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We begin our discussion of American Civilization with an idea about 'first things'. The first thing illustrated is 'World View'.
American Civilization begins with the world view of the consensus culture. From 1607 to 1962 the consensus culture for the English-speaking peoples, who are known as Americans,s was Judeo-Christian Culture.
Different World Views
- Where you stand depends on what you see:
- Your World View leads you to basic assumptions on the role of religious thought in politics, culture...all aspects of American life.
Which of the World Views illustrated is the Judeo-Christian view of the Founders?
- All God
- Everything in the world is about God.
- There is nothing secular.
- There is only God and anti-God.
- No God
- Nothing in the world is about God.
- There is nothing divinely sacred.
- There is nature and humanity.
- Sacred, Secular and Evil
- Some things are of God and some are not.
- Sacred and secular co-exist.
- There is God/Anti-God and nature/humanity
Except, Secular Isn't Anymore
American politics should not be modified by the adjective 'secular' - by definition.
- sec-u-lar\adjective.
- 1a: of or relating to the worldly or temporal
- b: not overtly or specifically religious
- c: not ecclesiastical or clerical
- Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition.
- pol-i-tics\noun.
- 1a: the art or science of government
- b: the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing government policy
- c: the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government
- Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition.
Because, the supposedly 'worldly' or 'temporal' art or science of government of the Liberal Human Secularists is a religious,not a worldly or temporal view. Modern 'secular' means anti-God and pagan, not neutral.
This graphic illustrates a big picture for American
3 Great Awakenings of Christians preceded the biggest movements and conflicts that define the American Civilization and the Nation that it supports.
These Great Awakenings are interwoven in the fabric of what can be called the American Experience. At every period in our time as a Nation there is a central experience that the Nation is undergoing. It is what the country is 'about' at the time. How the country begins and ends an experience are very different. The Nation is constantly changing and morphs by degrees during each experience. The experience can be oriented internally or externally from our homeland. Yet, the whole experience profoundly effects our homeland and our views both internally and externally.
Presently, America is engaged in WW IV against Islamist Terrorism. Yet, the vision for how WW IV fits into a greater vision, our role at home and in the World, is cloudy. Even if it were clear, it would be disputed by our deeply divided Nation.
One possibility is a 'Munificent Destiny'. It's the wise application of our wealth at home and across the World. It means not killing the golden goose of Capitalism for a few socialist eggs. It means protecting our Republic in a period of Imperial power and responsibilities without National - American - Imperial ambitions or will. It's about embracing profound and accelerating change throughout a society transitioning to a new Information era. It's about keeping our individual freedoms to preserve liberty and opportunity as twin objectives. See my archives for op eds with more information.
The National Missions are the role America plays in international affairs.
Some of the big movements that transformed the Nation are listed. Likewise, the separate line of thinking is listed that leads to the great cultural divide in the 1960s and the Great U.S. Culture War - our Second American Civil War.
Throughout American Civilization this Nation has been a place where it is safe to be a believing Christian and Jew.
The Big Threads and Many Issues
Two great threads, you could call them American Civilization’s “DNA” helicals, underlie our American Experience. These threads run the length of our National timeline:
- 1. The Great Experiment. Democracy in the American Republic
- 2. The Great Commission. Christianity in American
Understanding American Civilization means knowing how The Great Experiment and The Great Commission change over time in America.
The Great Commission is short hand for how Christians take Jesus’s command to spread the Good News to the ends of the Earth. The thinking of overwhelming Christian majority has provided the basis for the American consensus culture. Civilizations are built on cultures. America’s culture evolved to be a Judeo-Christian consensus culture.
The pagan challenge to Christian culture began as early as the French Revolution. The pagans prefer to be called secularists or progressives. They are Liberal Human Secularists in the 21st Century or Liberal Pagans. When they are enforcing Political Correctness, they are Liberal Puritans.
The challenges to the Judeo-Christian consensus culture gained strength with the Transcendentalists in the 1830s. From there you can draw genealogical line of thinking to the big break in the 1960s. This website will have a time line that provides those details – someday.
The rift in the 1960s can be dated for convenience, more than accuracy, to the U.S. Supreme Court decision banning public prayer in school (Engel v Vitale, 1962). The rift became the Great U.S. Culture War or our second American Civil War. I call it ACW II.
- Some excellent readings are:
- 1. America’s Real War, Rabbi Daniel Lapin
- 2. Culture Wars, The Struggle to Define America, James Davison Hunter
- 3. One Nation, Two Cultures, Gertrude Himmelfarb
- 4. America’s Thirty Years War: Who Is Winning?, late Balint Vazsonyi
The left turn from consensus culture is situational ethics essentially. When Liberal Human Secularism is boiled down, it reduces to situational ethics disconnected from orthodoxy, God and Natural Law. Many of the hot button issues and distinctions are shown on the left lunging arrow.
Today’s sweet, idealistic, caring Liberal is tomorrow’s fascist. The Liberals share the same line of thinking as Nazi Human Secularists and Communist Human Secularists. So, liberal PC excesses which are amusing today, will be as funny as a witch trial if, and when, Liberal Puritans fully assume the mantle of their cultural ancestors.
