Many Americans believe their country is going to hell, and it's hard to refute that. The internet has changed social mores, our leadership is mediocre at best, corrupt at worst, and personal narcissism is rising fast.
Plus, there's deep political division among the people.
The United States was forged using Judeo-Christian philosophy as a baseline. So what exactly is that? I can't fault any American for not knowing because the public school system has largely banished "J-C ethics" from the classroom.
Well, time to get out your notepad.
In researching my upcoming book "Killing the Witches," we found that the brutal religious-based murders in Salem had a profound influence on the Constitution. Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison fought against any definition of the new America as a "Christian" nation, while Patrick Henry and others wanted that description in writing.
Ben, Thomas, and Jemmy won the debate, but it was close. However, the brilliant secularists well understood that democracy would not survive unless there was a clear vision of "justice for all."
That's when Judeo-Christian philosophy kicked in, the concept of right and wrong based on the Ten Commandments. If you dispute that, visit the Supreme Court building in Washington, where a sculpture of Moses and the Commandments dominates the ground floor.
In a 1983 case, the Supremes found that state legislatures could pay a "chaplain" to conduct prayers "in the Judeo-Christian tradition."
Today, J-C tenets are under massive assault from the progressive left, which controls the President of the United States. The primary reason is moral judgments about abortion and "alternative" lifestyles, plus the fact that following any kind of "higher power" diminishes the influence of the state. Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot, et al., all persecuted religious faith. That continues to this day in totalitarian regimes.
In America, the corporate media largely sides with progressives and casts deep suspicion on religious expression. The indefensible child abuse crimes committed by some Catholic clergy have devastated Christian influence.
A recent study out of the University of Chicago indicates Judeo-Christian ethics are absolutely under siege in the USA. Thirty-four percent of Americans never attend religious services, the highest number ever recorded.
The decline of theology in the U.S. is apparent. Those identifying as Evangelical Protestants have fallen from 23 percent in 2006 to just 14 percent today. Catholics have sunk from 16 percent of the population to 13 percent, despite millions of new migrants who come from Catholic cultures.
The result of the secular intrusion is vividly apparent. In many places, laws are not enforced, and criminals are not punished. Intoxication is encouraged (legalized pot, acceptance of public hard drug use), people of faith are openly mocked on social media, and attacks on churches, like the L.A. Dodgers honoring an anti-Catholic group, are largely ignored by the corporate media.
Presiding over all this is Joe Biden, a weekly Catholic mass attendee. But instead of embracing Judeo-Christian tenets such as all life is sacred and the rule of law must be upheld if "justice" is to prevail, Biden rejects that and strives to make things like abortion and illegal entry to this country easy.
The result is a kind of brutal anarchy that once held sway in Salem, Massachusetts. Emboldened criminals kill thousands of innocents each year. Abortion on demand for any reason destroys thousands of unborn in places like California and New York.
Fearful of his far-left base, Mr. Biden, like Pontius Pilate, washes his hands of any responsibility.
The Founders well understood the dangers of imposed theology. But, equally, they knew that the elimination of right and wrong would severely damage this Republic.
And that's what is happening.
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