CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, October 9, 2023

Cancel Culture vs. People of Faith

Reader alert: This column is for people of Faith, not for Agnostics or Atheists.

Whoever is pulling the strings on the Biden* Regime is a threat to people of Faith and to their places of worship. Be they Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims or whatever Faith.

You see, faith in a God, by whatever name, is something that cannot be seen. Religious Faith cannot be held in the hand and examined. And that is why the Rituals practiced inside tangible houses of worship are so important to the Faithful.

Ritual is the great reinforcer of Faith. For example when Christians repeat the Lord’s Prayer, or the 23d Psalm, or The Nicene Creed or Hail Mary, we bolster our Faith in what cannot be tangible. Jews, Muslims, and other Faiths repeat their own credos. Sometimes holding beads in their hands as they recite comforting passages of Scripture.

The radical socialists/communists see Religion as one of the pillars of Democracy and, therefore, must be stamped out. Consequently, the Cancel Culture’s attacks on places of worship should come as no surprise to anyone.

The Agnostics and Atheists can argue back and forth all day and night about the value of Religion or not. But, taken on the whole, the stabilizing influence of Faith in Democratic societies cannot be denied.

The far Left wants the Sabbath to be just another day of the week. Among the so-called mainstream confessions, church attendance is way down. Fewer parents take their children to Sunday school and then take their children into the sanctuary for the main service where the great Rituals are recited and the uplifting Hymns are sung.

While the children may fall away in later life, their saying of Ritual often lasts them a lifetime. One wonders how many of the stricken, riding in an ambulance or being attended in emergency care are repeating the Lord’s Prayer, the 23d Psalm, or the Hail Mary, but the number must be enormous.

Fortunately, there is growth among those confessions that adhere strongly to the Scriptures and declare: "The members of my family will serve the Lord."

Televangelism, despite an unfortunate number of grifters, can play a positive role. For the mobility impaired, for the hearing and visually impaired, televised services provide a way to take part in religious services while remaining at home or in an assisted-care facility. While many of the Faithful are unaware of the attacks on Faith and on religious observances, the far Left knows full well the wisdom of George Orwell when he wrote: "He who controls the Present, control the Past. He who controls the Past controls the Future."

For example, according to Congressman Jim Jordan, the FBI used undercover agents to enlist parishioners and clergy to report on fellow believers who might be "too conservative" in their views. The Republican Congressman said, "Enlisting clergy to monitor their parishes prevents Americans who attend church from being able to exercise their First Amendment rights."

Ergo: the ongoing Revolution described by Professor Victor Davis Hanson is not something happening somewhere else. The Revolution is sitting smugly in the empty pews.

NB: My use of so many capital letters is due to my second language, German.

©2023. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com