Since 1990 we have participated in and directed dozens of research projects, and have contributed to numerous book and periodical publications. This includes research, original writing, authorship and collaboration on more than fifty books, including a half dozen of my own. Thanks to the explosive growth of electronic media, the amount of information available regarding virtually any subject can be staggering. According to publishing industry sources more information has been disseminated over the last forty years than in the previous five millennia. As many as four million hardcover, soft cover, and digital books are published every day in this country, and now thanks to the emergence of Artificial Intelligence some analysts have suggested the number of publications will soon double every twelve hours. This is an avalanche of data to contend with, and at the same time a remarkable testament to the wealth of knowledge available to information consumers today. According to the IT journal, Interactive Week, internet search engines, as powerful as they are, have cataloged less than half the information available on the Web, in large measure because the total amount of internet traffic is growing at an exponential pace. Mobile phone use has surpassed conventional telephone use, and is growing faster than the total world population. Locating, gathering, and using information can be a major concern for anyone in this environment. And to make the situation even more complex, business statisticians have suggested that the typical office worker in this country will have to deal with as many as fifty phone messages, three-dozen email messages, two dozen letters, eighteen internal memos, dozens of Post-It notes, four dozen text messages, and as many as a half dozen FedEx or UPS deliveries on any given workday. Finding the time and energy to juggle all of this in today’s information-intensive environment will be a monumental task. As the authors, editors, and researchers who contribute to this public forum continue to focus on gathering and responding to news and current events, always looking for a better understanding of our core values and beliefs, we are committed to reliable standards of academic and journalistic integrity, and faithfulness to a fundamental moral code. Whether it’s education, law, government, media, or routine business affairs, we try to offer reliable samplings of some of the best ideas and activities commonly available: including a number of ideas that will undoubtedly determine the course of American culture in the decades ahead.
Since 1990 we have participated in and directed dozens of research projects, and have contributed to numerous book and periodical publications. This includes research, original writing, authorship and collaboration on more than fifty books, including a half dozen of my own. Thanks to the explosive growth of electronic media, the amount of information available regarding virtually any subject can be staggering. According to publishing industry sources more information has been disseminated over the last forty years than in the previous five millennia. As many as four million hardcover, soft cover, and digital books are published every day in this country, and now thanks to the emergence of Artificial Intelligence some analysts have suggested the number of publications will soon double every twelve hours. This is an avalanche of data to contend with, and at the same time a remarkable testament to the wealth of knowledge available to information consumers today. According to the IT journal, Interactive Week, internet search engines, as powerful as they are, have cataloged less than half the information available on the Web, in large measure because the total amount of internet traffic is growing at an exponential pace. Mobile phone use has surpassed conventional telephone use, and is growing faster than the total world population. Locating, gathering, and using information can be a major concern for anyone in this environment. And to make the situation even more complex, business statisticians have suggested that the typical office worker in this country will have to deal with as many as fifty phone messages, three-dozen email messages, two dozen letters, eighteen internal memos, dozens of Post-It notes, four dozen text messages, and as many as a half dozen FedEx or UPS deliveries on any given workday. Finding the time and energy to juggle all of this in today’s information-intensive environment will be a monumental task. As the authors, editors, and researchers who contribute to this public forum continue to focus on gathering and responding to news and current events, always looking for a better understanding of our core values and beliefs, we are committed to reliable standards of academic and journalistic integrity, and faithfulness to a fundamental moral code. Whether it’s education, law, government, media, or routine business affairs, we try to offer reliable samplings of some of the best ideas and activities commonly available: including a number of ideas that will undoubtedly determine the course of American culture in the decades ahead.
Why We Do What We Do
The Role of Faith in America
What is the role of faith in today’s world? Should what you and I believe about faith and moral responsibility affect the way we live? Should personal beliefs influence the way we behave and what we practice in our daily lives? Or does faith still have a role in today’s anti-religious environment? And to the heart of the matter, should professing Christians be allowed to be involved in the democratic process?
We’re seeing promising signs of an awakening of faith among young people today, but we know where some people and their well-funded organizations stand on such questions. National teachers unions, the ACLU, “People for the American Way,” and “People for Freedom from Religion,” and even the late-night comics have voiced opposition to public prayers, the Ten Commandments, and any form of religious expression by those who practice their faith openly.
Despite the headlines, legal judgments, and controversy that boils over from time to time, older Americans will recall Ronald Reagan’s words in a famous 1984 address about the importance of the values that spring from religion. On the evidence of history he said no society can survive without a vital faith in God. "Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society, and without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure." He went on to say, “Have we not, in fact, witnessed these very things in our own communities in recent years? We are incontestably the most prosperous and materially rich nation on earth, yet our society is pervaded by passions and corruptions and a level of public indecency that would have been unimaginable just thirty years ago. And even as we are surrounded by great prosperity and wealth, the American way of life has become so coarse and vulgar that many wonder whether our democratic traditions can survive the century.” [1]
Sadly, things have gotten worse since that time, but President Reagan did not give up. Confronted by fierce resistance and blowback on many occasions, he endured, and his presidency helped to bring dignity, order, and mutual respect back to our city streets and even to the halls of Congress. Wherever you stand in this debate, evidence and experience teach us that civilization is the undeniable by-product of religion.
Today in America we see protesters and angry crowds crying out, not for religious freedom, and not for the liberty guaranteed by the founders in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, but freedom from those values largely because of their Christian roots. The doctrine of “separation of church and state,” which has never been law and is merely a passing thought in a personal letter by Thomas Jefferson, would have us believe that values based on faith are inappropriate in the public square. But such thoughts would be alien to everything the founders believed.
Laws are enacted in a civilized society to restrict dangerous and irresponsible behaviors. Yet many in today’s secular society apparently believe law and government must disregard the wisdom of the patriots gained through faith, and disavow the moral agency of those beliefs. The result of their widely publicized demands has allowed secular judges to become a law unto themselves, without regard for religious principles or moral judgments of any kind.
It’s sad but ironic. When Alexis de Tocqueville came to America in the 1830s, he was amazed by the great strength, resolve, and orderly conduct of the citizens of this nation. In his book Democracy in America, he wrote that the primary reason for our well-ordered society was our almost universal commitment to religious principles and values. Faith in God provided the essential framework of law in America. And the faith of men and women of all ranks, from farmers and laborers to the higher professions, in a divine Creator helped ensure a moral consensus and cooperation of the people with their government. [2]
It is no accident that our coins and bills, the great monuments in the nation’s capital, and even our Pledge of Allegiance proclaim America’s historic faith in God. In 1785 President James Madison wrote, “Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the governor of the universe.”7 Madison understood that the secular state holds its temporal authority in trust, and in deference to the Eternal Authority. After all, he said, how can we expect men and women who will not bow to the Creator to be obedient to the laws of the State? And how can men be expected to rule wisely without an allegiance to the Source of wisdom and judgment? [3]
Five thousand years of history make it clear that when morality is scorned and perversions are openly celebrated, nations collapse and die. How I wish we could convince the skeptics and secular media to see that the greatest impact of today’s crisis of moral authority is that so many Americans have apparently failed to understand this reality. A majority of Americans no longer defend the sanctity of human life. For many and perhaps most Americans there is no longer a transcendent vision, no big picture, no ultimate dream or trustworthy reality. Their worldview has become flat and barren. They have no hope for eternity, and life has no greater meaning that self-indulgence and the lust for pleasure. Their God, for all intents and purposes, is dead.
I won’t say more. These are troubled times for men and women of faith here and abroad. We can see the trouble in the streets, and few of us really expect things to get better. But can we do anything about the explosive growth of crime in our cities? Can we do anything to help those who have given up on the future and lost their passion for life? Should people of faith even try to get involved? Can we help? Can we take steps to cure America’s ills without risking too much? Or is that the real question after all? Should we be willing to risk everything as Jesus risked everything because it’s what we’re supposed to be doing?
For my part, as thousands confessed in our Commemoration of 250 Years of Freedom as a free nation, the verdict has yet to be revealed, but I’m convinced God still has plans for this great nation. I don’t know His plans, but I can say with absolute assurance that we have a God-given “right” to express our beliefs and to be involved in the moral and political life of this country, whatever your idea of faith may be.
What We're Looking For
Original commentary and analysis focusing on cultural, political, and social issues, with timely observations and discussion of related public policy, local and/or national events, foreign affairs, or education at any level. Your comments, ideas and original thoughts are always welcome and, when appropriate, may also be screened for display or publication here.
1. Harold O. J. Brown, The Sensate Culture (Word 1996) This book offers a compelling discussion of the process by which moral and religious societies become sensate, degenerate, and eventually fall.
2. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. George Lawrence. New York: Harper & Row/Perennial Edition, 1988. 47.
3. James Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance,” 1785, in Edwin S. Gaustad, ed., A Documentary History of Religion in America. Vol. I. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982. 262f.
