“God and Truth will always triumph.” Ghandi.
I believe that nothing has been more significant for the moral benefit and material prosperity of the world than the foundational principles of religion in Western Civilization. Two centuries ago, Cambridge University professor, Lord Acton, proclaimed: “Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on tablets of eternity.” In the early part of the last century, another Englishman, G.K. Chesterton, said that the foundation of civilization and human love is the family. The religious doctrine of subsidiarity and the political doctrine of small government, together, recognize the consequences of a loss of family and faith in a civilization where government is present everywhere and in everything.
An attack on family and faith has grown over my lifetime. Societal modernism seeks to destroy the family by intentionally destroying the moral law. It restrains and even prohibits the recognition of God or the practice of religion in the public square. No agnostic, atheist, or communist was ever heard to complain about separation of church and state.
A lie is propagated by gods of the world who proclaim their own truth and self-determine their own morality. They challenge anyone who professes the true God. They especially challenge actions and beliefs that are based on Christianity. And they show a particular hatred for Jews.
I take heart that virtue remains the temporal goal valued by all legitimate philosophies and religions. An American institution that has espoused the practice of virtue in government and the legitimacy of religion in the public square is the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, EPPC describes itself as a “premier institute working to apply the riches of Jewish and Christian tradition to contemporary questions of law, culture, and politics in pursuit of America’s continued civic and cultural renewal” (www.eppc.org/about). EPPC has a distinguished board of directors. Its chairman, a Texan, is a graduate of Princeton University and its vice-chairman is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton. (No one can dispute the vigor of Texans or the intellectual integrity of Princetonians.)
Last month a gala was held in Washington D.C. to celebrate EPPC’s founding. New York Times columnist, Ross Douthat, was the keynote speaker. In his address, Douthat recounted when EPPC was started in 1976 that it looked like “the future of American politics . . . was dominated by absolutist and socially liberal secular consensus, one that marginalized religious arguments. . . and abandoned strong defense of innate human dignity.” (www.linkedin.com/posts>ethics-and-public-policy-center_ross_douthat. . .) He commended EPPC for its “influence on the culture” and its “integrity and consistency” on key, principled issues. He noted EPPC’s Judeo-Christian message of “truth about the human person.” And he attributed to EPPC’s significant efforts and influence, a “religious conservatism [that] is a dynamic force in American life” in contrast with societal and cultural liberalism and secular utilitarianism’s “pessimism and despair.”
Douthat recognized liberals’ anxiety over Christian nationalism. But, in his opinion, the “danger” with Christian nationalism is “a Christian nationalism primarily about nationalism and not Christianity.” (Id.)
The principles espoused by EPPC and commended by Ross Douthat are not some new bible-thumping ideas. The Declaration of Independence, our nation’s seminal document, solemnly recognizes humankind’s endowment of rights coming from “a Creator” and not a government. Washington’s successor, the second president of the United States John Adams, declared, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.”
To paraphrase another American president (and Matthew 5:14), America is “the shining light on a hill.” Guided by religious principles that have brought her this far, it is for America to set the example for free societies; a beacon to follow in conducting the affairs of culture, society, and government.
It has been observed that actions have consequences. Aberrations inevitably damage and then destroy. When government imposes itself on traditional values it harms the family and weakens the faith. The foundations of Western Civilization are in family and in the church. When they are damaged, eventually so is the civilization. Nothing matters more to spiritual good and worldly prosperity than the foundational principles of Christianity in Western Civilization. This is my sincere belief. More important, it is the shared opinion of good people much wiser than myself.
Chip Williams is a Northsider.
