World Views

Why America's Record Godlessness Is Good News for the Nation. (A rebuttal)

Above Photo from R.E.M's Music Video "Losing My Religion" 1991.

"Why America's Godlessness is Good News for the Nation " was the title of an Op-Ed run in the Los Angeles Times on April 2nd. authored by Phil Zuckerman an Associate Dean of Pitzer College and the author of "Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment."  

According to the most recent Gallup Poll released earlier this month, for the first time since Gallup began tracking numbers in 1937, more people in America are not members of a church, synagogue or mosque than are. In 1945, 75% of all Americans were members compared to today's 47%. Zuckerman continued to site all the troubling statistics that document the decline of Christianity in America. These are facts that cannot be disputed.

What I do dispute is the conclusions that he draws anecdotally at best, from history and present day to make his case.  He contends our collective fears, that moral decline and societal destruction is directly proportional to increased secularism, is incorrect.  Based on our historical observation, that forced secularization, led to the mass atrocities, crimes, and moral outrages committed in the 19th. century by  Nazi's and Communist totalitarian regimes. He states that what we have going on now is different.  We are in the midst of a natural organic decline towards secularization brought about by  better education, more prosperity, and living safer, secure and peaceful lives and will not lead to societal ruination.  In other words he is implying that as society becomes more educated and prosperous people begin to realize that religion is truly the opiate of the people that Karl Marx said it was.

"Enlightened"  people are more likely to revere the Scientific Method, receive vaccines, and support: sex education, reproductive rights, gay rights, death with dignity, gun safety legislation and drug abuse. He maintains that the more secular democracies, Japan, the U.K., Scandinavia, Australia and Canada, are willingly more progressive and don't have that religious drag preventing a universal  acceptance of the aforementioned liberal agendas and they are better off for it. What he implies is that people of faith are ignorant and are unable to go along with this natural  occurring societal evolution, that  will inevitably lead you to the realization that there is no God and we will be better off as a society embracing the inevitable.

I might remind Mr. Zuckerman, Francis Bacon a Christian, was credited with giving us the Scientific Method! There are thousands of Christian scientists that have contributed greatly to our knowledge of  the pure sciences and medicine in the past and continue to do so today. Science and faith are not mutually exclusive, that is Enlightenment philosophy. The Enlightenment brought us the French Revolution, guillotines, Marxism and the totalitarianism of the 19th. century. History is full of examples of the moral decline of empires and their inevitable ruin, read a world history book Mr. Zuckerman. 

Yes, people of faith do have problems with assisted suicide, abortion, homosexuality, same sex marriage and legalization of drugs. You see, we believe in a transcendent truth that comes from outside of us. It is bigger than we are. Otherwise, truth is what you say it is- what is true for me may not be true for you and therefore, there is no truth at all. If everything is relative how can you have a moral society?  You cannot. God has revealed His truth to us in written word, the Bible. You might put that on your must read bucket list, Mr. Zuckerman.  

What you describe as natural organic decline is just as evil as the horrors of the 19th. century and you are blind to it.  Our holocaust in the U.S. is the 62 million babies slaughtered in abortuaries since 1973, the sexual revolution has normalized promiscuity, the definition of marriage has been changed and the nuclear family is under attack. You talk about scientific truth yet you deny the basic biological fact of being born either male or female. You say we would be better off as a nation of atheist's, embracing immorality and denying God? Who is ignorant of the facts Mr. Zuckerman? 

I'll leave you with a quote from John Adams: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  You see Mr. Zuckerman someone way smarter than you realized that if we lose our religion, we lose our morality, and we will lose our country.  How is that good news for America?

Link to Op-Ed

HHS Pick Has Big Consequences For Religious Liberty

Xavier Becerra, a 25 year member of Congress and most recently The Attorney General of California, filling in as the replacement for Harris's vacated  seat she left to go to the U.S. Senate, is Biden's pick for Secretary of HHS. Who is this guy and what do we know about him? As a member of Congress he fought against the tax exempt status for charitable foundations.  He claimed that this was a  32 billion dollar loss to federal tax coffers, that could have been used for the "public good," in other words progressive causes, that he and others of the same ilk, think is appropriate. The IRS has identified 29 different types of organizations that can qualify for this deduction covering a wide variety of organizations, from soup kitchens, religious organizations to fine arts, athletics and medical research. The premise behind  the current IRS law, is that these 29 different organizations do provide for the "public good." We don't need Becerra to define "public good." 

As Attorney General, Becerra took over a notable case left by Harris, Planned Parenthood vs David Daleiden. Daldien's undercover investigation exposed the selling of fetal body parts and tissues as well as the intentional altering of procedures in order to harvest what was in demand by purveyors. Harris authorized the SWAT raid on Daldien's home, Becerra picked up the baton by charging him with 15 felonies. In 2017 Becerra filed suit against The Little Sisters of the Poor trying to strip them of their religious conscience exemption, to not provide birth control and abortifacients in their healthcare package to their employees. The exemption was granted by the HHS under the Trump administration. In 2020 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Little Sisters after a protracted legal battle. In 2018 Becerra defended the California FACT Act, which required pregnancy care centers to post information to expectant mothers on how to obtain an abortion. Pro-Life advocates argued that the law violated their right to free speech. Becerra argued for a "professional speech," which the state could regulate. Reaching the Supreme Court, the Court ruled against California's law. Justice Kennedy remarked, that history shows "how relentless authoritarian regimes are in their attempts to stifle free speech." Last April Becerra led a group of 22 state attorney generals in challenging a Mississippi law prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks. 

So there you have it we will have an activist lawyer, a champion for abortion and a advocate for government control of free speech as head of HHS. What damage will he do? We will just have to wait and see.

Covid Vaccine and Year End Musings

Praise the Lord! Two Covid vaccines are being distributed and are now being administered to front line workers and the most vulnerable. Vice President Pence, his wife and The Surgeon General all received the first of two injections of the Pfizer vaccine, live on TV.  This goes a long way in boosting the confidence of the American people in the vaccine. It reminds me of when Elvis Pressley , in 1956 volunteered to take the Polio vaccine, live on The Ed Sullivan Show. Because of his popularity thousands flocked to the nearest clinic to become vaccinated. As for me, I'm waiting for Mick Jagger to get his, so I can see how it affects the geriatric population. 

The roll out of the vaccine has not been without controversy, somehow we managed to pit the elderly against people of color for vaccine priority. Unless I'm mistaken age itself does not discriminate, you are either old or your not. In America we take care of the old, weak and the infirmed first, because that's what we do. The "woke" need to wake up! I am thankful that we were able to get this vaccine out in record time, a miracle in of itself! 

"The future is uncertain and the end is always near," is a lyric from the Doors song, "Roadhouse Blues." Jim Morrison's answer to this quandary is, "Let it roll, baby, roll." I have heard this song many times but for some reason, just the other day these lyrics just got stuck in my mind. The lyrics sum up Morrison's philosophy of life in the brief lines of a song. Unfortunately, it was also the mantra for many other folks during the late 60's and seventies. Drugs, sex and rock n' roll was the worldview of many in this generation. A hedonistic lifestyle was needed to assuage the uncertainty of the future and eat drink and be merry because tomorrow you may die, was the excuse they needed to carry on. A purposeless life that has led many to destruction, including Morrison himself, who was found dead of a drug overdose, in his lonely Paris apartment. A rejection of God leaves one with no hope and leads to a  life of despair. The Christian worldview, in contrast, we know that we are made in the image of our Creator God with a clear purpose in life. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." There is no need for us to let it roll, our future is certain and our purpose is clear. Amen!

We all have lived through a year of great tumult in our politics, a pandemic, panic, paranoia, unemployment, civil unrest. and the painful loss of friends and family. It is too painful to reiterate it all. I will leave that for others to do and maybe I'll go back and read it some other time. "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."  (2 Corin. 4:16-18)

Wishing you all a joy filled Christmas. May the peace of the Christ child rest and abide in your hearts as he is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. Merry Christmas to you and yours, and God Bless you all!

Art