7-4-21<\/p>\n
This title might seem blasphemous to patriots. Those who know me and my works and my essays know that for the old red, white, and blue I would cheer three hundreds times, and I have.<\/p>\n
There are many among us these days who would offer three jeers<\/em> for the red, white, and blue. And do so, every day, in many ways.<\/p>\n \u201cMy country right or wrong\u201d? Yes, I will defend the flag and our American heritage; and most of you readers do, too. But is not a trio of random colors that we revere, or the mere fabric on which those colors appear. Rather it is the fabric of our republic \u2013 the warp and weave, literally, of what made us Americans \u2013 that we defend. Or we should.<\/p>\n If those 50 stars represent, instead of separate states, let us say the hallmarks of contemporary America, will we yet rise and defend stars that stand for abortion, loss of free speech, threatened denial of firearm ownership, open borders, censorship of the Bible in public places, government weaponization of tax agencies, legalized drugs, gambling, and perversion, monitoring of \u201chate speech\u201d and free assembly\u2026?<\/p>\n The Revolution-era Patriots would not have fought for such things. They rebelled against far milder intrusions by the King! Their \u201clives, their fortunes, their sacred honor\u201d meant more than accepting attacks upon our country, as today\u2019s Christian Patriots go along and get along\u2026 not wanting to hurt the feelings of those who despise us. Happy Fourth of July.<\/p>\n This Christian column will turn to Christian things. Many of us have referred to Alexis de Tocqueville\u2019s long visit to America in the 1840s, and his brilliant writings, his analysis of why America is unique in world history. Shame on us, not many of us have read him; shame on me, I did not until recently. But for all of his examination of immigrant groups, laws, fertile resources, and social traditions, he returned again and again to the bedrock strength of the American character: religion.<\/p>\n \u201cAmerica will cease to be great when it ceases to be good,\u201d he wrote in that regard, and how community churches and Christian faith undergirded the American character.<\/p>\n Is Christianity dying in America? Is Christianity an essential component of American greatness? Have our iconic wood-frame churches and beautiful cathedrals become mere social clubs or museums? How many pastors and priests preach \u201cinclusion\u201d instead of the Gospel? How many homosexual rainbow flags fly with \u2013 or in the place of \u2013 the American flag or a denomination\u2019s Christian flag?<\/p>\n Jacques Rivi\u00e8re once observed to the poet Paul Claudel that \u201cChristianity is dying\u2026. We do not know why, above our towns, there still rise those spires which no longer [host] the prayers of any one of us\u2026. Surrounded by railroad stations and hospitals, and from which the people themselves have chased [the faithful].\u201d<\/p>\n This describes too many churches, too many places, too many people in America today.<\/p>\n These very days we hear government officials bleating for trillions of dollars to take care of those in need. We listen to commercials where companies brag about spending millions (our money, of course) on the poor and disadvantaged. Whatever else these initiatives are \u2013 they are battles in the war on religion<\/em>.<\/p>\n Jesus desires that His children have a heart for the poor. God ordained His church to exercise charity. And the Founders of this nation said \u2013 many times, in many ways \u2013 that without a religious spirit, a republic is doomed to fail. They would not have dreamed of having a government rob those initiatives from its citizens.<\/p>\n Thank God, the poet Claudel responded to Rivi\u00e8re with brilliant clarity: \u201cTruth is not concerned with how many people it persuades.\u201d<\/p>\n As an aphorism, that is valid; but the question that confronts us on July 4th is, How many people in \u201cChristian America\u201d care about the Truth any more? America no longer argues against Truth, but tends often to ignore it. Truth has become irrelevant. We remember that a lady outside Constitution Hall, as it is known today, anxiously asked Benjamin Franklin as the Framers left one evening, \u201cSir, what have you given us?\u201d<\/p>\n You know Franklin\u2019s answer: \u201cA republic, madam, if you can keep it.\u201d<\/p>\n Note well: He was not differentiating between the American Constitution and Monarchy. The Framers were careful to design and bequeath a Republic \u2013 structured, limited, balanced, representative government. In the style of Athens, Rome, and, yes, the Bible blueprints for a society, as those men frequently invoked.<\/p>\n NOT a democracy, which was despised and feared by Athens and Rome and the wise Framers. There is a difference, and today\u2019s mobs not only blur the distinctions: they have declared war on order, tradition, and the religious spirit \u2013 Christianity and its role in our civic life.<\/p>\n