For some time now many people have come under the impression that the left, democrats, atheists, statists, communists and socialists are waging a war against Christianity and Christian values. This is not altogether wrong. But it isn’t the religion of Christianity that is under attack- it is the populist ideology of Christianity that is under attack.
It is the focus on self-sufficiency, property rights, the nuclear family, and the virtue of strength and charity that is under attack.
The assault on Christianity qualifies as a kind of collateral damage as it is a house within which these values are contained. Because the Christian religion has a large following in the United States it has become a target.
To understand this, it is necessary to understand Marxism and the revolutionary mentality. It is also necessary to understand the philosophical roots of the Christian religion.
Marxism is essentially collectivism and like most systems of government it is duplicitous. On its face, Marxism is about creating a society where everyone shares the resources of the nation equally. On its backside, however, it requires power to be vested in the hands of the few.
These few must maintain the appearance of the movement by keeping everyone below a certain prosperity level. Inevitably, those in control must enforce this through violence- and of course, those who are willing to commit violence against the people will become tyrants.
Christianity is, philosophically, the idea that there is such a thing as a perfect man. He is epitomized by the man, Jesus Christ who, as the son of God was closest to God and therefore perfect.
The Christian ideal is a person who is not totally averse to suffering, who revels in hard work, who is charitable, and who does not tolerate theft or deception.
The Christian ideal has no reservation to enjoying the fruits of his own labor, and he shares his “gifts” with his neighbors. Such a person cannot have a secure or happy place within a collectivist system- a system that will not abide his prosperity or his charity. The collectivist system will bury him.
But the collectivist would be happy to leave the Christian’s beliefs alone so long as they do not interfere with his plan. But, of course, adherence to Christian values makes a Christian unsuitable for the collectivist Marxist system.
In the 1950s, we knew this. The United States had just finished a war against a socialist nation, (Nazi Germany), and the threat of the collectivist ideology loomed large in the minds and hearts of Americans. Perhaps, back then, we had a firmer understanding that Christian values are the values of the sovereign individual- the ideal of the strong and virtuous man.
It was during that time that we added “In God We Trust” to our currency and “One Nation Under God” to the Pledge. We were trying to immunize ourselves to the collectivism and atheism of the Marxist, socialist, and collectivist agenda- and it worked.
But today we have forgotten this, and the collateral damage is that we have also forgotten that liberal collectivism stands in direct opposition to the sovereignty of the individual. It is the sovereignty of the individual that the American experiment is based on, and the injection of collectivist influence is an ideologically based invasion.
Why is this important? Because when Christians complain about the war on Christianity, they may not be wrong- but they appear foolish.
It would be wiser to look at it as a war on the rights of the individual- as a war on the profoundly American idea that the individual should be strong, virtuous, and charitable.
The collectivist wants the individual to be weak, pliant, entitled, lazy, and virtue-poor. Nihilism, moral relativity, a lack of personal responsibility- these are the required attributes of a citizen of a collectivist society.
A collectivist citizen must be willing to betray his neighbor for violations of the will of the government. This is akin to bearing false witness against one’s neighbor. And in a collectivist society, it is easy for one who is willing to exploit the system for the purposes of revenge or treachery to get rid of his stalwart rivals. In such a society, the virtuous person, the honest person, and the individualist cannot survive. They will inevitably be rooted out.
In today’s political climate we see the battle between individualism and collectivism played out in the battle between conservative and liberal factions of government. It is not an incidental thing that Christianity and Atheism should clash at the same time, as each goes part and parcel with its ideological companion.
As Christians we must remain strong with our ideals and pray for those who are against us.
~ Christian Patriot Daily
