By Jordan Mancl, guest columnist
It is seen on television shows such as “Hannity and Colmes” and “Crossfire:” opposing viewpoints fueling the “cultural war” that has been with our nation for some time.
But these political battles are simply branches of a much larger conflict. As Jim Nelson Black stated, “Ultimately, the cultural debate is a contest of wills between those who believe in moral absolutes and those who do not.” As seen from the 2000 presidential election, we are a nation divided between a progressive worldview and an orthodox worldview, between “new-age” thinking and traditional thinking, between ever-changing morals and divine morals.
Within the past four decades, the progressive humanistic movement has drastically grown in America. And as I have observed, it has been the source of change for the worst in our culture.
Just look at some social issues that the progressive worldview has impacted. Don’t just skim through these stats, but actually read and think about how our culture has changed in half a lifetime. Because of the stress on personal pride instead of loving submission, divorce rates have skyrocketed to one half of all marriages in this country leaving a large percentage of children in broken families.
In 1999, 33 percent of all births were to unmarried women, compared to just 5 percent in 1960. Out-of-wedlock childbirth is not just the leading cause of single parenthood; it is also the No. 1 cause of poverty among women.
Pornography is a $14 billion industry as compared to $10 million 30 years ago. Violence against women, such as rape, has increased 525% since 1960. But the biggest price we pay due to the increase of the progressive movement is the “sexual revolution.” Since abstinence is no longer a choice and we are subjected to endless “protection,” America has seen a huge rise in unmarried sex, teenage sex, and homosexuality.
What has been the result of this sexual sin? For starters, 65 million Americans are infected with STDs such as AIDS and herpes, with an additional 15 million new cases of STDs each year. Teen pregnancy will hit 8.4% of women aged 15-19 in the United States, while only affecting 2% of this group of women in France, 1.6% in Germany, and 1% in Japan. Only former nations of the Soviet Union are comparable, according to the journal Family Planning Perspectives.
And to top things off, Roe v. Wade, the “answer” to the rise in sexual immorality, made abortion legal in 1972. Since the case, 41 million babies have been aborted in America — a number over 4 times greater than the number that died in the Holocaust.
Theologian F.B. Meyer has written, “There is no greater sin which will sooner bring about a nation’s fall. If history teaches anything, it teaches that sensual indulgence … is the surest way to national ruin. Society, in not condemning this sin, condemns itself.” All who are familiar with the Bible can relate this statement to Sodom and Gamorrah, but has anyone studied the leading factors to the fall of the Greek and Roman empires as well?
The increase in support of the progressive view is a movement that could destroy our nation from within as history has proven. This land was founded under set orthodox morals — Biblical morals, to be exact. Regardless of what public textbooks may say, Pilgrims were more than “people who took long trips” and fundamentalists were more than “people who followed ancient agricultural ways.” This was a nation founded under God, and without a doubt we are the most successful and “free” nation in the world. So isn’t it a coincidence that we are also the most Christian nation in the world?
A prime example of this can be seen in comparing the American Revolution and the French Revolution. The French Revolution took place shortly after the American Revolution and, because of America’s success, the French wished to model their revolution after ours.
There was only one problem. The French Revolution was based on the “worship of Liberty, that of Reason.” Our Revolution was built on liberty through God, while France’s was built on liberty without God. Because the French used this strategy, tyranny, not blessings, reigned in France for years. The French have had a dozen failing governments since.
As a fellow American, I don’t want to watch this nation fall as a result of the progressive movement, which has already been the cause of our society’s moral decay.
Jordan Mancl ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in civil engineering and is a Student Impact leader.
