OPINION:
If America was a nation built on the concept that rights come from God, and that government is solely in place to protect and secure those rights for the individual — it was and it is — then it stands to reason that in order to keep that principle in place, two things are needed: First, Americans must believe in God. Second, Americans must recognize God as the leader by obeying His will.
Which is why Pew Research Center’s latest “Global God Divide” finding that only 44% of Americans think they need the heavenly Creator to shape their morals and values is so illuminating.
This country is in a free-fall of cultural rot and moral decay. And how the culture goes, so, too, the politics. That’s what morals that bend and bow to human will bring.
Look to abortion rates, single-parent and fatherless homes’ rates, drug and alcohol addiction rates; youth incarceration and gang membership rates; divorce rates; domestic and child abuse rates; and more. Then look to the utter chaos that’s become Congress, the absolute stonewalling that’s put all policies truly for the people on pause. Look to the fact there are socialists — open socialists! — serving in public service, pretending to serve out their oaths to the Constitution with honor.
It’s hardly coincidental that all this cultural spiraling and political turmoil comes as more and more Americans are, as Pew put it, pooh-poohing the Bible, church, godly teachings, and the idea of a God who actively governs in the thoughts and deeds of believers.
“Less than half in both Canada and the U.S. say belief in God is necessary to be moral (26% and 44%, respectively),” Pew found.
Because abortion, after all, isn’t murder — it’s saving a woman’s life.
Because promiscuity, after all, isn’t damaging to traditional family structure — it’s freeing.
See how the word play works?
Morals can mean anything, when there’s no higher authority to dictate and define.
“In most European and North American countries surveyed, individuals with more education are less likely to say that belief in God is necessary to be moral,” Pew wrote. “This pattern closely tracks the connection between income levels and the way people answer this question, because there is a significant correlation between educational attainment and earnings.”
Isn’t that interesting?
The more education, the more wealth, the less the perceived need for God. That trails well with America’s pursuits: Money. Financial security. Bigger cars, bigger homes, bigger flatscreen TVs.
“[M]ake public colleges and universities tuition free, and cancel all student debt,” Sen. Bernie Sanders blasted from the presidential candidate trail.
“We have a moral and economic imperative to give very child the chance to succeed,” Barack Obama said back in 2011 in Boston.
It’s the belief set of the secular and liberal mindset. College for all; success for everybody; money and wealth and power and fame — and it’s the government’s job to get citizens there. Move over seeds of talent, step aside rugged individualism. It’s madcap consumerism, mass materialism and fuzzy-wuzzy, wishy-washy talk of social justice and equality. That’s what America has become. This is where America stands.
These are Americans’ morals and values.
And these pursuits have become our albatross.
The country’s in debt to foreign entities, and as the coronavirus continues to capsize the economy, so grows our debt service — to places like China.
But we’re America, Land of the Free! But we’re America, greatest country in the world!
So said some Israelites back in the day, right before they were carried off to captivity and enslaved.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” the biblical prophet Jeremiah teaches.
That describes an America that thinks it can succeed without relying on God for moral guidance. Americans, without God, cannot be moral for long.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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