Blog #2 - Culture War

World Magazine’s April 2nd issue had an interesting article about another right to life issue in South Carolina. Mr. McClanahan, a patient at the Medical University of SC, was declared unlikely to live or to recover, and, despite the fact that he regained consciousness, obviously felt pain, could move some limbs, blink answers to questions, breath without a respirator for 11 hours, and had a wife (legal guardian) who wanted everything done to save him, MUSC is trying to kill him. His heart monitor was removed, and against the wishes of the patient and the legal guardian, a DNR order was placed on his chart, which is illegal, by the way. Nurses are refusing to treat him, and no follow-up on his progress is being made. More evidence of a culture war in America.

This has gotten me to thinking about how one can actually win the culture war. If you looked solely at politics, you would think that the culture war is going well, as conservatives are being swept into office. However, a quick look around the real world will show you the falsehood of trusting in politics. Why then does the ‘other side’ seem to be winning all of the battles in this culture war? What is the answer?

First, let me state that preaching the gospel is a must, but it should be accompanied by serious effort on all our parts. More evangelism leading to more conversions is required. Amen. I am all for evangelism. But, I think that there is something else that we must do. Education. It strikes me that while there is a significant homeschooling movement, it is not enough. For even if we educate our own through homeschooling and Christian schools, people still have to go to secular institutions for higher education to prepare for a job. I have good Christian friends who were trained in medicine at MUSC. I have a brother who was trained to be lawyer at UVA. I have friends who learned architecture, art, and the principles of beauty from a secular state-sponsored school. It is hard to learn a Christian worldview of medicine, the law, or architecture if God is left out of the classroom. I am not trying to imply anything about my friends here, they are all godly men. I am simply pointing out the fact that they, and we ourselves, would all be wiser if churches, denominations, and the like returned to the business of training men and women for life via education, and higher education at that. There was a time when there was only one secular school in the nation, the University of Pennsylvania, and all of the teachers there were Anglican priests or Presbyterian pastors.

I am becoming firmly convinced that if the church does not return to the work of education, then the church will not win the culture war.