Faith and Failure In Christendom

Tom Bethell is one of my favorite writers, and he has a terrific piece in the American Spectator on the decline of Christianity in modern times. He argues that, among other causes, the enormous prosperity we have enjoyed has lead to an increasingly carnal Church, with the here being more the concern than the hereafter. I couldn`t agree more.

Sunday I attended Mass at my local parish, and the Bishop had ordered a screening of a film opposing the stem-cell amendment here in Missouri. After the film, the Monsignior (who I had always suspected was a big liberal) threw in his two cents. His first point was good; he pointed out that the United States had laws against killing or tampering with eagles as part of the Endangered Species Act, and that the law also covered the tampering with eagle eggs. Obviously, it was understood that eggs would turn into eagles, but the same attitude is not being afforded to human embryos. Great point!

But then it all fell apart; the Monsignior couldn`t refrain from taking a jab at the U.S. healthcare system, saying any benefits from stem-cell research would be denied to the poor. Now, this country has the best health-care system in the world, and the poor generally receive whatever treatment that is necessary. They may not have access to the first fruits of new services, but they will have them when prices fall. In the government run systems that the good reverend obviously advocates NOBODY except the politically connected will benefit from new treatments, and there won`t be any new treatments anyway because there is no incentive to develop them. But try to explain this to a liberal! They don`t like to be confused by the facts.

Then he lowered the boom; he thundered against Congress ``legalizing torture`` and proudly proclaimed that he marched in a protest with 40 other anti-torture hippies.

How do you argue against such overwhelming stupidity? I started to rise, with words forming in my mouth I would rather not have said. Fortunately, I managed to stop myself from doing something I would have later regretted.

The point is that the Monsignior is not in the business of saving souls. His Christianity is not of a spiritual nature but of a carnal one, and his Gospel revolves around the material. He subordinates eternal salvation for material comfort in this world-as do all of those on the Religious Left, and I guarantee you he will pull that Democratic lever in the polling booth because they promise to help the poor (by stealing from the rest) and care for their material needs. The spiritual needs of the people are not just neglected by the Democrats, but are actively assaulted, but it doesn`t matter to someone like this priest.

There is no bigger fool than a religious liberal. They will excuse anything, permit any act, ignore any atrocity in the hopes of ``fixing the problem`` later. They believe that Man is inherently good, and that by extending the hand of friendship they can solve all problems. History is soundly against their views. Quakers and other liberals used to raid plantations prior to the Civil War, freeing the slaves and putting them on trips out of the country-trips which ended back at the slave auction block. But they cared, they meant well! During the administration of Ulysses Grant, the Religious Left was put in charge of Indian Reservations in Oklahoma as a gesture of goodwill. The Comanche would swoop down into Texas, steal children, rape women, and torture men to death, then would run to their local clergymen claiming the army fell on them for no reason. Washington was bombarded with numerous complaints about this ``mistreatment`` while the Comanche snickered at the stupidity of their holier-than-thou friends. Religious liberals sided repeatedly with the Communists over America during the 20th Century, and fools such as Jimmy Carter still hobknob with the worst thugs on Earth. Oh, and Hillary Clinton became a liberal at the knee of a leftist church youth pastor.

The problem is, liberal Christianity-the Christianity of the flesh-fails to draw people, and the pews of lefty churches are generally pretty empty. This has always been true; Jesus spoke boldly and passionately, and he had a huge following as a result. The churches which speak boldly and passionately are the churches which are full today; where has all the growth been in Christian circles? In the Conservative churches! People seek eternal truths, which is something the Religious Left cannot deliver; theirs is strictly a social Gospel for a material world.

That is why European Churches are emptying. That is why, no matter how much music, or dancing, or ``fun`` things that are introduced into the Liturgy, the pews continue to empty. Faith is about eternal things, and there is ultimately no point in believing in a carnal Church; you may as well dispense with God entirely if He is only about the physical.

Islam will triumph if the West fails to renew her faith.