Addressing the Greatest Problem in Society
When the late Russian writer Solzhenitsyn delivered his Templeton Prize speech in London, May 10, 1983, he referred to how societies were “losing more and more of their religious essence as they thoughtlessly yield up their younger generations to atheism.” He affirmed that this abandoning of God among the young was sowing seeds of hatred, whatever its basis might be—race, class, or ideology. He added, “Such hatred is in fact corroding many hearts today. Atheist teachers . . . are bringing up a generation in a spirit of hatred of their own society.” Solzhenitsyn’s conclusion: “All attempts to find a way out of the plight of today’s world are fruitless unless we redirect our consciousness, in repentance, to the Creator of all. . . .”
Just shy of forty years later, journalist Cal Thomas has now issued the same warning the Russian writer was addressing. In his book, America’s Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires and Super Powers and the Future of the United States, Thomas says his message in the book is “that there is a dark and dangerous side to nations that forget their purpose and whom they serve.” He references an earlier Solzhenitsyn speech from 1978, which was delivered at Harvard. In this speech the dark side of American society is described as an “abyss of human decadence” seen in the “misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people such as motion pictures full of pornography, crime, and horror.”
Mr. Thomas asks: “Who can define evil in our day? We tolerate everything, even the abortion of sixty million babies (and counting), even the promotion of what used to be called aberrant sexual behavior. The latest is ‘gender fluidity,’ which tells people they can decide for themselves what gender they want to be, never mind biology. There are parents who are fine with this and a government who cares less about it” (182).
In a column published in early 2019, Cal Thomas wrote, “When the story of America is written in the past tense, its collapse will have been caused by our indifference to God, and to all the horrors that historically and inevitably follow it” (“Slaughtering the Innocents,” Feb. 4, 2019, emp. added). The conclusion at the end of Thomas’ book reads as follows: “[W]e would have seen it coming had [we] studied history, or even better Scripture, which warns nations and individuals of the consequences of abandoning God” (184).
* We need principles of righteousness—not platforms of rancor.
* We need regular prayers—not radical politics.
* We need a religious revival—not a riotous revolution.
* We need more virtue—not more violence.
* We need to do what is right—not merely what is “religious.”
* We need to enthrone God in our hearts and homes—not overthrow government in the halls of Congress.
* We need more of God in our life—not more government.
* We need more of Heaven’s divine Scriptures—not Hollywood’s devilish scripts.
The most crucial and urgent questions and problems of life will be answered and solved biblically, spiritually, and morally—not politically, scientifically, or economically.
“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every though captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5, ESV).
Charles C. Pugh III
Executive Director