OPINION:
America has a secularization problem.
Where once we were a nation of people who naturally turned to both Bible and biblical principles as sources of sound advice for moral, societal and political direction, we are now living by our own wisdom. And look where it’s taking us.
Without virtue, liberty cannot stand.
Self-government will not suffer long the indignities of, say, a Seattle-like Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone mayhem.
This is a truth America cannot avoid.
“The Number of Americans with No Religious Affiliation Is Rising,” Scientific American wrote in 2018.
“More Americans Celebrating a Secular Christmas,” Gallup polled in 2019.
“In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace,” Pew Forum reported in 2019.
Want to do away with abortion? Stop drug deals in the streets? Wipe out racism? Keep juveniles away from jails, out of gangs, in school and on paths toward fruitful futures? Put a halt to gun-related crimes in the schools, in the cities, in all of America?
Virtue. A virtuous people is the key.
Laws will only take humanity so far. That’s because laws only work so far as the would-be lawless are afraid of getting caught.
Moral people, on the other hand, don’t need laws.
“Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt,” Samuel Adams stated. “He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue.”
You think the armed citizens patrolling the CHOP area in Seattle are friends of liberty?
They think they are.
They think they’re doing the work of social justice, for the betterment of all of humanity, for the good of America’s future. They think they’re doing a course correction of American politics and society and culture that’s not only long overdue, but also a surefire route to ushering in a new normal that will guarantee freedom and equality for all.
They’re wrong, of course.
They’re blinded by their anger and jealousies and misplaced outrage and ignorance and a host of other dark traits. They’re uneducated about the Bible, content in their own hearts’ promptings, secure in their own definitions of righteousness.
But mostly, they’re immoral and they’re behaving immorally because this country’s moral compass, originally the Bible, has been ticked, ticked, ticked off course for so long, it’s now wildly skewed.
The scales of virtue have been weighted to the other side.
As Isaiah, a Hebrew prophet who spoke of God’s plan for the world, warned Jerusalem in chapter 63, verse 19, “We have become like those over whom thou hast never ruled, like those who are not called by thy name.”
That’s America, 2020 — the country founded on a Judeo-Christian ideal.
If we want to fix what’s wrong in America, rather than play whack-a-mole with each and every crisis that rears, the solution is a return to biblical teachings.
That’s the only way we’ll get an America capable of self-governing. That’s the only road back to America’s greatness.
• 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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