Fighting For Freedom

DESTRUCTIVE DOCTRINES

The appearance of the United States of America on the stage of history displayed drama of the highest order. Adoption of the constitution in 1789 culminated an epic struggle for liberty through self-government beginning one hundred and fifty years before in the early settlements of Jamestown and Plymouth Plantation. With the New World secure in its hard won vision of liberty, ways of the Old World receded as it pondered its future, the signs of which began to emergence in destructive doctrines that would reap dire consequences.

The first of these doctrines appeared in France. Rationalism, the notion that truth derived out of man’s wisdom alone, promoted by the French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) and Romanticism, the elevation of man’s emotions and imagination as the basis of truth, popularized by another French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) helped launch the Age of Reason/Enlightenment. Such doctrines rejected the concept of Absolute Truth, the existence of unalterable truth outside of human reason and emotion. Its adherents believe this absolute truth resides in the creator God of the Judeo-Christian bible. Both Voltaire and Rousseau advocated revolution as a means for establishing societal order based on their doctrines, best demonstrated by the 1793 Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.

The doctrines of the French philosophers found their way into the German universitieswhere they merged with idealism, as espoused by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) basing thoughts and actions on perception rather than reality and dialectic reasoning, the belief that constant conflict and change results in continual progress articulated by G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831). This merger produced a renewed interest in the Greek idea of relativism, the proposition that truth is relative to the beliefs of a particular group or individual. Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) introduced these fallacies to his field of theology giving birth to Theological Liberalism, a movement that challenged the Bible as the inspired word of God. This wave of revolutionary thought became the focus of teaching, initially in the German universities, than throughout Europe.

These seeds of destruction grew, causing not only the fifty plus revolutions that erupted across Europe in 1848, but also the two major events that would eventually enhance and spread their destruction beyond the continent. The first of the two, the Communist Manifesto debuted that same year, 1848, co-authored by Karl Marks (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). The second also a publication, titled On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for life by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) followed ten years later in 1859. The Communist Manifesto called for the abolition of private property and the communal ownership of all production. Darwin, in his book on origins, proposed that life had evolved overtime by the process of natural selection.

TARGETING AMERICA

The close of the nineteenth century, the numerous European ideologies had gathered under the banners of Marxist Communism/Socialism, Evolution and Religious Liberalism, or Modernism. These encompassing identities shared the belief that the laws and moral values of Europe's Christian past hampered the pursuit of individual truth and the needed reordering of societies.

England did not suffer from the consequences of these philosophies until the late 1800’s due in large part to the strong Christian influences that characterized the reign of Queen Victoria that lasting from 1837-1901. The Fabian Society, founded in 1884 by the writer George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) along with socialists Sidney and Beatrice Webb, became the primary vehicle by which England would eventually succumb to their influences.

England’s experience avoided the widespread armed conflict occurring on the continent.Tactics employed in influencing her consisted of a more sinister deception. Legislative measures aimed at gradual economic and social reforms, so called, gained approval with the assistance of prominent and influential followers and members of the Fabian Society. Encouraged by this victory and armed with a successful new strategy, sites turned toward the distant bastion of freedom, American’s thriving Republic.

Memories of the successful celebration of America’s Centennial in 1876 receded by the time these doctrines made their journey across the Atlantic where they found a home in Progressivism and Liberalism. The initial beachhead occurred during the 1880’s with the introduction of Progressive Education by John Dewey (1859-1952). In an endeavor to use education to alter the values of younger Americans, Dewey managed to initiate changes in the perceptions of society, ushering in a new democratic socialism. By the early 1900’s the Progressive Era had gained momentum even producing a major impact on governmental affairs. The Administrations of Theodore Roosevelt from 1901 to 1909 and Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1921 led the way with policies that increased government power and intervention in private industry.

Not only did the Progressive Era affect education and government but also the religious life of early twentieth century America, as Religious Liberalism or Modernism crept into the theological seminaries. Its influence started to shift the mission of the church away from spreading the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ toward efforts to obtain economic and social equality. This Social Gospel gained many adherents, one of the most influential being Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969) who questioned the doctrines of the Bible in his sermons and through his radio broadcasts that lasted for twenty years.

While these early efforts to transplant the destructive doctrines of Europe achieved a measure of success, the strong resistance in America mounted by Conservatism, a movement to preserve America's founding principles and values, would prove an effective counter movement.

TAKING A STAND

The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth (1909-1915), a group of ninety essays authored and published by fifty-four Christian scholars spearheaded this response. Their intent, to reaffirm the basic tenants of the Christian faith by focusing on the authority and divine inspiration of the Bible and its message of man’ssalvation through Jesus Christ, his death, burial and resurrection. Mass revivals conducted by evangelists such as Billy Sunday (1863-1935) accompanied this scholarly effort. Together they effectively laid a foundation for confronting the claims of Modernism.

By the late 1970’s and early 1980’s a proliferation of new churches and movements based on the biblical fundamentals of the Christian faith had taken place. In 1981, Francis Schaefer published The Christian Manifesto advocating political action in defense of Christian values when necessary.

The response to the gains of Progressive Education, rooted in this battle with Modernism, also included an explosive private Christian school movement. Home schooling became increasingly popular, achieving success in the face of vehement opposition overcome by victories in a series of running court battles. The Home School Legal Defense Association founded in 1983 by Michael P. Farris stood at the forefront of the growing battle.

The reaction to the distorted focus and growing power of the Federal government took longer to materialize. Liberalism continued to gain ground from 1933 to 1945 as Franklin Roosevelt laid the foundation for an all-intrusive government with the policies of his New Deal. The first Humanist Manifesto published in 1933 agreed with the policies of the New Deal when it stated, “a socialized and cooperative economic order must be established to the end that equitable distribution of the means of life be possible.” In the 1960’s President Lyndon Johnson’s welfare state known as the Great Society, picked up where the New Deal had left off in pursuit of this objective.

By the 1980’s the ever-increasing weight of burdensome taxes and wasteful government policies coupled with radical liberal causes such as legalized abortion, generated a popular conservative backlash. The active political involvement of private conservative organizations such as the Moral Majority and the Family Research Council helped mobilize the grass roots electing Ronald W. Reagan President in two successive elections of landslide proportions. The elections of 1980 and 1984 empowered the conservatives as they enacted large reductions in tax rates and government regulations while reversing liberal social polices setting the stage for the struggles of today.

An international event that occurred in West Berlin, Germany in 1987 dramatically demonstrated the widespread impact of this movement beyond America. President Reagan, in a bold speech, demanded that the USSR (United Soviet Socialist Republics) an entity he had earlier labeled as the “Evil Empire,” tear down the wall erected by the Communists separating Communist East Berlin from the West. On November 9, 1989, the wall did come down in dramatic fashion, bringing freedom to millions previously enslaved by Communism.

As Conservatism continues to confront the likes of Liberalism, Socialism and Modernism in the current battle that we see erupting all around us, the legacy of victory at home and abroad left during the 1980's provides encouragement for the ultimate victory over the threats posed by the false doctrines of European origin that seek to erode our freedoms.

© 2019 Majesty Publications

Sources

Baughman, Judith S. Ed. American Decades 1920-1929. Detroit, Michigan, Gale Research, Inc. 1996
Carruth, Gordon. The Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates. 10th ed. New York , Harper Collins Publishers, 1997
Charles Kors, Alan. Editor in Chief Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. Volumes I-IV. Oxford: University Press 2003.
Churchill, Winston S. A History of The English-Speaking Peoples: The Great Democracies. Volume IV. New York , Bantam Books ,1958
D’Souza, Dinesh. Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader. New York. The Free Press, 1997
Fitzgerald, Francis, The Evangelicals, The Struggles for America, New York, Simon and Schuster, 2017
Tompkins, Vincent. Editor. American Decades 1900-1909, Detroit, Michigan Gale Research, Inc. 1996