist. In other words, the world seems fine-tuned to our needs, but in fact we’re fine-tuned by the world, because it’s the only world in which we could have come to be in the first place.
I hardly see how, for example, letting children starve to death when you have the omnipotent power to prevent it is much of a testimony to goodness. Frankly, it’s less disturbing to believe that it’s all random chaos.
God created this world with us in mind. It wouldn’t work out to well if He put us in a world where we couldn’t live would it?
He doesn’t want starving children but He did allow for free will. That doesn’t mean that there is no punishment for sins. There is a punishment for sins and it’s severe, the lake of fire where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth for eternity.
Ya, He is good, He offers a way out. All one has to do is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, grace is good.
I just answered your false claim about “the world.” You chose to ignore it and just reiterate your false claim again. Ok, fine.
There is nothing free will about a hurricane or an earthquake, yet they cause untold misery and cost millions of lives. You’ll have to do better if you want people to believe a perfect God allows such things to exist.
There is no hell. You really have to give up that kind of childish thinking. Justice is what we do in the world, not some fantasy of Big Daddy punishing all the Meanies in the afterlife.
I ask you this: If you had never heard of Christianity before and someone came up to you and told you that a gnomic faith healer had risen from the dead and you’re a horrible evil person but you can be completely redeemed and purified by believing that he’s actually, literally God, would you believe it?
I wouldn’t. I’d think it’s the stupidest thing I ever heard and whoever said it was insane. I think a lot of people feel that way even with the weight of 2,000 years of Christian rule on their shoulders. Deal with it.
WITH all due RESPECT, WTF are you TALKING about?
Why do you randomly use all-caps? Honestly, that’s the only sensible question I can think to ask you.
the interesting thing is, they are not abandoning “christianity” as much as they are abandoning “the church” in which they purportedly were raised. But consuder this: when familieswalk in the fro]nt door Sunday morning, the toddlers go off to this room wherethey are coddled and entertained, the not-yet walking are consigned to the”nursery”, the younger school age kids all go to the room for “chidlren’s church”, the junior high lot are released into their own little den of amusement, and the ‘high schoolers” get to play pseudoadults in “the youth ministry”. THen the twp parents go, all by themselves into “church”. NONE of their offspring have ever been involved in
church”. So instead of “leaving the church” they have NEVER BEEN PART OF IT. This results in handwringing over “where did we go wrong?” Wrong question. Should be “WHY did ot WE include them?
This is not the fault of the secular world it is the fault of “the church” taking up the values and standards of the outside world and making it “the church”.
I do not know all that the above commentators and the main author know. Still, I think that the left wants to discredit and delegitimize conservatives to facilitate the spread of leftist ideology, particularly regarding family and abortion. The Catholic church has long opposed abortion, as have many Protestant denominations or individual Christians. But likewise conservatives who oppose abortion on grounds of secular ethics and morals. TheDems seem to treat Islam with kid gloves, perhaps not wanting to alienate a possible ally or out of fear of reprisals. Christian juhadis are unlikely to attack Democrat politicians. Actually, they have to invent radical terrorist, white supremacist Catholics, Protestants and Christians generally in order to have a big enemy to unite Democrats against. When they see a chance to win Christians as allies in some agenda, they will surely reverse course. Just as Stalin promoted the Orthodox church to rally Russians against Hitler and the Wehrmacht. If I understand Adams, he favored an alliance of Constitutionalists and Christians and Jews to defend the new government and its values. Both groups, not just the religious.
Fantastic article, if I may, you give the Marxists too much leeway
https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM
The Devil and Karl Marx Communism’s Long March of Death, Deception and Infiltration is a fantastic read.
Re: “This disdain for Christianity has been intensifying for a century, and goes back even farther to the 18th century Enlightenment.”
The hybrid, double-speak religion of Judeo-Christianism is thought to have begun around 1800’s in America. Later it was enshrined as THE civic religion of America by J’ish sociologist Will Herberg in his 1955 book Protestant-Catholic-J. But Judeo-Christianism was not the original religion that sprang from the first century. That did not happen until about 300 AD when the Apostle’s Creed, Nicean and Chaldean Christian Creeds did not appear until the 300’s.
The only thing their not doing to christain’s right now is throwing them to the Lions like they did in Rome but wait that’s coming
How strange it appears that The Left leaning people in today’s Western World denigrate the God they grew up with, mainly Christianity, and yet they fall over themselves to protect and defend a people who follow a Fascist Religious Cult that enters Europe illegally and attacks the people almost every day while demanding that people not of their islamic nonsense pay for their housing, food and health care otherwise we are called awful names, like that means something to me as their opinion of me means zilch.
More and more people are leaving the Church and returning to God… Lenny Bruce.
God is a voice you have created within your own mind and now you are asking this voice for guidance, is that not the actual definition of insanity?..
I inhale and then I exhale, after that everything is speculation.
What you believe to be true, is true inside your mind, these are thoughts and yet you do not know where these thoughts came from, why that thought stopped and where it just went once you were done with it.
I am wary of those who speak for God.
Voltaire was not an atheist; he was a Deist. Voltaire did not approve of the atheist materialist Baron d’Holbach.