One of the most important facts in society is guilt. Although not the subject of much popular discussion in or out of the church, guilt is a very important and governing fact. It was not without reason that Sigmund Freud made guilt so basic to his theory. Freud's approach was deadly, however, because he made guilt irremovable; he saw it as part of our primordial inheritance, a natural and an ineradicable aspect of our being. His goal was to teach men how to live with guilt, not to eliminate it. Freud saw himself as the leader of a new priesthood. The old order of clergymen offered salvation from sin through Christ, a mythical idea for Freud. He would teach them to live with their guilt.
- R. J. Rushdoony
Rev. R.J. Rushdoony (1916–2001), was a leading theologian, church/state expert, and author of numerous works on the application of Biblical law to society. He started the Chalcedon Foundation in 1965. His Institutes of Biblical Law (1973) began the contemporary theonomy movement which posits the validity of Biblical law as God’s standard of obedience for all. He therefore saw God’s law as the basis of the modern Christian response to the cultural decline, one he attributed to the church’s false view of God’s law being opposed to His grace. This broad Christian response he described as “Christian Reconstruction.” He is credited with igniting the modern Christian school and homeschooling movements in the mid to late 20th century. He also traveled extensively lecturing and serving as an expert witness in numerous court cases regarding religious liberty. Many ministry and educational efforts that continue today, took their philosophical and Biblical roots from his lectures and books.