The Future of the Conservative Movement
Janaury 1998
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The failure of the conservative movement in the United States has been a failure of the churches. This has been true in other countries as well. With rare exception, conservatives have lacked Biblical and theological roots. This is not surprising, given the fact that the clergy are themselves abysmally ignorant.
How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. (1 Kings 18:21)
Many Christians are operational schizophrenics when it comes to social issues. No matter how dedicated they may be to the Faith in their personal lives, pietism has robbed them of a consistent Christian worldview by which to evaluate and interact with the world outside the ecclesiastical cloister.
I became a political conservative during the Goldwater Presidential campaign. I read the books, None Dare Call It Treason and Phyliss Schlafly’s A Choice, Not an Echo.
Political conservatism is often considered the natural avenue for the expression of Christian principles of politics and civil government. It is the common understanding of the media and of the political parties that evangelical and fundamentalist Christians who are active in politics are "conservatives."
The Urban Nations’ logo is a map of the world contained within an apple. It’s a pretty straightforward way of saying that the world is now gathered, representatively and truly, in the Big Apple. We call the logo a "mapple."
My advice to those aspiring pundits yearning for membership in the Neo-Conservative Cognitive Elite Club: embrace the Establishment, avoid "hot" Buchananesque statements, and keep God and Christianity out of your public lexicon. And never, ever talk about fearing your government, which is a Neo-Con no-no.
Our legislative halls have become an "Alice in Wonderland" where purity is now a vice and anyone suggesting surgery for the patient with advanced cancer is a barbarian. As Christians, we have an obligation to be active in the political realm; however, proposing real Biblical solutions to the major problems facing our nation will provoke attacks from all sides.
The coup de farce intended to topple Speaker Newt, in which faithful lieutenants betrayed him, only to re-embrace their beloved leader, had the makings of a Broadway comedy.
At first blush this is an extraordinary statement from the father of the beltway conservative establishment. Bear in mind that he’s not talking just about Republicans.
Conservatism in America has been on a long, steady retreat for over a century. The Presbyterian theologian of the last century, Robert Dabney, had concluded that conservatives acted to consolidate the gains of liberals and then resisted any further erosions of freedom from that point — until the next liberal victory. The process would then be repeated from the new point of liberal victory with the conservatives tagging along a respectable 20 years or so behind.
President Clinton has announced a renewed U. S. commitment to the United Nations. In his attempt to show American enthusiasm for the world organization, Clinton has promised that the United States will pay the $819 million it is said to owe, and he supports expansion of the Security Council.
Very early, a deadly notion from Hellenic rationalism entered into the Christian church, namely, the transfer of the idea of the good from ethics to metaphysics.
Hilton Kramer, in "Shock Treatment" (Art and Antiques, Summer, 1997, p. 116 f.) documents the fact that "art" today is too commonly simply an assault on religion and morality. For example, a sculpture by a woman which depicts a naked young woman urinating on the floor "reached a record breaking price at one of our most prestigious auction houses."
It is not to be wondered at that many today are discussing and implementing alternative methods of preparing young men for ministry (often with the local church, rather than an off-site seminary, assuming the responsibility.)