This is a dialogue between me and “Robed Bishop” in my “Playground Player” forum page at Chessgames.com ( http://www.chessgames.com ). The topic is, What can be done to reverse the de-Christianization of America? Or, more specifically, what would I recommend be done?
We join Robed.Bishop in progress.
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RB: So in the short term, pull kids out of public schools in favor of denominational schools.
I agree that for the most part, private schools outperform public schools and the rise in popularity of charter schools shows that Americans are dissatisfied overall with public schooling, though not for religious reasons. I think this approach has merit because it achieves two goals. It reinforces religious beliefs while providing a good education.
One drawback of course is the expense of private schooling. In order for this to be successful, and to avoid public funding (for obvious reasons), religions will have to either build more schools or otherwise provide financial support for church members. To make this happen requires one to be an activist in the church, to change the direction of the church to support education instead of just providing masses, something that is doable across different denominations.
Another solution regarding schools is to try to pass legislation that protects religious freedoms in schools, perhaps even offering classes in religious study. Then, as a parent, you could have your child take a class in all religions or a class for Christianity. I don’t know how feasible this is, but as long as classes are offered to every denomination (or at least for those who have an interest), like Title 9 in sports, then maybe so.
Long-term political solutions are more problematical. In our current landscape, we have two major parties running for office and I don’t see that changing in the near future. Independents, however, have become a large force in politics and I think independents will continue to grow. Indeed, in at least two states, independents are now the majority ” party (Massachusetts and Alaska), though there may be others…
Given that it will be either extremely difficult or impossible for the Democrats or Republicans to elect a candidate without support from independents, we need to try to understand why independents (those without a party preference) are independents.
Let’s propose that one reason people are independents is because they do not think that Republicans are always right, nor always wrong, that Democrats are not always right and not always wrong.
It could also be that there is something in the parties’ platforms that keeps them from registering as one or the other. In other words, they are generally more liberal or more conservative, but that there is something about the party as a whole, or an important issue, that keeps them from registering that way. For example, a person who is generally liberal might not vote for a Democratic candidate because of the candidate’s stance on abortion. Or a more conservative person votes against a conservative candidate because of the candidate’s stance on abortion. Obviously, it could be any number of things, but you get the idea.
It could also be that they are generally in favor of the conservative fiscal agenda but against the conservative social agenda, or vice versa with Democrats.
I have no doubt that there are plenty of other reasons, but those come to mind off the top of my head.
I will stop here for now to give this more thought… To make political change, this will have to be the focus. The Democrats are going to be against you, but the evangelicals will be for you. That leaves other Republicans and independents…
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My response will be in a separate post.
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