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Survival of Cultural Christianity is on the Ballot This November

Posted on Saturday, August 17, 2024
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by Ben Solis
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22 Comments
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Over the past four years, the Biden-Harris administration has spared no effort to undermine America’s identity as a culturally Christian nation – an extension of a similar secularization crusade being waged by liberals throughout the West. But growing backlash to this left-wing movement could have a major influence at the ballot box this fall, just as prominent figures in other culturally Christian nations are also beginning to speak out in defense of cultural Christianity.

While religious liberty has always been and remains a core principle of the American legal system, the United States’s cultural identity is rooted in a Judeo-Christian tradition. Christian teachings and mores are the foundation of the Constitution. As John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Even as church attendance and religious belief has declined throughout the West, Christianity has remained as the vital bedrock of Western civilization. While many westerners are no longer practicing Christians, Christianity is nonetheless intertwined with their national or family identity. Many celebrate Christian holidays and participate in rituals, even if they do not have a deep commitment to religious doctrines.

Cultural Christians embrace the moral teachings of Christianity as societal norms, if not religious imperatives. Their identification with Christianity is often more about belonging to a group or tradition than personal faith.

Even non-Christians have emphasized the importance of cultural Christianity to the prosperity and security of Western civilization. During an interview earlier this year, Professor Richard Dawkins, an outspoken atheist, referred to himself as a “cultural Christian,” saying that he “feel[s] at home in the Christian ethos.”

Dawkins’s comments came in the context of news that Ramadan lights were hung on Oxford Street in England rather than Easter lights – something Dawkins said he was “slightly horrified” to hear. “If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I’d choose Christianity every single time,” Dawkins added, appearing to shock the interviewer.

As Dawkins’s remarks reflect, the rapid proliferation of Islam throughout the West, particularly in Europe, fueled by mass migration has contributed to a crisis moment for cultural Christianity. Open hostility from liberal politicians toward practicing Christians and the Christian faith has made this crisis even more acute.

Dr. Bastien Raphael Voclain, a member of the Popular Republican Movement, the former Christian democratic political party in France, pointed out that Dawkins was merely reiterating a basic truth that generations of Christians and non-Christians alike throughout the West have understood. “Christian culture, which some call cultural Christianity, is a necessity in our troubled times,” he said.

“Why has Western culture not only survived but thrived?” he asks. It is because, as the late Pope John Paul II observed, of that crucial Christian ethos, which upholds the belief that “the greatness of man is great in that he knows he is miserable.” Islam fails to recognize this, Voclain said, and does not have the Christian belief that all should “treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means.”

Giampaolo Fabbro, a Catholic retired professor of political science and ethics who joined the newly formed Christian Democracy party in post-war Italy, added in an interview with me that John Paul II further explained that cultural Christianity is “a result of the penetration of the culture of Western societies by the Bible.”

“I saw a ruined society,” Professor Fabbro said, referring to Italy after World War II. “At that time, we began to restore the influence of cultural Christianity; it united our country.” Fabbro is convinced restoring cultural Christianity is also the cure for today’s America. “You need to strengthen it; it will bring all Americans closer together,” he said. “America grew from Christian roots and radiates this culture.”

But the future of cultural Christianity in the United States will ultimately be decided by the voters. Both candidates in this November’s presidential contest have offered distinct, diametrically opposed visions for what the cultural identity of America should be.

Former President Donald Trump’s vision, grounded in a respect and reverence for America’s Christian roots, was perhaps best outlined in the final report of the 1776 Commission, a group that Trump established to study and preserve America’s founding heritage. The report made the case that the American Revolution “might not” have occurred if “moral ideas had not spread through the pulpits, sermons, and publications of Christian instructors.” The report’s findings, rooted in solid historical fact, point to the vital importance of cultural Christianity to modern American society.

Professor Fabbro described the 1776 Report as a “brilliant synopsis of the sources of American values and political philosophy,” which he said is “badly needed in this era of trials.”

In a telling move, President Joe Biden disbanded the 1776 Commission as one of his first acts after taking office – symbolically repudiating the central importance placed on cultural Christianity by his predecessor.

Since then, Biden, with Harris as his chief lieutenant, has sought to erode and undermine the influence of Christianity in public life while simultaneously using the power of the federal government to target individual Christians.

Despite professing to be a devout Catholic, Biden has erased the true meaning of Easter and even refused to mention the name of Jesus Christ in one Christmas message. Biden’s FBI has ignored an alarming rise in hate crimes against Christians while targeting people of faith like Mark Houck with unjust FBI raids and labeling traditionalist Catholics potential “violent extremists.”

The point of all of this appears to be to intimidate and silence the practicing Christians who are the sustaining life force of cultural Christianity, undermining America’s Christian identity in the process. Harris, while professing a Baptist faith, has mirrored Biden’s hostility toward Christians and cultural Christianity.

When Americans head to the ballot box this fall, they may well be deciding on whether the United States will remain a culturally Christian nation or continue its descent into radical left-wing secularism. The consequences of that choice for the future of the country could be drastic.

Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.

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Jack Wilson
Jack Wilson
1 month ago

Our Constitutional Republic was designed for people whose belief in absolute moral truth would motivate them to limit themselves and preserve laws. Without the basic Christian consensus, as this author said, “Cultural Christianity,” our institutions, including the free market, will fail. We need Christian, Biblical underpinning for our laws to be effective.

Denise
Denise
1 month ago

The book of Revelation is a hard read but to Christians it’s a must. 2nd Timothy 3 writes in chilling detail what will happen as we grow closer to the end times, and it’s actually describing what we’re seeing now. Indeed only God Himself knows the day and the hour when He will come back, but what we’re seeing world wide can be seen as what’s described at the end. The so called “olympics” in Paris depicting the Last Supper in drag! The hate against Christians all over the world. The filth on mainstream TV, advertisements bordering on pornography and on and on. Remember that churches were the first to be “closed” during covid. Those bleeding from the eyes to “rule the world” will stop at nothing to destroy any vestiges of Christianity…but we must not ever reject Him or roll over dead. Eternity is a very, very loooong time…and we have two choices: the world or it’s Creator.
Never ever give up. We as Christians have eternity to look to…and for His own it will be unbelievably amazing.

Mike
Mike
1 month ago

Many Americans overlook the aspect of our political life described in this article, even though it’s crucial for understanding our current crisis. In the 1980s, America’s spiritual life was more vibrant than today, with egomania being a problem but not a widespread issue.
The key to our country’s recovery lies in restoring the Judeo-Christian worldview in our legal and political philosophy. Neither Islam, Buddhism nor Hinduism follows the spirit of our Constitution and other laws
The Republican Party should not have quickly abandoned principles formulated over decades with great effort by generations of noble individuals. The latest Republican Party charter seems to prioritize materialism and egotism over our better angels. However, I agree with the author that Christianity as a framework for our legal and social order is at stake in the upcoming November elections.

Paul
Paul
1 month ago

TRUMP/VANCE 2024!
God Bless these two Men!
FIGHT!FIGHT!FIGHT!
TRUMP/VANCE 2024!

Veteran
Veteran
1 month ago

If you remove the Christian moorings of our country it will float from one chaotic excess to the other, and be ruined by the greediest, most corrupt, and brutal. Understanding that our rights come from God, and not from government is the only thing that stands between us and Nazi Germany. Vote socialist, and you will be the reason for the continuation of their this time international socialist policies until the bitter end.

Rob citizenship
Rob citizenship
1 month ago

Good article Ben , important information . This is an appropriate time to remember the last sentence of the Declaration of Independence -“And in support of this Declaration,with firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives,our fortunes ,our sacred Honor” Believing in the teachings of Christ is something good, and positive and honorable. Standing up for how someone believes in God is a noble thing to do. In the spirit of God bless America, land of the free ,home of the brave.

Barbara
Barbara
1 month ago

He who? We know Trump, Biden and Harris are real. Christianity is a belief that promotes civility and common sense, not a he or she. Your statement makes absolutely zero sense.

John Shipway
John Shipway
1 month ago

To a great extent the church itself, not all but MOST, destroyed “social Christianity” during the so called pandemic, the year the regular ole flu disappeared.
Churches across the land shut their doors and took a “knee to Caesar” during the illegal lockdowns during that fake pandemic.
Those actions killed what little there was remaining of the Church and any social crap it fostered died with it.

NJN
NJN
1 month ago

I am fearful that we are becoming a Nation of Islam where Sharia Law will one day prevail.

Susan Clark
Susan Clark
1 month ago

I think that the prophets in the old Testament painted the decline of God and saw the fall of their nation. It reads so much like our present day demise. I wonder who our prophets are to speak the truth ?

anna hubert
anna hubert
1 month ago

Moslem world is where and what it is because of Islam. If Christianity looses to Islam, we too will be at that level. Wokes better start some serious thinking. ,because things would not be the same, there will not be 50 different genders etc.

Robert Zuccaro
Robert Zuccaro
1 month ago

Who needs God when you have “strength through joy” (Nazi program)? And who said Kamala’s favirite saying “unburden ourselves from the past”? Stalin… I heard he was quite the “Christian” like Kamala, too!

Dale
Dale
1 month ago

Christianity must not be too very much on the ballot,
Rev Billy Grahams’ grand-daughter is pimping for Harris !!

Kim
Kim
1 month ago

If Christianity or Judaism contributes to a civil society, that’s great. Likewise, those who are not religious yet uphold American values, that, too, is great.

Most atheists are not intent on bringing down America, banning Christmas, or forcing our views on others. We do not condone rioting in the streets when a creche is installed in the town square. By the same reasoning, and if the Constitution applies to all, other symbols of religious belief (not including fringe or cult groups) should be permitted space to recognize those beliefs. If any display borders on “hate speech”, then that’s open to examination.

When people divide the two groups into those who believe in God and are considered “moral” and those who are non-believers and considered “immoral”, that’s when you lose me. Some of us could not reconcile the tenets of religion with the scientific basis of life and evolution, so we had a critical decision to make. It doesn’t make us devil worshipers, anarchists, communists, or even democrats!

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