Basic HTML Version
"that religious values motivated the
broad generation of men and
women who created this ·nation. As
the great philosoplíers of republi–
can liberty ... understood, a free
society must also be a religious
society, a society where moral vir–
tue restrains the passions and
guides individuals toward the com–
mon good."
Few outside the United States,
and increasingly fewer
inside
the
country, understand this heritage.
One who did was the late ltalian
author Luigi Barzini.
In his book
The Europeans,
author Barzini, in a chapter
devoted to "The Baffling Ameri–
cans," explained this of.ten-over–
looked fundamental factor in U.S.
history: "The secret of the United
States' tremendous success was in
reality not merely technology,
know-how, the work ethic, the urge
to succeed, or plain greed.
lt
was a
spiritual wind that drove the Amer–
icans irresistibly ahead from the
beginning.
"What was behind their compul–
sion to improve man's lot was an
all-pervading religious sense of
duty, the submission of a God-giv–
en imperative,
to a God-given code
of personal behavior,
the willing
acceptance of all the necessary sac–
rifices, including death in battle.
Few foreigners understand tbis,
even today. The United States
appears to them merely as the
triumph of soulless materialism."
Mr. Barzi ni noted that the
expressions of religious fervor that
were so evident a century ago are
now less visible. "They are fee–
bler," he said, "discredited by
intellectuals, corroded by the
doubts of these impious times, but
without them, or what is left of
them, America would not be what
it is."
The French observer of early
American society Alexis de Toc–
queville maintained that "there
have never been free societies with–
out moral values." In the country's
early days, he noted, these values
were nurtured by America's
women. A chief reason for the ris–
ing power of the Americans, he
believed, was due to strong fami ly
Jife and especially "the superiority
of their women."
Today's modero American
4
woman, unfortunately, all too often
wants to be "liberated" from her
key role of influence in the family
unit, a role now propagated as
being unfulfilling and inferior.
Returning to Dr. Carlson's
address, he laid the blame for
America's decline on the powerful
institutions of the churches, the
media and the social sciences-all
of whom have been influenced to
one degree or another by trend-set–
ting radical views.
· Regarding the social sciences,
observed Dr. Carlson, they were
still traditionally based into the
I950s. At that time, he said, "the
field of fami ly sociology was domi–
nated by Harvard University's Tal–
cott Parsons, a man who believed
the American family structure to
be a vital social institution resting
on a solid set of historie values."
Yet, by 1970, Dr. Carlson contin–
ued, Dr. Parsons' views were wholly
out of favor. This was reflected in
the "Forum 14 Report" of the 1970
White House Conference on Chil–
dren and Youth.
At this conference, said Dr.
Carlson, "a representative sample
of America's most prominent soci–
ologists dismissed the traditional
American family as outdated,
denied any American identity, and
welcomed the contemporary move–
ment 'to destroy the cultural myth
of a "right" or "best" way to
behave, believe, work or play.'
... This group urged the adoption
of a new definition of 'family' that
would embrace 'single parent,'
'conimunal,' 'group marriage,' and
'homosexual' varieiies."
By the mid-l970s, such ideas
dominated the sociological profes–
sion. These views, said Dr. Carlson,
"shaped the attitudes and actions of
a generation of teachers, marriage–
and-family counselors, clergymen,
psychologists, and so-called 'sex
therapists.' When released on the
world, their cumulative impact,
simply put, was staggering."
And what fruits were soon to be
reaped from following such advo–
cated life-styles?
In the 20 ,years after 1960, the
number of children annually
affected by divorce tripled. Ameri–
ca's illegitimacy ratio rose three–
fold over the course of the 1960s
and 1970s. The incidence of abor-
tion rose from less than 100,000
abortions each year in the early
1960s, to 570,000 in 1973- the
first year of sanctioned abortions–
and to 1.6 million in 1982.
The astute Dr. Carlson, near the
end of his address, said: "I believe
it is a mistake to assume that a
national culture can openly flaunt
hedonism and social irresponsibility
as proper, even superior, ways of
life and not then pay sorne major
price. In countless ways, we are
now reaping the bi tter harvest."
While all of this was occurring,
what were the religious shepherds
of the land doing? Were they busy
warning their parishioners to
remember the simple truth of G¡ila–
tians 6:7: "Do not be deceived, God
is not mocked; for whatever a man
sows, that he will also reap"?
Their message should have been
the straightforward admonition in
the ignored book of Isaiah, where we
find , in chapter 3, verses
1O
and
11:
"Say to the righteous that it shall
be well with them, for they shall
eat th-e fruit of their doings. Woe to
the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
for the reward of his hands shall be
given him."
Interestingly enough, this pas–
sage occurs immediately after the
warning in verse 9: "And they
declare tbeir sin as Sodom; they do
not hide it."
The meo of Sodom proudly
advanced their homosexual "life–
style"- until destruction rained
down on them from God in heaven!
And today it's fashionable for those
who call themselves gay to "come
out of the closet," and, with an air
of pride and defiance, to push for
social reforms at the moral expense
of society as a whole.
But God says-even though too
few ministers do-"woe to their
soul! For they bave brought evil
upon themselves."
AIDS- Acquired Immune Defi7
ciency Syndrome- is just such a
"woe," despite the heated denial of
many in the homosexual community.
Leaders Mislead
Not only to the United States, but
much of the rest of the developed
English-speaking world, God thun–
ders: " O My people! Those who
lead you cause you to err, and
(Continued on page 44)
The
PLAIN TRUTH