In a previous post I used a David Welch column to say the secular approach of the MAINstream Coalition was wrong headed. Now I found more support for the premise that the secular approach is dangerous and wrong headed:
Historian Christopher Dawson (1889–1970) devoted much of his life's work to studying and writing about the interaction of Christianity and civilization over the course of history. He claimed that every rising civilization had a religion at its core, and was driven forward by religious zeal and spiritual aspirations. Dawson also wrote that every civilization that loses touch with its religious roots must eventually fall, no matter how rich and powerful it has become.
Dawson was alluding to a "higher religion" like Christianity, which is conducive to civilization, and not to pagan religions that are conducive to primitive tribalism.
If our European forbears had not converted from paganism to Christianity, we probably would still be living in barbarian tribes. If we fail to hang on to our religious roots, our civilization might fail and our posterity might live in barbarian tribes. This kind of collapse, dispersion, and degradation has happened many times in history. For example, some of the descendants of the Mayan and Inca civilizations now live in primitive tribes.
If Dawson is correct in his thesis, the secularist argument that religious concerns have no place in the political debates or in social or cultural dialogs is false and wrong-headed. If a declining civilization is to be saved from ruin, the voices calling for a return to its religious and spiritual roots must be heeded.The purpose of this essay is to prove Dawson's thesis, to refute the secularists, and to argue for a robust role for Christianity in every area of American life. In making these arguments I shall rely heavily upon the facts of history.
Again, here is a link to the whole essay.
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