I studied economics and English in my undergraduate degree, and for good reason: economics is often complicated enough to require an English degree for explanation. Nevertheless, one of the illustrations my English teachers used to teach was the contradiction of the noble savage. That was, of course, a very clear example of an oxymoron. An oxymoron is a noun that, according to the dictionary is “a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.” The reason the above example worked so well is that one cannot be simultaneously noble and a raging savage; therefore, it is a self-contradicting phrase. The same may be said of the phrase “secular republic,” for one has never existed nor ever shall.
Virtually all Americans, conservatives and liberals alike, can agree that keeping the government from establishing a state religion is a darn good thing. Experimentations in totalitarianism by the likes of England’s King Henry VIII (who started his own church in protest of divorce laws in the Catholic Church), and the coercions of other state-run churches, have fully debunked the notion that church and state ought to share administrations. Nevertheless, free societies, while not thriving under state-run religions, don’t exist in value vacuums either. There must be a balance between the establishment of religion and the establishment of secularism.
In our Nation today, there’s an all-out war on the traditional Judeo-Christian Values that serve as the foundation for our freedoms and free market system. We’ve bought the lie of moral relativism, erroneously believing that we may all have our way and everyone will be happy. This is a patent falsehood. Our Nation must have a shared set of values, or it will descend into such cultural chaos that we will share a continent but not a country. This great experiment in self-government requires that we, the people, govern ourselves. If we are to govern ourselves, we must use an objective standard as opposed to our self-constructed views of right and wrong. If we leave it up to each individual to create his or her own moral system, then the idea of “equal justice under the law” will be a thing of the past and tyranny will reign in our time.
Rebuilding America will begin at home. It will begin with moms and dads teaching their children and grandchildren the values that made America. These values are steeped in the Judeo-Christian convictions of our founders and include delayed gratification, concern for others and love of country. If we fail to teach these principles to the next generation, then freedom in America will die with us. Abraham Lincoln once stated that “the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” My friends, if we don’t start reclaiming the cultural high ground in our schools, and in the mind of the next generations, then the philosophy of government in the next twenty years will set the stage for serfdom for our kids and grandkids.
Let’s get to rebuilding, beginning in 2012.
Josh,
I completely agree with this. I enjoy listening to your show on my way to work in the mornings. Keep up the good work. I appreciate what you’re doing.
Cody
I agree. I’d atalcluy go farther, and say that all of the Supreme Court cases since Lemon v Kurtzman and Abington v. Schemp circa 1962 based on a wall of separation between church and state are wrongly decided, because there is no such provision in the first amendment or anywhere else in the Constitution, and because praying in public schools, and reading from the Bible in public schools clearly does not even begin to approach an establishment of religion . Whereas, as Dr. Right correctly points out, by banning prayer, religion and the Bible, and instead substituting secularism, the regime instituted since 1962 in fact is tantamount to an establisment of relgion, a religion of securalism, atheism and moral relativity. It’s nice to think that a society can be based on laws without norms, but without normative values based and grounded in God or natural law, it’s hard to see what the moral underpinnings of justice or a righteous society can be. After all, the Nazis had due process if you were accused of being Jewish, you had a right to a hearing, a right to an attorney, and the right to prove you were not, in fact, Jewish. The fact that the entire law and legal system under which such trials were held was an outrageous affront to God and morality did not occur to these people, because they were operating in a secular environment. These are the kind of weird and perverse results you can get in a value-neutral system.Also, nearly all great literature and social science literature, as well as nearly all great psychological works, including great writers like Jung, Freud and others, as well as all of the great musical works, depend to an enormous degree on a comprehensive understanding of the Bible and the Judeo-Christian tradition. It would be impossible, for example, to teach Jungian psychology in an intro psych class in high school unless the class had a firm grasp of both the Old and New Testaments, and Jung’s relationship to them both. Melville’s Moby Dick is another book that depends entirely upon one’s understanding of the Bible, and in particular the understanding of the prophet Elijah’s struggles with the King Ahab, to appreciate the book’s extensive symbolism and metaphor. In order to teach the book, one must teach the Old Testament stories that background the Book. These are only a few rudimentary examples. That crime rates and deviant behavior are reduced sharply among church going and hard studying young people is only another argument for bringing back the old and obliterating the new. The fact is that the old system was a good system, and it should be brought back. Courts have no right and no power to legislate for us, and the vast majority of Americans want and wish to see school prayer brought back to Public Schools.
Just look at secular Europe, where the people are all too willing to ceding their liberty to the government.
I recall years ago there was a heat wave in Paris and tens of thousands of elderly people died of heat exhaustion because their children and grandchildren stayed on vacation at the beach and didnt look after them.
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Oxymoron….like intelligent christian?