An Empire of Lies

Daily I am reminded how the Judeo-Christian foundation of our culture is crumbling beneath our feet. The law, the Ten Commandments, the worldview that “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth” is under attack. The Declaration of Independence itself said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among them are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

From this declaration came the most successful experiment in human history, the idea that a people can govern themselves, but this is dependent on a certain level of piety. That virtue is essential because people will need to be the type who want to obey the law and enforce that law. But in 2020, we see this coming apart. Why? The simplest way to explain it is secularism, the false idea that we have evolved beyond the mythology of religion, and now real progress can be made. This is not common among the common but is believed and practiced by the cultural elite who control 90% of the media and, therefore, the narrative. What is self-evident is that when you abandon the idea that our rights are God-given, and that equality is necessary because every person is made in the image of God, then you lose your reasons to support the first amendment, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. Society comes untethered from its moral base and begins to abandon its moral compass and the Bill of Rights.

This is seen most vividly in two ways - one political and the other in general society.  Some politicians are attempting to abandon common sense, dismiss basic mathematics, and sell their souls for power. They promise people free health care and they claim that they will pay for it by taxing the top 1%, They want open borders and expect that we can absorb unlimited immigrants and not raise taxes on the middle class. They want no limits on abortion. They want to take your guns. They want to redirect your charitable giving by overseeing it and making sure it meets your approval. As with the Chick-fil-A dust up, as progressives always do, they won’t be happy until every last chicken leg that is served is a gay or transsexual chicken.

The other way to understand the crumbling of the foundation is to examine the product of this untethered philosophy.

Attorney William Barr recently spoke to this in a speech at the Norte Dame University School of Law:

“In the past fifty years religion has been under increasing attack. On the one hand, we have seen a steady erosion of our traditional Judeo-Christian moral system and a comprehensive effort to drive it from the public square. On the other hand, we see the growing ascendancy of secularism and doctrine of moral relativism. By any honest assessment, the consequences of this moral upheaval have been grim. Virtually every measure of social pathology continues to gain ground. In 1965 the illegitimacy rate was 8%. In 1992 it was 25%. Today it is over 40%. In many of our large urban areas it is over 70%.

Along with the wreckage of the family, we are seeing record levels of depression and mental illness and the soaring of suicide rates. As you know, over 70,000 people die each year from drug overdoses.

And yet, the forces of secularism, ignoring these tragic results, press on with even greater militancy. Among the militant secularists are many so-called progressives. But where is the progress? We are told we are living in a post-Christian age, but what has replaced the Judeo-Christian moral system?  What is it that can fill the spiritual void? What we call values today is really nothing more than mere sentimentality. Still drawing on the vapor trails of Christianity.” (Emphasis added.)

Barr goes on to talk about the Pendulum Effect Theory and expectation among many:

 “…but there is something different about this assault. It is organized destruction. Secularists and their allies have marshaled all the forces of mass communication, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and academia in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values. These instruments are used not only to promote secular orthodoxy, but also to drown out and silence opposing voices and to attack viciously and hold up to ridicule any dissidence.

So, the reaction to growing illegitimacy is not sexual responsibility, but abortion. The reaction to drug addiction is safe injection sites. The solution to the breakdown of the family is for the state to set itself up as the substitute husband or wife. The call comes for more and more social programs to deal with the wreckage.” (Emphasis added.)

Progressivism, like a cancer, grows. It won’t ever actually be happy. Can you imagine the grievance industry saying, “Ok, call off the dogs, discrimination is no longer a problem. Now we’re even and no longer need advocacy groups. It thrives on its fascist crusade to destroy all that has made the United States the most free, liberal, fair, and successful society that has ever been formed. The only reason they can get away with all this is because the people they hate have died for them. Because of that sacrifice, they can throw a rock at you since someone took a bullet for them.  They can be free to be ridiculous and shame themselves. We are becoming the upside-down kingdom that Saint Francis quipped of, “I will need to go to the city square and stand on my head to see the world aright.”  At least for the 6% of people who compose the cultural elite, light has been declared darkness and darkness declared light. It is a kingdom turned upside down.

“We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, NLT