Wednesday, November 09, 2005

The Secular Drive to Marginalize Faith

There are several books that have recently been published that point to the fact that there is a huge, unrelentless secular drive to marginalize faith in our country.

In an article published back in 2004, Allan Dobras quotes the views of former Clinton labor secretary, Robert Riech, which clearly demonstrates our current clash of worldviews:

"Mr. Reich says in part:
In its eagerness to promote the teaching of creationism in public schools, encourage school prayer, support anti-sodomy statutes, ban abortions, bar gay marriage, limit the use of stem cells, reduce access to contraceptives, and advance the idea of America as a "Christian nation," the Bush administration has done more to politicize religion than any administration in recent American history…

The great conflict of the 21st century may be between the West and terrorism. But terrorism is a tactic, not a belief. The underlying battle will be between modern civilization and anti-modernist fanatics; between those who believe in the primacy of the individual and those who believe that human beings owe blind allegiance to a higher authority; between those who give priority to life in this world and those who believe that human life is no more than preparation for an existence beyond life; between those who believe that truth is revealed solely through scripture and religious dogma, and those who rely primarily on science, reason, and logic. Terrorism will disrupt and destroy lives. But terrorism is not the only danger we face."

Can you just feel the hatred (towards anyone who holds any type of religious belief) absolutely dripping from the pen of Mr. Reich? "Anti-modernist fanatics?" It gives me the creeps that this man was once part of a former administration.

Even though this article was written just before the 2004 Presidential election, the 'clash of worldviews' expressed are still reeling to this very day. For instance, Mr. Dobras states:

"In essence, Mr. Reich is saying that “Bush’s God” is more of a threat to modern civilization than fanatical terrorism. His description of the issues at risk because of the president’s faith—sodomy, abortion, gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research, and contraceptives—reveals that little imagination is needed to see that sexual liberation is at the heart of the clash between the opposing worldviews."

In Gary Schneider's review of The ACLU Vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values by Alan Sears and Craig Osten, we can vividly see "further evidence of principles antithetical to the founding tenets and subsequent prosperity and decency of this nation."

Gary states:

" The ACLU and their cohorts continue to aggressively undermine marriage, the family, the protection of children, the value of life, religious liberty and even American sovereignty itself. To this end they have acquired vast swaths of wealth and have been successful in undermining the will of the people in furtherance of their leftist anti-American putsch via the exploitation of the court system and their consistently applied strategy of legal intimidation, misinformation and fear."

He goes on to reveal:

"[This new book] effectively exposes the extremist agenda of the American Civil Liberties Union, its tactics, and ultimately the ongoing threat this organization and their allies pose to our children, families and to the nation. It is perhaps the first work of its kind to challenge the ACLU's design for America in such direct, succinct, organized and empirically supported terms."

"Indeed, this is not a ~215-page rant that engages in ad hominem attacks and emotional appeals to contrive a case against the ACLU; rather -- as good lawyers do -- the authors build their case using historical facts, documented statements, positions and court actions of the ACLU to, in effect, use the ACLU's history and actions against itself ... and the facts are quite incriminating."

"From its founding in 1920 by Roger Baldwin, a socialist with strong communist leanings, the ACLU was never a genuine force for American liberty as defined by America's founding fathers."

We might wonder why the ACLU is focused on "protecting pornographers, violent pedophiles and an "anything goes" culture -- all the while telling us it's for our own good -- and synchronously progresses efforts to further erode religious liberty, traditional values, marriage, parental authority and the value of human life."

The reason is simple.

"If you purge God and religion as a self-control mechanism and promote immorality, a need is created for innumerable new laws and dependence on the state for order."

And:

"[the] ACLU considers the U.S. Constitution to be something that must be undone and their relevance to American law and culture progressively marginalized."

"Without the Constitution as America's steadfast legal mooring, activist judges will be empowered to randomly select and apply foreign case law in American courts that suite their personally held worldviews."

Doesn't this describe exactly what is currently going on in our activist courts? The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals somehow magically finds a right or reason to take the words, "Under God" out of the pledge of allegiance and takes away the rights of parents to determine how, when, why and in what way their young children should be taught about sex. This is insane people!

Schneider correctly concludes:

"Perhaps the most essential point, though, that Sears and Osten seek to impart to the reader is this: The time has arrived when challenges to our way of life must be defended vigorously in order to once again establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

I pray that more Christians will get involved in the efforts to combat the secular humanistic attack against our heritage of Judeo-Christian values. Please support the efforts of law groups like The Alliance Defense Fund which has been hugely successful in defeating much of the agenda of the ACLU. This law group is actively and prayerfully defeating the agenda that would seek to undermine and even attempt to abolish the founding tenets and subsequent prosperity and decency of this nation!

7 comments:

Christinewjc said...

Look at the hypocrisy and moral relativistic evil oozing from the likes of Reich in this statement:

"between those who give priority to life in this world and those who believe that human life is no more than preparation for an existence beyond life"

A man who promotes the killing 'for any reason' of a baby in the womb claims to "give priority to life in this world?"

Give me a break!! Sheesh!! The idiocy of such a mind as this....

Christinewjc said...

Case in point. Notice the attempt by an anti-traditional family values commentator to take a 76% majority vote and manipulate it through his own disgruntled opinion by labeling it as "profoundly wrong and un-American."

*******

Article excerpt:

In Texas, the major focus had been on the constitutional amendment known as Proposition 2 or the Texas Marriage Amendment. The ballot initiative, if passed, would amend the Texas Constitution to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. The measure passed by an overwhelming 76% to 24% of the vote. Complete results of all the Texas constitutional amendments can be found at the Secretary of State’s election results page.

Kelly Shackelford, president of the Free Market Foundation, told GOPUSA that the results of Proposition 2 were “incredible,” noting that 253 of Texas’s 254 counties went in favor of the measure.

Texans from every race and background spoke strongly, both in the vote and a record turnout, that marriage is between a man and a woman. This is a loud message from Texas to Congress, following the 13 states from last year. As a politician, you stand against marriage amendments to your own peril.

Robert Pratt, chairman of Texas’s Lubbock County Republican Party, noted that the area’s local ACLU president said that passing Prop. 2 was “heaping extra hatred on a group that has already been legislated against.”

First I wonder if he has ever given consideration to the idea that redefining an institution, which has been a bedrock of human society for thousands of years and on which much of our social norms are based, simply to please the current political desires of a small anti-tradition minority could not be seen as hateful towards those of faith and tradition.

Second, he seeks to give victim status to homosexuals by saying they have been legislated against. This is simply not true — only certain behaviors have been legislated against not people. And, these behaviors include many which have no direct relationship to homosexuality such as bigamy. Believing that legal restrictions upon who may enter marriage equals hate directed at certain persons is similar to arguing that the State not issuing a driver’s license to those who cannot drive properly equals State-sanctioned hatred of poor and non-drivers. It is simply ridiculous.

Former State Republican Executive Committee member Roger O’Dell said that he believes Texas would have seen a “10 to 1 landslide” had the left not “lied to millions of Texas voters over the past two weeks.”

Cathie Adams, president of Texas Eagle Forum, hoped that Texans respond to the election outcome “by renewing their commitments to God’s model of marriage and family.”

Not all were happy with the passage of Proposition 2. As reported in Texas Voters Pass Marriage Protection Amendment, Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said, “All that today’s results show is that it is profoundly wrong and profoundly un-American to put the rights of a small minority of Americans up for a popular vote.”

However, Ann Hettinger with Concerned Women for America, noted, “Texas’ amendment short-circuits liberal groups from hijacking traditional marriage and morphing it into a hodgepodge of relationships used only for the benefit of their agenda.”

Anna said...

Hi Christine -

All those so anxious to secularize our society fail to take into account what things were like "in the good 'ol days before America." Personal liberties were virtually non-existant in monarchies, which severely persecuted the common man, as well as those of faith. They forget the tyranny of the Roman Empire and the other world conquerors.

Our Constitution has stood the test of time. Those trying to re-define, re-write and otherwise obliterate it are sending us back into the despotic rule of tyrants.

To even suggest Christianity and terrorism are related in any way shows the total ignorance of the writer. Before Christianity, life was cheap and the individual had almost no value. It is the Judeo-Christian ethic which promotes God's love for mankind and for each other. Of course, there have been some who have claimed to be Christians and done unspeakable things. There are fakes in every area of life. It just proves there's something genuine, which they try to counterfeit or discredit.

If decent, God-fearing people wish to keep their liberties, they better wake up and smell the coffee.

Blessings,
Anna

Susan Smith said...

If we are to stand, then we must put on the WHOLE armor of God found in Ephesians 6.

We do not wrestle or fight against flesh and blood (other people), but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (see EPH 6:12).

We have only one enemy. Love from the Middle East. (ss)

Christinewjc said...

Hi Anna & Susan,

I was out most of the day yesterday so I didn't read your comments until late last night.

Yes, Susan. We have but one enemy in the spiritual world, but he has demons who affect people to do his evil, dirty work here in this present world.

I see all that is happening around us as further evidence that we are indeed experiencing the "birth pains" of the second coming of Christ.

I heard a news broadcast recently where a democratic spokesperson was mourning for the "peace and calm" of the Clinton years. Yeah right. The distractions of the Lewinsky nonsense kept that administration from focusing on what was dangerously brewing in Bin Laden and Zarqawi.

God is sovereign over all that is happening and He has warned us through Bible prophecy what would be the evidence of the last days.

Satan is "having his way" in the minds and lives of the unsaved, and wrecking havoc in our world through Muslim terrorism.

My Bible study group is about to review the chapter in Genesis where Abram doubted God's promise for Sarai to conceive a son. So he took things into his own hands and the result was Ishmael born through Hagar. Ishmael's decendents were nomads living in the desert of Sinai and Paran, south of Israel. One of Ishmael's daughters married Esau, Ishmael's nephew (Gen.28:9). The Bible pictures the Ishmaelites as hostile to Israel and to God (Psalm 83:6).

We then see the bitterness of Esau when he made so many stupid decisions that he must of regreted. This included his offer of trading his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew (Genesis 26:29-34). Esau then despised his birthright. He also made the mistake of marrying in direct opposition to his parents. Here we see examples of making the mistake of taking short-term satisfaction without realizing its long-range consequences.

This comment is getting longer than I planned! I should do a post on this topic.

Anyway, extreme hostility has built up since that time and continues to this very day in the Arab, mostly Muslim peoples who are against the nation of Israel (see my former post on this called, "We Are Witnessing Biblical Prophecy), all Christians, and any person deemed an "infidel" by their standards as recorded in the Quran.

We are in WWIII and it is against a shrewd, evil, unrelenting enemy that kills not only the body of the perpetrators, but also the soul through brainwashing, indoctrination and a false hope in the afterlife. The 'god' they serve is not the God of the Bible. It is a pagan moon god made up from the finite mind of a dead false prophet.

As the article pointed out, we are also facing the enemy of our souls through people who are bent on destroying any acknowledgement of the God of the Bible and want to replace Him with their own pagan ways.

We know the ending. God wins. However, while we are here on this earth we are to do everything in our power through the leading of the Holy Spirit to combat the forces of evil. As I have stated at my website:

The Bible further instructs us to preach the whole Word of God (2 Timothy 4:2), which includes being the salt of the earth and asserting a moral influence. In this age of moral relativism, the person who holds a pro-moral position is often attacked or ridiculed. If a story can be slanted to the left of the political or religious spectrum, it will be. If an event involves abortion or homosexuality, the news will be slanted in a pro-abortion and pro-homosexual direction. In 1992, Dan Quayle was ridiculed and called "arrogant," "aggressive," and "offensive" because he argued for objective moral truths - not personal preferences. "This subtle distinction," says Chuck Colson, "is at the heart of the moral conflicts dividing our culture today."

Ask God what He would have you do in this centuries-old war between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man. The powerful pagan forces that opposed Elijah (1 Kings 18), that fought our Lord (Matthew 16) and that battled Paul (Acts 17) are among us still; forces that seek to throw off the moral cords of God (Psalm 2) and declare themselves liberated - only to find themselves slaves to their own passions and ideas (2 Peter 2:19). I dedicate this site to alert Christians to the pagan dogmas that exist today. We are in a battle for the hearts, minds, souls, and spirits of our children. How can you help to save the United States of America for the sake of our children and grandchildren?

My prayer is that God will open the eyes of His people to the need to know and defend the one worldview that speaks to reality - to the real world - namely, Biblical Christianity. Every believer knows that some day the kingdoms of this world will "become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15). It is each Christian's moral duty to live, wait, watch, and work for such a time and especially to manifest the character of Christ in our present circumstances. He is our Savior, Lord, and King, and His love needs to be shed abroad in our hearts and in our world - now.

Clandestine said...

Let's put aside our difference to be there for our mutual friend, Jojo.

jojolovesjesus.blogspot.com

Christinewjc said...

Thank you, Clandestine, for alerting me about Jojo's daughter going to be with the Lord.

Your poem dedication at your blog was absolutely beautiful and I'm sure that when Jojo reads it she will be comforted and blessed by your love, compassion and care at such a time as this.

God bless you,
Christine