While many pious people are wringing their hands over the popular culture and wondering if God will save his people, I find that the moral decay and preposterous incongruities we witness daily actually reinforce all I believe about Divine Revelation. What else is to be expected when God is removed from the Public Square?
It nearly goes without saying that a country that sanctions over 4,000 abortions a day has lost its bearings—this in a materialistic world that puts science on a pedestal, but cannot decide what the unique DNA of the unborn child might portend. This is the culture that considers exposing children to sexual perversion to be open-minded while exposing them to Biblical morality repressive, and the very schools that have long rejected prayer and education in virtue host playgrounds rife with bullying, sexual acting-out, and existential anxiety.
Children who come from increasingly dysfunctional homes—including problems such as addictions, poverty, and abuse—are reminded to believe in themselves. These young persons (the random result of natural selection and just one species among many) are no longer offered heroic examples from the Bible, secular history, or great literature, but instead—having run the gauntlet of “choice,” in which their very survival was contingent on whether they were wanted—are asked to look deep within for their self-esteem.
Children who are discouraged from believing in the possibility of life-long marriage (and who will later be encouraged to cohabitate as a means of trying out potential relationships) are also encouraged to make life-long decisions about their sexual identity, with hormone-replacement therapies being foisted on younger and younger gender-confused persons.
The entertainment industry (which includes movies, television, and music) glorifies vice without consequences, derides moral guidelines as oppressive, and dismisses guilt as a tool to enslave the masses. The same media that [rightfully]denounced the sexual abuse of children within the Church simultaneously turns a blind eye to the rampant promiscuity served up to youngsters from a very early age, and straddles the impossible divide of seeing children as victims in the former setting while mature enough to navigate the challenges of gender-identity and the sexual marketplace everywhere else.
Violence permeates social media, gaming, and pornography but “trigger warnings” are necessary so that consumers don’t unwittingly encounter opposing views without strong caution, because such anachronistic ideas can prove traumatic to persons who champion diversity while assuming that theirs are the only salient ideas.
Personal well-being is fueled by advice on exercise, fitness, yoga, stress-relievers, feng-shui, chakras, balance, healthy eating, vitamins, and regular medical check-ups. But while the wrong oil on movie popcorn constitutes a dreadful assault on unsuspecting patrons, most people refuse to consider how immorality affects both body and spirit. If one gauged the merit of ideas by band-width or ink spilled, it becomes obvious that diet wars and contraceptive access are infinitely more important to the average citizen than moral considerations or dangers to their soul. In fact, those who heave themselves enthusiastically on the altar dedicated to coexistence with nature are righteously horrified at the suggestion that natural law could have anything to do with peace of soul.
“Straining at gnats and swallowing camels” comes to mind, but the overall effect can be quite alarming when members of the “me-oriented culture” refuse to probe their origins—or ultimate end. Such blindness is to be expected when man is uncoupled from his Creator, and any consideration of Christian anthropology is rejected out of hand. Doesn’t this actually serve to reinforce our faith—since the consequences of spiritual obstinacy have been repeated throughout history? As Our Lord said, “If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit” (Mt 15:14).
If we repeatedly choose cultural and political leaders who discard Godly principles, and allow our schools to sideline all references to Judeo-Christian ethics, it only stands to reason that the prevailing culture will be built on lies and distortions about the human person—for if agnostics and atheists could lead a country to prosperity and fulfillment, what need would there be for God? As things stand, the current affairs, following such a recognizable pattern, should actually strengthen our faith, and force us to our knees for the good of all.
