Cultural Warfare - Politics

If you want another view inside the culture watching political news shows is a way to see at least a glimpse of it. If you are not watching Hardball with Chris Matthews don’t start now. However, Mr. Matthews is rabid in his denunciation of the Republican Party and the constant talk of religion, specifically Christianity. He goes so far as to claim that it is creating a religious test for office and thus is violating the Constitution. He says it with such venom that it is hard to mistake his real point: he hates the idea of Christians who make decisions based on the Bible. He had specific venom for the questioner in a YouTube debate who asked how literal people believe the Bible. He went so far as to claim that questioner was violating the Constitution. Now, everyone ought to know that the Constitution limits the power of the Federal Government. In other word, the government cannot create a requirement that everyone must conform to the Three Forms of Unity in order to serve. However, the Constitution says nothing about voters. The Voters can vote for someone because he is a Christian or because he holds to a similar view of the Bible they do, or he can vote for the guy with the best hair. It really doesn’t matter. But, Matthews is desperate to eradicate Christianity from government and daily life, so he has latched onto this silly idea of making Christianity unconstitutional, at least in candidates for office. Sadly, others are starting to follow his lead. Take Mitt Romney for example. He seems to be saying something similar, although with a lot less venom.

What does this tell you about the culture? Well, I think it again points to a real distrust and hatred for the founding traditions. Christianity is on the outs. For a while political commentators ignored Christianity and were able to dismiss it as ‘fringe’, but now they feel the need to eradicate it. Some go about it in a pseudo-acadmeic model as Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham. His book, American Gospel, is an attempt to make people think Christianity had nothing to do with the history and the argument of the book is built more on the hope that no one knows anything at all about American history rather than any sort of proof, documentation, or argumentation. Other try to eradicate Christianity by trying to us the law to make it illegal. This is the Chris Matthews approach and the approach of the United States Supreme Court (see decision outlawing prayer and banning 10 Commandments). Still others go for the mocking dismissal. The unifying point is that a large portion of the culture has a hatred for Christianity, even more so recently than in times past.

Next time we will look at books and then head off to movies before wrapping this whole quick survey with how this is infiltrating the church.