“Is not the State an idol? Is it not like any graven image into which men have read supernatural powers and superhuman capacities? The State can feed us when we are hungry, heal us when we are ill; it can raise wages and lower prices, even at the same time; it can educate our children without cost; it can provide us against the contingencies of old age and amuse us when we are bored; it can give us electricity by passing laws and improve the game of baseball by regulation. What cannot the State do for us if only we have faith in it? And we have faith. No creed in the history of the world ever captured the hearts and minds of men as has the modern creed of Statism.”

-Frank Chodorov

I spent a little time sharpening my rhetoric this weekend - as has become my habit for a few hours over the weekends of late - in a few of my favorite internet haunts where I’ve often found intellectual stimulation. The topic turned to religion. It is not the stated subject matter of these particular sites, and as is usual when the topic comes up in the wild, the reactions ran the gamut from sneering condescension to outright mockery.

It seems that most people who fancy themselves intellectual can’t be bothered with eternal questions (which is certainly their prerogative); unfortunately, it seems that close to a plurality - if this unscientific enumeration is to be trusted - are not satisfied with simply heaping scorn. They must silence any voice who would suggest that the religious have a right to our ‘foolishness’. They reject summarily that they have no interest or right to prevent us from passing on our beliefs to our children; They would support the right of every possible stripe of reprobate plying their own brand of debauchery, so long as they join in the mantra: “God is dead, and we have killed him”; but against the professing Christian, they will not cease to rage.

The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD.
Proverbs 19:3

Every man has faith; there is no escaping this conclusion. We place our faith in different constructs, but it is all faith. I have examined the rational arguments in favor of a divine creator, and coupled with my own faith, have settled in my mind that there is a God - even Jehovah, the God of the Bible.

My opponents of this weekend, despite their great protestations, are also long in the tooth on faith. They have faith where science has no answers. They simply choose to invest that faith in unprovable theories - in many cases theories they do not understand or even begin to fathom the implications of - they place their faith on the only construct they can in the face of a failure of their methodology, that being in man generally, and in their own intellect in particular.

They have blind faith in ’science’; and in government; and in the dogma that there is nothing after this. They demand adherence to ’science’ when it is not science; and obedience to a benevolent government who they’d have examine the beliefs of all citizens to size up whether their orthodoxy is acceptable; and will accept anything from either of the icons of the faith, without any litmus test, so long as they can avoid being bothered with knowing there are those who walk among us who don’t share their own secular brand of faith.

When things go against them, I am usually likened to a suicide bomber (and this weekend was no exception), for no other reason than that I refuse to cede any ground on my belief in a holy God who created everything and will judge us all. What they fail to see is that only one side of our point/counterpoint exercise is demanding that the other side abandon their perspective, demanding orthodoxy over reason, and threatening the heretics with sanction. What they are suggesting is a modern inquisition - it is not enough to deem believers foolish; we must be kept quiet.

I believe the day is coming when they’ll get their wish. Children will be universally owned by the state, as an extension of owning the parent; they will do away with the independent thinking cultivated in home schools and church-run enterprises; they will demand orthodoxy to the tenants of the faith by fiat; and it will be within their grasp to have the whole world join them: “God is dead, and we have killed him”.

I mean no offense to my atheist friends (of which I have many) and readers. I simply ask that you not demand that I accept your world view. If mine is foolishness, then be satisfied that untenable ideas always collapse under their own weight, and leave me to my foolishness - my faith. And I’ll promise to give you wide berth in the exercise of your own faith.