The pastor of the local church that my family and I attend has used the pulpit from time to time to advocate political positions and certain politicians, which I have always viewed as a dubious practice. I was reminded of my pastor’s sermons as I read this Cathy Young/ReasonOnline article on the questionable cultural legacy of the late Jerry Falwell:
Though the movement Falwell helped launch was unable to enact much of its agenda into law, there is no question that it transformed the American political landscape. Even the battles it hasnít won, such as the effort to teach ìintelligent designî in schools on a par with evolution, are still battles it was able to force on its opponents.
More broadly, it helped create a climate in which the language of politics is saturated with references to God, a political culture in which a major political magazine (Newsweek) can ask a presidential candidate (Howard Dean) whether he believes in Jesus Christ as the son of God and the path to eternal life.
Despite these political inroads, Falwellís brand of religious conservatism has suffered losses in the culture wars. Feminism, its radical excesses mostly discarded, has become firmly integrated into Americaís cultural mainstream. (Even, apparently, in Falwellís own family: His daughter is a surgeon.) Acceptance of gays is now at a level that would have been unthinkable in 1980. Sexual content in mainstream entertainment has steadily increased, and adults-only material is more available than ever thanks to new technologies. While divorce rates have dropped somewhat, so have marriage rates; in much of America, sex between single adults is widely accepted as a social norm.
Along those same lines, this CNN article reports on a Kentucky church’s “Court Watch” program in which volunteers attend court hearings to monitor how judges are handling drug-related cases. It’s clear that the members of the church group are not interested in facilitating leniency in sentencing in such cases.
Several years ago, while sweating a jury in a civil case at the courthouse, I attended the daily initial appearance docket call in the juvenile criminal court next door. It was a heartbreaking experience and prompted me to begin doing pro bono work in the local juvenile criminal justice system. Since then, I’ve attended numerous such initial appearance dockets in the juvenile criminal justice system. I have never seen a member of any Christian organization attending one of those dockets.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Barry Bonds finally broke Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record last night, dooming all of us to several days of inane and simplistic arguments on talk radio shows as to whether Bonds’ record should include an asterisk because of his use of steroids during the latter stages of his career.
