Last night’s repast was organised by our friend, the reverend Peter Mullen, rector of St. Michael’s Cornhill in The City. Peter is chaplain to the London Stock Exchange and an activist.
“Small groups of people, who are determined, intelligent and resourceful, can turn the course of history,” he said. He did not mention the Bolshevik revolution. Or, how the neo-conservative putsch gained control of the Republican Party. Or the day the big bankers got together on Jekyll Island in order to sneak a central bank into America.
No, Peter is an optimist.
“We must do what we can to reverse what I call ‘secular terrorism,’” he said. “You know, this didn’t come from nowhere. A small group of intellectuals – notably Herbert Marcuse – got together. They said they needed to infiltrate our institutions and conduct a program of ‘secular terrorism’. Marcuse used that expression. And that’s what they did. Now, we have a situation where it is practically illegal, in Britain, for a teacher to tell his class that he is a Christian. And God help you if you dare to suggest that one religion is better than another. Even our own priests and ministers don’t really believe in Christianity anymore. Many Church of England priests never even open the prayer book. They’re victims of secular terrorism; they no longer believe their own faith. Instead, they believe all religions are equal...and all ideas are equally valid.”
We had a hard time concentrating. In front of us sat one of the most exquisite women we had ever seen. ‘Yes, there is a God,’ we said to ourselves. She had long red hair...and the kind of face you see on goddesses painted by Italian dreamers. She was probably in her 20s...so innocent and so lovely. And when she spoke, the tones came out like dessert.
But what was she doing there? She was surrounded by middle-aged men, all of them grumping about the government, the intellectuals, the schools, art...finance...and all the other bad habits of our times...while recalling how much better things were 50 years ago. Her presence seemed so improbable, like a wedding cake in a machine shop. But it had a good effect on the old fellows. We sat up a little straighter and tucked in our shirts. Instead of yakking to one another with our typical boorish insouciance, we pulled in our stomachs and began making speeches. Now we had an audience...and a purpose.
“We are not the first to be in this position,” began one Old Boy near us. “Since the days of Rome, we Christians have been a persecuted minority...not always...and not everywhere. But often. It’s part of what makes us what we are. We have to be willing to accept martyrdom. That’s what it’s all about.”
“Are you volunteering?” asked another. “Perhaps we should nail you to the door of St. Michael’s, and tell the police that Mr. Dawkins and some other unbelievers did it. Then, we would have a cause célèbre... ‘Remember old Alastair’ will be our war cry. Yes, I see the whole thing shaping up nicely. First, we will retake the Arts Club from the heathen...and then we’ll march on Westminster. Yes, it will be jolly fun...did anyone bring a hammer and some nails?”
Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning Australia
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About the Author
Best-selling investment author Bill Bonner is the founder and president of Agora Publishing, one of the world's most successful consumer newsletter companies. Owner of both Fleet Street Publications and MoneyWeek magazine in the UK, he is also author of the free daily e-mail The Daily Reckoning.
Comment by Dr. Troy Camplin on 29 November 2007:
Actually, he's right. Read Lou Marinoff's The Middle Way. I've been periodically posting on it on my blog. The postmodernists have taken over our universities, and they are slowly destroying our culture by not allowing it to be taught. The situation in our universities is why the U.S. has such rotten high school, middle school, and elementary school education.
Comment by Pier Johnson on 29 November 2007:
Thanks. These posts uplift knowing that Christians hang tough and together in the face of a World Gone Mad.
Comment by kage on 29 November 2007:
Another clever tactic invented by Marcuse : repressive tolerance. I'm not joking - its for real. Again another clever way of hacking away at the dominant culture, under the guise of everyone getting a fair go to express their viewpoints. In truth, each radical got the same time as the single representative of the dominant culture, who is then the target of concerted attack by all the radicals. Yes, that's fair alright, and the media gets to put an extra bit of shine on their halos, because they enabled everyone to express their views. Everyone except the mainstream of course !
Comment by Robby on 18 May 2008:
Organized & centralized religion in general tends to create problems. It's one of the major driving forces behind the Iraq War today. The last time when religion ruled the world was the DARK AGES. The Dark Ages started in the 4th to 5th Century A.D. when Christianity was really made into a POLITICAL-type of religion. People in the Roman Empire were using the Christian religion to power trip (think of the Warden on Shawshank Redemption), and it completely lost its true meaning. If you didn't follow THEIR TYPE of Christianity, then you got murdered.
I'm for Secular Theism. It's belief in God WITHOUT a religious framework. Most born-again Christians I know aren't really religious. I'm one of those Christians as well.
Secular does not equal Atheist. Secular just means not overtly or specifically religious.
Constantine made Christianity into an organized religion in 325 A.D. He worshipped the Sun god, Sol Invictus. After converting to Christianity, he still worshipped the Sun god (albeit secretly so) and did so for the remainder of his life.
Christianity AS A political, territorial, and religious social movement is referred to as Christendom.
Real Christianity isn't a religion. It's just the good news of salvation. This was turned into something very complex by the Roman State in the 4th century.
Comment by kathy on 19 May 2008:
Robby, correction- Christianity was never made into a political religion as much as a tool used by the despotic governments of the day to more closely control the people. Religion the world over has been used by governments to rule the hearts and minds of people, this doesn't make the religion itself evil as much as victim. How much evil has been done in the name of Christ by evil men, however this did not stop Christ leaving a church that had teaching authority (as taught us by the bible) because he was always a willing victim. As he is one with the church he will always remain the willing victim, forever misunderstood and forever accused.
You should note that despotic governments have also used the forbidding of religion in an effort to control the hearts and minds of religion to an even greater evil consequence.
Comment by mike on 20 May 2008:
...out from behind the walled orchards of the federal reserve come the fruits of deception, the receipts of deceit, grown by the intelligent, the "fittest' and as yet still self-diagnosed un-neurotics, un-insular and un-inbreds... they're easy to spot in their high-end german cars with the handicapped stickers on the windshields....they exact the most comfort possible from outsiders with each and every receipt they part with and at the same time give the least amount of comfort possible to anyone in exchange for THEIR receipts...they have laws changed and enacted to protect and enhance their livelihoods while getting laws passed and enacted to subdue everyone elses...and they're proud...yes very proud...a lot of people think that deceit is intelligence and that trust is stupidity....honest people are ridiculed behind closed doors at the gatherings of the "fittest"...along with flat champaign...the purpose of money is to secure for myself a greater variety of comforts than i can provide for myself due to the constraints of my limited abilities.....with what abilities i have, i become useful to others when they desire a comfort which i offer, and they exchange for the comfort a receipt which i redeem in the act of acquiring the comforts i desire from others...so HE said...COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE...SEEK YE COMFORT...DO AND MAKE FOR OTHERS AS THEY SHALL DO AND MAKE FOR YOU.....REDEEM THYSELVES.....