The American Protestant

“Tolerance is the virtue of people who don’t believe in anything.” ~ GK Chesterton

Nothing changes. The history of man is a series of  recycled bad ideas. With every step forward, we are always just one poorly conceived policy (or development) away from a few major steps back. The Obama years have been ‘a few major steps back’ on steroids.

The political and cultural answers lie in the moral principles and spiritual teachings espoused by Jesus and His disciples. Ironically, the further we get away from those principles, the more they are vilified.

Unfortunately, many of those who wave the Christian flag most vehemently in the public square/political realm are those who have done some of the most harm, in terms of the Christian’s place in society, (creating further resistance and backlash).This is especially true when policies draped in religious-right warmongering and high-risk capitalism are erroneously incorporated into the Christian-based societal worldview.

“It is easy of moderns who have little if any interest in problems of religious truth to be very tolerant of religious differences, it is not so easy for a man who really believes in the distinction between true and false, and for whom religion is a central and not a minor part of life .” ~ William Lee Miller

Tragically, radical concepts rooted in collective communist principles, arbitrary enforcement of law, extreme individualism, and moral relativism have filled the void left by a marred and rejected Judeo-Christian foundation. With our Rule of Law (standard, recognition, enforcement thereof) constantly in flux, it’s become virtually impossible for America to regain its footing. The other shoe has already dropped, we just haven’t fully experienced the damaging repercussions yet.

But if we ever get a chance to turn this around, the late political writer, William Lee Miller, offers some sage advice in his timeless, perpetually overlooked commentary, “The Protestant and Politics” (Westminster Press, 1958).

For his time, Miller would probably be considered a moderate. He is quick to offer mercy to the socialist and forgiveness to the communist without compromising the principles and insights required to keep America grounded and prosperous.

Miller also stresses the importance of having an active and engaged Christian citizenry. We must continue to have a place in government and society at large. It is the American Christian who holds the vital insights to the moral and social forces constantly at work within and around ourselves and the national community at large.

We cannot hope to diagnose the problems that threaten the very fabric of our nation if we cannot even recognize them. Apathy is not an option. We must go down fighting.

Taking our argument to the mainstream, we endure mocking and ridicule but at the end of the day we will have our say. We cannot be silenced. It’s too morally and intellectually dishonest for us to wholly separate ourselves…….

“…we have implanted within us a memory of what righteousness is….. our defensive attempts to justify our position betray our uneasy conscience; they show that, in a sense, we ‘know better’…… Christianity knows both the grandeur and the misery of man, and the two go together……

“The Christian can never picture politics as simply a brute conflict of raw interests. As there is always a measure of sin still to be overcome in every position, so there is always a higher possibility for reason and conscience in every situation.” – WLM

In the end, our greatest political weakness is our greatest and most essential virtue. The good fight remains…….

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A.J. Castellitto is a freelance writer who resides in NJ with his wife and five children. He holds a B.S. in Counseling and Human Services from the University of Scranton and his writings have been published at The Center for Western Journalism, The Christian Post, Intellectual Conservative and Reformed Perspective Magazine.

A.J. Castellitto

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