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Desecrators
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"The Desecrators" by Matt Schlapp and Deal Hudson (Book Review)

If there is any one thing that’s driving America over the edge into socialism, that thing is our so-called “education” system, hands down.

Lee Duigon
  • Lee Duigon
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(TAN Books, Gastonia, NC: 2022)
[Note: TAN stands for Thomas A. Nelson, but has no connection with Thomas Nelson Books.]

“Play nice!”

“Reach across the aisle!”

“Be bipartisan!”

We hear such advice all the time, but you won’t find any of it in this book. Advice like that is what got America into such trouble in the first place.

The authors don’t want to make friends with the Far Left. They don’t want compromise.

They want victory.

Matt Schlapp is chairman of CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Committee. Deal Hudson is the former editor of Crisis Magazine and the host of “Church and Culture” on the Ave Maria Radio Network. We have a conservative Protestant and a conservative Roman Catholic teamed up to fight “the desecrators.”

Who Are They?

Who are the desecrators? You know them by their works. Tearing down statues and monuments; pressuring corporations to preach and practice a Far Left ideology; using the social media to silence any and all dissenting voices by means of the “cancel culture”; infiltrating liberal churches to undermine Biblical orthodoxy; controlling as much of the news and entertainment media as they can lay their hands on; and, worst of all, using the schools and colleges to indoctrinate children and young adults into the entire spectrum of Far Left thought—Critical Race Theory, transgenderism, socialism.

That’s who they are and that’s what they do.

The authors’ aim is to convince America to take the threat seriously. Too much of this mischief goes on out of sight. Not that it’s been cunningly concealed, although some of it has: no—much of it succeeds because people are either looking in the wrong direction or not looking at all. It’s always so easy, for instance, just to say, “That’s not happening in our schools!” But of course it is.

Now we’re paying for our ignorance.

Is Politics the Answer?

Schlapp and Hudson are very strong when it comes to supporting the Republican Party. After all, we live in a country with a two-party system and the other party, the Democrat Party, has long since made common cause with the desecrators. Who can tell them apart?

But we think the authors have missed something much more important than party politics.

If there is any one thing that’s driving America over the edge into socialism, that thing is our so-called “education” system, hands down.

When America went into “lockdown” (a term that originated in our prison system), schools were closed and children stayed home for “remote learning” via their computers, many parents for the first time ever saw and heard what their children were actually being taught. It should be mentioned that as this was going into effect, “officials” of several school districts were so bold as to try to get parents to promise not to “interfere” by watching or listening to the lessons. But parents did listen, and many of them were appalled and angered by what they heard. The result was a sudden fourfold increase in homeschooling.

What were these lessons that so scandalized so many parents? Things that Chalcedon and many other critics had been tirelessly warning them about for years![i] Sex lessons. Transgender propaganda. Critical Race Theory (all white people are racists, etc.). Lessons slandering America and praising socialism.

Republicans send their children off to public schools—to be “taught” by members of Far Left teachers’ unions out of Far Left-tainted textbooks. What do those parents think will be the result of thirteen years’ worth (seventeen, if you’re counting college) of non-stop indoctrination into a belief system profoundly, bitterly, and aggressively hostile to America? Add to that a lack of Biblical grounding, religious apathy, a rather less than wholesome popular culture, and an addiction to a social media and internet with no quality control, and you’ve got a very happy climate for the desecrators.

Here at Chalcedon we champion Christian homeschooling, as we have done for several decades. If a society fails at training up the next generation in the way that they should go, what can go right for that society?

“Unless the Lord Build the House…”

We agree with the authors that we should “accept the new reality so you can change it”; “call out the evil and the evildoers” and hold them accountable; “demand transparency” from “donors pushing Marxism”; subject Democrats to the same scrutiny and criticism that Republicans have to live with daily; stand up for the unborn; reject racial animosity; mobilize churches and families to take responsibility for training their children and stop leaving it up to “teachers” in the schools; teach their children “practical knowledge” that they can use, instead of the smorgasbord of useless “studies” served up by the colleges (pages 206-219).

But! “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 127:1).

Is there any more dramatic demonstration of the truth of this verse than what we are experiencing in America today? All the political clout and savvy in the world won’t help us out of this cultural and spiritual wasteland unless we take responsibility for educating our children! We won’t get out of this without God’s help: if we don’t seek Him with all our hearts.

The teachers’ unions aren’t building us a house.

They’re building us a prison.

***

I feel compelled to mention that this book very badly needs some better copy editing. There are too many little errors in it that will weaken the power of its argument.

[i] As one example, Chalcedon published Bruce Shortt’s The Harsh Truth About Public Schools in 2004.


Lee Duigon
  • Lee Duigon

Lee is the author of the Bell Mountain Series of novels and a contributing editor for our Faith for All of Life magazine. Lee provides commentary on cultural trends and relevant issues to Christians, along with providing cogent book and media reviews.

Lee has his own blog at www.leeduigon.com.

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