An abandoned church rests at the northeast corner intersection of High and North State Streets in Jackson, Mississippi. Its windows are broken out and its steeple sits at a slant, ready to fall. I remember when the building was functional, solid and imposing. In a way, I fear, it is a symbol of Jackson and America. I ask myself, why this fear?
Perhaps, as I recently read, it is because America is becoming “unchristianized.” That is a significant transition. Not only America, but all of Western civilization was established on Christianity and its extension from Judaism and Greek philosophy. Ancient Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome is this civilization’s foundation. From that foundation came basic beliefs, principles, and standards that were in the thread of every ecclesiastical and secular institution. In America, they were accepted and applied as readily as the country’s common language, medium of exchange, and systems of measurement.
In the not-too-distant past, people regularly came together in their faith communities to be reminded of moral and ethical fundamentals. Truth, fairness, beauty, love, justice, right and wrong were the goals and standards of living a good life. Those weekly reminders were carried into everyday life when religion had a prominent place in our culture. The churches and synagogues that brought and kept communities and the larger nation together are fading away. Along with religion, it stands to reason that morality is also fading away. They are replaced by secularism, principally in the form of socialism that is becoming radical.
The founders of our country were learned men who established a unique form of government. The country’s originating document recognized not a government, but a “Creator” from whom man’s rights were endowed. Implementing the sacred philosophy behind the Declaration of Independence is the U.S. Constitution which guarantees the government’s protection of those rights.
George Washington said that the Constitution was “sacredly obligatory upon all.” Religion and morality were his prescription for ensuring that sacred obligation would always be met. Specifically: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” The first President described religion and morality as “great pillars of human happiness” and the “firmest props of the duties of . . . citizens.” He warned against secular ethics, saying, “Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined [formal] education . . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect that a national morality [secularism] can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” (Washington’s Farewell Address, September 15, 1796.)
Changes in viewpoint by organized religions are in part to blame for the dangerous path civilization is on. For example, until the 20th Century birth control was forbidden by all western religions (based on the Bible), by the medical profession (based on the Hippocratic Oath), and by governments (enacted civil and criminal laws). Considered a moral and religious issue, the first denomination to allow birth control only permitted it for married couples for exceptional personal reasons; and only then with the prescribed moral guidance of their pastors. Yet, by the nineteen sixties the Supreme Court of this Christian nation found contraception to be a constitutional right. (Griswald v. Connecticut, and following cases). And by the nineteen seventies abortion had also become a right (beginning with Roe v. Wade). This, when there had been no revisions to the Constitution; nor to the Bible.
The resulting new morality has gone so far as to rename vices with soft, harmless terms that almost make aberrations sound normal and sin virtuous. Examples are easily brought to mind, e.g., “affair” for adultery; abortion as “medical care;” and “social justice” for livelihood enabled without honest work. Already in Canada, and coming soon to the United States, “medical assistance in dying” is the gentle euphemistic phrase for euthanasia. (See, www.canada.ca.)
Those who claim to be tolerant of others and other ideas, grow intolerant of and even violent with those who would express opposing truths of traditional standing. They demand a new morality that ignores the wisdom of the ages. “Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on tablets of eternity.” (John Emerich Acton (Lord Acton), Cambridge University.)
Government is not a religion. As Washington warned, a country with a national morality that excludes religious principle will not last. Religion provides a moral code, a set of transcendent values based on truth and virtue. Without a legitimate moral code there is no stability, there is no America; eventually, there is no Western civilization.
This is my judgment. To anyone who would condemn me for it: On what authority are you judging me?
Chip Williams is a Northsider.
