Christmas, Western Civilization, God, and American Morality

Sorry to be late. The internet was down. • • • DECEMBER 26 IS BOXING DAY. At least in the UK, it's Boxing Day. Not fisticuffs, but the day when traditionally the English took "boxes" of goodies and set out to visit their friends on the day after Christmas. Goodies like Christmas Pudding -- Plum Pudding to Americans -- and shortbread biscuits -- cookies to Americans -- and individual mincemeat tarts. "Goodies" is the right word for all those, well, all those goodies !!! In America, Boxing Day in the New England Colonies has long since turned into Exchange Day when stores are inundated with returns of gifts that don't fit, are duplicates, or are just not what the receiver wanted. Frankly, I'll take the Boxing Day Goodies !!! • • • IS AMERICA RETURNING CHRISTMAS TO THE STORE ON EXCHANGE DAY? That could be how current-day Christmas is described in America, according to many reports. It's true that there more Americans go to church around Christmas -- especially to mega-churches, and as always, to Catholic churches. And, we learned on Christmas evening that more pilgrims went to church in Bethlehem this year than ever before. • BUT, there is always somebody reporting that fewer Americans believe in God or go to church, although the Catholic News Service reported last April that a December 2017 Pew Research Center survey found that the majority of Americans say they believe in a higher power, but what they are talking about isn’t necessarily God “as described in the Bible.” Pew’s studies in recent years have shown a decline in the number of Americans who believe in God with absolute certainty and a growing number conversely having doubts in God’s existence. This led researchers to question what exactly people are rejecting : a higher power or spiritual force or the Christian idea of God. The Pew survey of more than 4,700 U.S. adults found that the vast majority -- 90% -- believe in some kind of higher power, with 56% professing faith in God as described in the Bible and 33% saying they believe in another type of higher power or spiritual force; while 10% of Americans say they don’t believe in God or a higher power of any kind. Pew broke down the results by religious traditions and found that 80% of Christians said they believe in God as described in the Bible -- with black Protestants at 92%, evangelicals at 91%, but only 69% of Catholics and 72% of mainline Protestants holding this view of God. The belief that God is responsible for all or most things that happen in life is held by 82% of those in historically black Protestant churches and 72% of evangelical Protestants, with more than half of Catholics seeing God’s hand at work in all or most things that happen to them, as do 53% of mainline Protestants. More women than men see God at work in all or most of what happens in their lives. Interestingly, 20% of Christians don't believe in the God of the Bible, BUT 17% of religious “nones” do. • A statistic that may be related to Americans' ambivalence about God is that while American intellectuals applaud the growing population of "nones" who have no religious affiliation and the corresponding decline in Christian affiliation seen primarily in cities and college-educated populations, young people in America are experiencing a 30% increase in suicides since 1999. Are these intellectuals, many of whom have some contact with college-age young people, teaching them that spirituality is meaningless, thus sucking an ethical anchor out of their lives? The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that the doctrine of separation of Christian Church and State is used as a bulldozer to push Christianity out of the public space. Ben Voth wrote in American Thinker on Christmas Day : "Secular anthropologist E.O. Wilson in his 2012 book, The Social Conquest of the Earth, documents the deadly tie that binds humanity together -- killing. This is the darkness pouring out of the human heart that Christmas rises against with piercing light....Though Christmas day in 2018 will likely be celebrated in the same deadly terms offered by Cherif Chekatt in France who shouted 'Allahu Akbar,' as he killed, Christmas is still a holiday [not connected with] human hate. If our lives are wrapped in warm yet peaceful distractions this season, we can consider ourselves blessed by the advent of Christmas within the cruelty of human experience." • • • IS WESTERN CIVILIZATION ON THE SKIDS? American Thinker's Selwyn Duke thinks it is. He wrote on December 23 : "They can sense it. They can feel it. Something is seriously wrong in our civilization, and many people know it. This is why despite the relatively good economic times, most Americans polled say our country is on the 'wrong track'....many are like a gravely ill man who knows he’s not well but can’t precisely identify his ailment. Most often, Americans have only a vague sense of cultural malaise, or they 'self-diagnose' wrongly. Years ago I had a brief 'state of the nation' discussion with a very fine, older country gentleman. While no philosopher, he did offer the following diagnosis. Struggling for words and gesticulating a bit, he said, There’s...there’s no morality.' ” • Selwyn Duke goes on to say that most believe, or will say, that "morality is important both personally and nationally....We generally agree that an immoral man treads a dangerous path; of course, it’s likewise for two immoral men, five, 53 or 1,053 -- or a whole nation-full." • Duke quotes the Founders -- George Washington noted that “morality is a necessary spring of popular government.” The famous apocryphal saying goes, “America is great because America is good, and if she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” Duke then states that we cannot MAGA -- Make America Great Again -- unless we MAMA -- Make America Moral Again. But, what is morality? There's the problem. • Selwyn Duke says : "Sociologists and anthropologists “identify morality with social code,”....They’ll essentially say what sociologists Durkheim and Sumner did, 'that things are good or bad if they are so considered by society or public opinion,'....'Durkheim stated that we do not disapprove of an action because it is a crime but it is a crime because we disapprove of it.'....'Man is the measure of all things,' as Greek philosopher Protagoras put it. Yet acceptance of the 'society says' thesis presents a problem : Now you must convince others to equate 'public opinion' with credible, binding 'morality.' This is mostly fruitless because, frankly, it’s stupid." • We can certainly agree with Duke if we consider the current evenly split public opinion about abortion or the death penalty -- both issues steeped in moral questions. BUT, there is another word that could be substituted for "morality.' The word is "good." Man's DNA is somehow inculcated with a sense of "good" -- except for those few whose DNA is damaged, people of all ethnicities and religions seem to have a rather uniform common understanding of "good." It is not related to the silly laws about car parking or the licenses issued by the state for cosmetologists or engineers, it is related to not harming others -- it descended in western civilization form the Greeks who gave us with the Golden Mean -- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you -- and Jesus and Buddha gave that advice to us as well. Mankind has a deep and universally shared view that harming others is not "good." There may be slight variations in the definition of "harming others," but taking a life deliberately, harming children or the old or the weak and feeble, stealing, are almost universally seen as not "good." Part of today's problem with morality may be tied to the sense that the state simply makes too many unimportant acts "illegal" and therefore "immoral." And, because those outlawed acts have nothing to do with the "good," they are viewed as tax-raising mechanisms of one sort or another -- pay to park on public roads and streets, buy a license to cut hair, be fined for speeding on an empty highway. • That brings us back to our question -- is western civilization on the skids? Or, as Selwyn Duke frames the question, "Who or what determines what this thing we call morality is?" Duke's answer is that morality is determined either by "man or something outside of him...If the latter, something vastly superior and inerrant (i.e., God), then we really can say morality exists, apart from man. It’s real. Or, to use my word, "good" is real. • But, Duke has another question and some answers : "What are the man-as-measure implications? Well, imagine that the vast majority of the world loved chocolate but hated vanilla. Would this make vanilla 'wrong' or 'evil'? It’s just a matter of preference, of whatever flavor works for you. Okay, but is it any more logical saying murder is 'bad' or 'wrong' if we only do so because the vast majority of the world prefers we not kill others in a manner the vast majority considers 'unjust'? If it’s all just consensus 'opinion,' it then occupies the same category as flavors : preference....This perspective engenders what’s often called 'moral relativism,' the notion that 'Truth' (absolute by definition) is illusion and what’s called 'morality' changes with the time and people. But saying all is preference is actually moral nihilism, the belief that 'morality' (properly understood) doesn’t actually exist -- because, again, 'opinion' isn’t morality." • Duke cites a 2002 Barna Group study that found that "most Americans did not believe in (absolute) Truth, in morality; in fact, only 6% of teens did. Thus are they most likely to base what once were called 'moral decisions' on...wait for it...feelings. Surprise, surprise." This, says Duke, is the answer to the western civilization question : "Such prevailing philosophical / moral rot collapses civilization. For anything can be justified. Rape, kill, steal, violate the Constitution as a judge, commit vote fraud? Why not? Who’s to say it’s wrong? Don’t impose values on me, dude....This reflects what’s befalling our 'If it feels good, do it' western civilization. Considering the rules of any system non-existent or irrelevant brings movement toward disorder -- and a point where those who can impose their preferences restore order, a tyrannical one." • We see this at work today in the United States when Progressives tell us that whatever they call "racist" is really racist, or whatever they find objectionable about constitutional government is really objectionable and they will tell us how to govern ourselves, the Constitution be damned. • As Duke points out, science tells us only what we can do, not what we should do -- for example, mankind instinctively believes in the factual law of physics that says we cannot jump from a great height and survive. But, science does not tell us what is moral -- 'even about deciding to jump anyway -- because morality cannot be measured or observed, except in human conduct, and, in a morally-relativist world, that leads to social decay because the observed human conduct is all over the place morally. It is the moral point of view that says, “If man is all there is to make up rules, why can’t I just make up my own?” Duke so correctly states : "Of course, this rarely leads to serial killing. But it always -- at population level -- leads to serial immorality. This is an immutable rule of man....moral relativism / nihilism’s appeal is that it’s the ultimate 'get-out-of-sin free' card. After all, my sins can’t be sins if there are no such things as sins, only 'lifestyle choices.' Yet also know that we can have this seemingly eternal but illusory absolution -- or we can have civilization. We can’t have both." • Think about that last sentence carefully, because it suggests that while western civilization may not be dead yet, it is on the skids and we need to consciously pull it back from the slippery slope of moral relativism. • • • WHAT TO DO? That brings us back to Christmas. Carlos M. Vargas wrote an interesting article in American Thinker on Christmas Day. The title of the article is "Who is Jesus?" • Vargas notes : " ‘What kind of question is that?’ Church members by the millions might ask! Many would instantly proclaim that ‘he is the reason for the season,’ though in today’s society this may get you fired, de-platformed, censored, or sued into oblivion for making such a proclamation. The reality may be that the majority of folks know of Jesus but may not actually know him in biblical terms. Some may relate Jesus to the people who come knocking on their door on Saturday mornings while still sipping coffee in their pajamas. For others, Jesus is associated with the guys riding their bikes or walking around town with the white collared shirts and ties. Is that what Jesus wants people to be doing in life? Or does Jesus want us to start a 501c (3) organization and assume the title of ‘pastor’ or ‘elder’ and have a flock of peep(s)? Could it be that Jesus is best defined by the popular crusader televangelist whose devout stories and published books inspire millions? Maybe, maybe not. Or, does the Pope single-handedly hold the authority of God Almighty while living inside of a walled city?" • Vargas writes that anyone who wants a : "biblical perspective on who Jesus is will find the following short list of descriptive words concerning his life and testimony, useful in identifying true followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus is described as : -Despised and rejected of men. -A man of sorrows. -Acquainted with grief. -Oppressed. -Afflicted. -Merciful. -Compassionate. - Falsely accused. -Opposing the religious power structure. -Performer of miracles. -Bringing people back from the dead. -Not motivated by money. -Not politically correct. -Believing in individual empowerment of God. -Selfless. -Prayerful. -Teaching people to trust God not man. -Preaching repentance from sin. -Publicly executed. -Resurrected from the dead. -Ascending into heaven. • Vargas notes that this is a very short list, but even a novice reader of the Bible will find these descriptions to be very clear and emphasized throughout the first four books of the New Testament -- the Gospels. Yet, says Vargas: "That same novice reader may not see any of these descriptions in the modern-day American church or in society....God has always had true worshippers and followers and I believe that this is still the case today. So, where are they? Will the true believers in America please stand up?" • Vargas' point is that the American church is suffering an identity crisis regarding faith in Jesus Christ : "After all, Christian means to ‘be like Christ,’ implying that those who call themselves Christians are like Christ. Are Christians in America really like Christ? Do the prominent religious leaders in America exhibit the attributes of Jesus Christ as referenced above? Or is the American church more accurately described as ‘lukewarm?’ Where does the Christian in America find his or her identity in 2019?....In our society today, it is evident that people are finding their identity outside of faith in Jesus Christ such as politics, materialistic ideals, sexual identity, social media, financial gain, career, and even in religion....The scripture gives us warning about ‘having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof’ this seems to more accurately describe the state of the American church in 2019. Perhaps the modern church in America has become to ‘organizationally-focused’ as opposed to biblical ministry-focused. According to the scripture, believers of Jesus Christ are to come out from the ways of the world and be separate, that the love of money is the root of all evil, that the friendship of the world is the enemy of God. These are the things that are written in our Bible, but are we hearing these things from the pulpit? If not, then what are Christians learning in church?....Does the church in America know who Jesus is?" • • • DEAR READERS, while nobody is suggesting that 21st century Americans become 17th century Puritans, there is still, as Selwyn Duke wrote, the uneasy sense that something is wrong with our civilization, with America, today. Duke's description of the relativist society we live in and the 'I will make my own rules' rejection of morality is leading us away not only from God and Christian moral values but also from the constitutional foundation of the American Republic. We can have subjective lifestyle choices thrust upon us OR we can have civilization. We can’t have both. John Adams was not speaking lightly when he admonished that the American Republic cannot survive the destruction of religion. • I find it cynical on the part of the Progressives who are trying to promote a "get-out-of-sin" society with no attachment to religion or widely accepted moral values that they accuse President Trump of trampling on THEIR values that have no majority support in the US and that do not establish any rock-bottom standards of conduct or social behavior. Christopher Chantrill wrote on Christmas Day in American Thinker : "It is not the job of a President to change the culture, because politics is downstream from culture, and culture is downstream from religion....it is the religion of the educated ruling class that oppresses us, with its transcendental faith in the idea of politics and activism as a sacred calling -- for the educated elite and its approved little darlings -- and with us normals as the Evil Ones to be vanquished in a Progressive jihad of activism....Of course, we can rebel against the ruling-class injustice that issues from its ruling-class religion, and we should, and we will. And we can rally behind a President who will fight for us against the vile ruling class, and we will." • But, Chantrill says that what we need is a "new religion to inspire a new generation to create a new culture to develop a new politics to rule an America where normal people can live and thrive in peace and prosperity rather than live in increasing subjection to Progressive totalitarians....What should come after Trump is a new religious movement revolted by the hypocrites and pretenders that rule us, and determined to find a new meaning of life, the universe, and everything that goes much lighter on politics and government power." • That starts with keeping the Christian spirit of Christmas alive year round and recognizing that Jesus has shown the way and that the Founders placed Him squarely in the center of the Constitution in order to create a functioning, moral Republic. • It was President Trump and the First Lady who were at church service on Christmas -- have we seen any Swamp Creatures posting on Twitter photos of their attendance at Christmas church service? I haven't seen any.