We all know that there are many stories in the media lately about if we should say "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas". We've heard how the ACLU fights to disallow Christian prayers, classes, and Bible studies in schools, but fights to allow Spiritual Indian Powwows, readings of the Koran, and study of Eastern Religion. Heck, beyond that, we've read about how our country has "separation of church and state" from the Constitution despite the fact that...
1) That phrase doesn't exist in the Constitution
2) The founding fathers practiced nothing that would resemble separation as "implied" by the "Establishment Clause".
However, many of us fail to examine exactly why Christianity has been slowly and methodically removed from government.
Up until about a few months ago, a simple question about my favorite movies would've revealed several answers, most definitely to include one or more of the works of one of my long-standing favorite comedians of all time, Adam Sandler. The guy made me laugh. A lot. However, "I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry", a movie loaded with worthless banter embracing the homosexual lifestyle and mocking anyone who dares to disagree as simply a "crazy" has successfully destroyed both my enjoyment of Sandler's previous works, as well as completely turned me hostile towards the indoctrinating prowess of today's media circus we call Hollywood.
It used to be, being gay was something to be ashamed about. Today however, someone's deviance is no longer a source of embarrassment; it is a source of pride. It used to be that if someone was sexually promiscuous, they were scorned for a lack of self control, and potentially ostracized for their behavior. The times, they are a changing. Modern society, instead of embracing that which is good, that which is pure, that which is noble, that which is true, has gone the other direction.
Despite our better judgment, we've slipped from deep faith, to strong beliefs. From strong beliefs, we regressed to being merely firmly religious. From our firm religion, we sought "intellectual honesty" and so departed to become solidly ideological. Our solid ideology failed, (without its backing from God) so we evolved into independent moralists. Our independent morals lacked root, so we devolved to the foundationally-lacking yet still obedient citizen. From our simple obedience we felt led astray, so we converted into mistrusting and "innocently exploring" scientists. Our eyes liked what they saw, so we became disenchanted and mildly rebellious. Rebellion made our consciences guilty, so we cast off our ability to judge in the air of open-mindedness. Our ability to judge became so rust-ridden and unpracticed that we despised it altogether in the guise of tolerance. Our tolerance led us to accept anything save for deep faith itself, the thing from which we fell. How the mighty have fallen.
As much as people may not like it, there are still those who believe in right and wrong, good and evil, and God's authority. While it may be more convenient to toss away morality and enjoy all the pleasures and spoils that our drunkenness on the wine of worldly corruption can offer, there are those of us who have refused the drink altogether. I cannot claim to be such a person. It would be extremely deceitful to suggest that I have successfully avoided the snares of the world and lived completely consistently according to the teachings of the Bible. However, I speak as one not intoxicated by the lusts this world has to offer. I write this message to you tainted, corrupted in a sort of way, yet preserved by the grace of God. I indeed have tasted the honey that is the diverse pleasure of sin indulgence. Despite my tasting of the forbidden fruit, the taste did not lead to addiction, but repulsion. Like eating foods not intended for human consumption, departing away from God’s will into sinful lifestyles initially gives someone an allergic reaction. The correct response to an allergic reaction is to take medication and flee from the things that cause such a reaction. However, today’s world has chosen a different route. Similar to how the initial distaste which is met by one’s first taste of a can of beer, the continual ingestion of “sin” leads to the individual eventually becoming “accustomed” to sin, or merely “cultured”. The first steps of being cultured, is merely the exploratory indulgence, the occasional testing, the thought that “a few bitter herbs give the stew a better flavor”. Eventually, the first steps lead to a slightly worse perspective; the simple “just one to take the edge off”, the idea that “a slightly bitter stew shows that I have refined taste, that I’m able to absorb more spices and appreciate the finer things in life”. Inevitably, addiction is the conclusion. The stew is as spoiled as a stream full of arsenic, and the “well meaning” chef is poisoned by his own recipe when he douses his creation with a gallon of rosemary because he cannot help himself. Such is the nature of sin.
Those of us who still remember the bitter aftertaste that sin has left in our stomachs can attest to the fact that the fall from God’s grace is not a quick slope down into the jagged precipice of a gloomy abyss, but a gradually descending dismount; paths adorned with picturesque scenery and welcoming vegetation along the comfortable route to hell.
The second half of Romans 1 is Paul’s solution to the problem that faces us. The reader may ask, “what is the problem?”. Paul shows us in his unfortunately all-too-relevant epistle that the problem is the “American Dream”. As advertised, the American Dream, the goal of “freedom to do as one sees fit” has become the American Nightmare; a world where democracy led to the voting of God out of heaven; where every individual becomes divine in a tragedy found delightful only by the likes of modern liberals or Lucifer himself.
E.J. Wood is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay. He has a BA in Political Science, as well as BS in Public Administration. He currently is authoring a book called "Closing the Book on Christianity: The Post-Modern Christian’s War Against the Bible".
Contact him at proantiundecided@hotmail.com
2 Comments:
Just so I get this straight...
Basically you miss the good ole days when people were ashamed of being gay. And you bring up that the constitution doesn't explicitly say the words "separation of church and state" (That phrasing, by the way, comes from Thomas Jefferson). I'm taking the founding fathers back. I know they've been waved around as Christian value conservatives lately, but in reality nearly all weren't what most would consider common Christians. Ranging from George Washington who had strong Deist tendencies, to Thomas Jefferson who may have been a straight out Atheist. And of course Thomas Paine, who while not a 'founding father' in a strict sense perhaps, was the philosophical drive that this nation was founded on, and who WAS an admitted Atheist.
There is a reason that separation of church and state is brought up still, people WANT the separation. Even if people are religious they understand that their personal religion should not be forced onto others. Their preachers should not be able to force them to vote a certain way. Their politicians should not be able to make religious practices law.
Where do you want this to end? Do you want abortion outlawed, ten commandments posted, and thats that. Or don't we make some of the more extreme passages of the bible (or whatever someone interprets from it) laws. First, lets stone people for working on Sunday, and lets kill people who suggest God doesn't exist.
I'm fine with you believing what you will, but that should be separated from the public sphere and kept private.
A great read and kickoff to Perspectives Eric. I enjoyed it very much.
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