Christianity Needs to Concede in the Cultural War



Culture has changed since day one. Also, since day one, there have been leaders trying to stop the culture from changing. Pat Buchanan, a right wing Catholic, writer and politician, said in a speech in 1992

The agenda that Clinton & Clinton would impose on America – abortion on demand, a litmus test for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat units – that’s change, all right. But it is not the kind of change America needs.

…[M]y friends, we must take back our cities, and take back our culture, and take back our country.

That speech could be paraphrased as "stop all change and stop it now." If we paraphrased many of the Republican candidates for the Presidency right now the same speech is repeated, "My state is where woke comes to die." Crowds cheer. Change continues. It always will.

The link author is a social science professor who moonlights as an American Baptist preacher. American Baptists are not Southern Baptists. They are usually, from my understanding, close to other mainline denominations . The link reviews the level of public support for all the hot button issues of our time including abortion and gay rights. On all the social issues, the U.S. majority is now liberal. Buchanan's call to arms failed. It's time for the conservative army to go home. 

Cultural conservatives might do better if they would just think through their various crusades. The current one is "trans" and children who identify as a different gender than the one assigned them. Today a Federal Judge in conservative Texas ruled against a recently passed law prohibiting drag performing in various contexts. While the bill still could be considered by the court system, the Judge said it was far too broad and there were several avenues the ACLU could pursue to undermine it. To take away artistic expression because of some far flung social theory is often folly and I'm predicting success for the LCLU and drag performers in Texas.

While the cultural war has been won by liberals, there is still money to be made pretending to fight on. To concede would be honest. To fight on is profitable.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make som
Read more

The Religious Capitol Invaders May Yet Win

Image
So much about U.S. society and religion can be learned from the Civil War and what happened afterwards. After its defeat, the South started a myth about the unethical soldiers from the North. The South fought for principles of God and states rights. The North did not. It was the South, this propaganda told the country, that had the high moral ground.  The Capitol invaders, encouraged by Trump, swallowed the myth that Biden's election was stolen. Thus, they think they held and still hold the high moral ground. This was reinforced by the cross and prayers during the invasion. Even with Trump is gone, we will see political opportunists like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley stroking crowds and feeding the same lies as Trump. Like "the South will rise again" these gullible followers will talk of victory over the unclean. After the Civil War the South rallied around the phrase, Lost Cause. For decades, and maybe to this day, there are ceremonies remembering fallen martyrs, Re
Read more

Father Frank Pavone, the Ultimate Crook

Image
Recently, the Vatican defrocked Frank Pavone. His diehard fans are outraged. This is because he cleverly manipulated his fans and the press all the while living well from donations and, apparently, abusing some women. By making abortion the "sin" of the century, and himself the main opposition to this one sin, he himself could get away with any sin he pleased.  As the link points out, Pavone was the perfect priest for the Trump era. Trump is so self-important laws have no role in his life. He felt accountable to no one. Women were there to be had. Pavone and Trump are interchangeable.  Pavone was very successful raising money. In his mind, abortion was so important in Catholic beliefs and he was so important in anti-abortion the money he raised opposing it was his to do with what he liked. The Catholic Church, the brand name he used to raise this money, thought the money belonged to it. When he gave the Vatican the bird, it gave him walking papers. With polls showing the majo
Read more