Two Nations, Part 2

A provocative second post!

Here in California it is difficult for me to gage how many of us adherents to the classic Christian world view are left. Even people who count themselves Christians are often more effected by the ideas of the SP's than by a biblical world view.

I recently did an interview on the death penalty for an Australian pod cast - the sci phi show. The comments posted have been very negative. Not because they disagree with the the Death penalty, but because I cited the Bible and advocated the death penalty for islamist terrorists with slightly less due process than we accord to domestic criminals. They also objected to my certainty about good and evil. Yet these SP/s claimed to have moral sentiments of an altruistic nature based on natural selection. They could not see the incoherence of insisting we treat Islamists like shop lifters based on nothing more than alleged evolutionary emotional predispositions.

I do fear for the future of the United States. Our determined foes cannot defeat us overnight by force. But we have such a large contingent who think what we would call nihilism is the only "western value." These people will not willingly fight and die for anything. Nor will they allow others to do so if they can stop them. Our own nihilists are an unconscious fifth column who fight for the victory of our enemies even as they insist that their views are the truly "western" views.

Hi Dave and Don,

My observations are very similar to Trinitariandon’s. Secular Progressives are a significant, but still small minority in America. They do seem to have a disproportionate influence in America based on their control of many long established Universities and the Mainstream Media, but they are still a minority. There is a very small minority of people in the United States who want to destroy Christianity and Christian values, a small minority of atheists who are moral relativists, and a huge minority of Christians who think just like secular progressives in Europe. Together, these three groups make up half of our country.

A significant number of Christians in America believe global health care, abortion (to prevent unwanted babies), gun control, religion free zones, welfare, reversing global warming, humanitarian aid to Africa, and peace without weapons is the practical application of their religious beliefs. I don’t doubt these people worship the same God as us, but they clearly have a different understanding of human nature and history than us.

The one thing we have in common with these progressive Christians and most secularists is our desire and hope for peace. However, we differ greatly in the methods we advocate for achieving peace and we mostly differ in our definition of peace. Cuba has the type of peace advocated by progressives. The government has the guns, nobody gets hurt, everyone obeys Castro; plenty of peace, but no freedom.

The second half of the nineteenth century in America has the type of peace I advocate. Good men and women risked their lives to free an enslaved population which resulted in the entire population of our country being able to worship the God of their choice, choose where to live, who to associate with, and what to do for a living.

Islam, especially radical Islam, is a threat to the type of peace that includes freedom. The solution to the threat is lots of prayer, lots of determination, and lots of fire power. All three; any one or two of the three will not defeat the threat. My daily prayer is for God to protect the innocent, punish the guilty, and reward the good in Iraq. Perhaps this should be a prayer for America and the rest of the world as well.

I am extremely thankful for the two of you. I can see where God has used both of you for his purposes. Please do not be discouraged; you are both making a huge difference. This war is very long term and most likely will outlast our physical bodies on earth.

Thanks, David and Donald, in turn for you comments. I can tell you I hesitated a little in writing this last blog, knowing it sounds pretty extreme. And, frankly, some of it is attributable to my tendency to cast things in their extremes in order to understand the parameters and possible conclusions of what I'm thinking/saying.

BUT! (And it's a big but!) . . .

There is too much at stake in this war. Certainly, unity is preferrable - and I believe in our faith and our ideals we need to expend a good deal of energy in order to persuade as many folk as possible. If things continue on the way they are, I don't think it's inconceivable for there to be a major Constitutional crisis as great as that which occurred in 1860. There are just too many issues that we simply will not compromise on (e.g. abortion, emminent domain abuses, etc.). Granted, not every one will lead to a crisis, but this war brings these not-so-latent issues to a head. Having folks, however small a minority they may be, who nonetheless wield a disproportionate amount of influence and power, and, further, who use it illegally (not to mention un-Constitutionally), to sap our very strength in combating this threat . . . Well, I don't see things going on this way forever. It can't be borne.

I don't know what the outcome will be, but I think we need to understand that some pretty awful stuff could be in our future; we need to be ready for it. We will be attacked again!