Law, Culture Wars, and the Christian

Law and legal issues are of course a vital component of life. And for good parts of human history the laws of God stood over, and greatly influenced, the laws of men. But in the secular West today this is becoming more and more rare, and increasingly we find the rise of ungodly, if not anti-God, law.

This comes in many forms, including so-called anti-discrimination, equal opportunity, and anti-vilification laws. These are being used to stifle Christians from sharing the gospel, forcing them to violate their own consciences, and keeping them from speaking out publicly about important social and moral issues. We see examples of this happening all the time.

Today law in the West is largely in the hands of those who adhere to the worldview of secular humanism. This is reflected on a daily basis in a whole host of areas: laws and legislation passed, court and judicial decisions, sentencing for crime, activist agendas promoted through law, and so on.

lawJudicial Activism

Let me focus on that last area I just mentioned: judicial activism. This is where judges who are pushing radical agendas effectively take the law into their own hands, and promote militant social engineering causes. The most recent example of this was when the High Court ruled on a NSW case, actually claiming that there are no longer two genders, but people can now have a “non-specific” third gender! I discuss that bizarre case in detail here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/04/02/high-court-rules-against-biology-and-redefines-reality-to-boot/

The sad truth is, all over the Western world we are witnessing the rise of judicial activism. We find the active political involvement of judges in contentious social issues. The problem is, judges – often unelected and unaccountable -instead of legislators, are making and repealing laws, and internationalising law as well.

Judges have overstepped their bounds, and their agendas are often at odds with the majority of those they claim to serve. In fact, far too often the rule of law has been replaced by the rule of judges. This usurpation of the democratic process should be of concern to all of us.

The rule of law is of utmost importance, and judges are to be neutral in its application, and not seek to push their own political and social agendas. Judges are meant to serve the people and the laws the people helped to make, and not rewrite the law books and promote Political Correctness and social radicalism. But that sadly has been exactly the case for a number of decades now.

Judicial activism can take many forms: it may simply mean that judges are speaking out on controversial ethical and political issues when such pronouncements are not really proper to the role of a judge. Or worse, it can mean using one’s position as a judge to not just apply the law but to radically reinterpret and rewrite the law, to suit trendy political changes or to enforce a stifling Political Correctness.

This has certainly been the case in the US, where in the past half century a whole raft of radical judicial decisions have been made on such controversial issues as abortion, euthanasia and homosexual rights. As Robert Bork has commented, we are beginning to understand “what it means to be ruled by an oligarchy. The most important moral, political, and cultural decisions affecting our lives are steadily being removed from democratic control” and put into the hands of a few radical judges.

Phyllis Schlafly minces no words when she laments “the judicial supremacists who have been systematically dismantling the architecture of our unique, three-branch constitutional republic, and replacing it with an Imperial Judiciary”.

And with judicial decisions attacking the very nature of the moral order – as in its pro-death and anti-family decisions – one has to ask if the courts are still to be regarded as instruments of justice. As Robert George notes, the “worst abuses of human rights have come from the least democratic branch of government – the judiciary”.

And of course our radicalised law schools are fuelling all this. Today we have feminist legal theory, queer legal theory, Marxist legal theory, deconstructionist legal theory, and so on. Every kind of radicalism around seems to gravitate towards our law schools. And with good reason. Activists know that if they can take over our legal faculties, our courts and our judiciaries, they can impose their radical agenda on the rest of society.

In addition to the law schools, there are a host of legal reform bodies, often government supported (and tax-payer funded). They too tend to have a radical and secular agenda they are promoting, be it drug decriminalisation, the legalisation of prostitution, the decriminalisation of abortion, or the promotion of homosexual rights.

Cultural Marxism

So how did all this arise? Antinomianism has always been with us, ever since the Garden of Eden of course. But the anti-God agenda of recent times – including judicial activism and the radicalisation of law – has come about, not by accident, but quite deliberately. The field of law, like so many other areas, has been strategically targeted by those who want to overthrow the West and its Judeo-Christian foundations.

Let me mention just one important component of this. In the 1930s Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci said that there is more than one way to take over a nation. There is the obvious method of external use of force – armed rebellion and revolution and the like. But a nation can also be subverted from within – without firing a shot.

He made the case that radicals should take over the institutions of power and influence, such as the media, politics, the universities, and the courts. He spoke of the “long march through the institutions”. He knew that by so doing an internal revolution could easily take place. Sadly, we have seen his strategy almost fully realised now.

Indeed, no one could have foreseen how quickly and easily the institutions did crumble before the radical activists. The moral, cultural and social blitzkrieg has been as thorough as it has been all-consuming. And the success of this revolution, as Roger Kimball reminds, “can be measured not in toppled governments but in shattered values”.

How do we turn things around?

As to the radical law activists, much can be done: Their activities need to be exposed, and their public funding needs to be curtailed. In addition, alternative legal bodies need to be set up to reflect mainstream values, and to challenge the judicial activists. All these strategies are long term goals, and require time, effort and commitment from those concerned about the way things are now headed.

Indeed, reversing the decline of the West and its ungodly direction is no small task. And redeeming law in the West is just one part of this process. Much would need to be done in many areas. But let me speak to just one facet of this. A large part of our problem is that we Christians have allowed secular humanists and others to take over the field of law while we have simply pulled out.

Thus we are no longer being salt and light in this vital area as we are meant to be. By abandoning law – and most other spheres of power and influence – we have basically lost so many of these battles by default. We have handed these important areas over to our enemies, and we wonder why we keep losing here.

We need Christians to reclaim every area of life. That is because Christ should be Lord over every area of life. After all, he is the one who created politics, and law, and the arts, etc. These are parts of his original cultural mandate (see Genesis 1:28).

But we have sat back and allowed God’s enemies to take over all these areas. It is time for us to wake from our slumber, and get back into all these realms. So we need Christian lawyers and judges and law professors. And of course they need to be guided soundly by the Christian worldview.

Simply being a Christian in law, but soaking up the secular mindset and worldview, will not be all that helpful. We need to think Christianly here, and seek to promote Biblical values and ideas in the legal realm. So Christian participation in all areas of society, strongly informed by a biblical worldview, is imperative if we want to see some of these areas turned around for the glory of God.

For too long Christians have pulled out of the surrounding culture, and allowed the other side to take control. It is time we once again take seriously the idea of the Lordship of Christ, and take on board our responsibilities to be salt and light in every part of life – law included.

[1458 words]

15 Replies to “Law, Culture Wars, and the Christian”

  1. I cannot believe how stupid these people are! If I was to argue that I am neither male nor female than I am arguing that I am a mutant!
    The whole point of classification between male and female is to take a role in not only the natural law and order of things but also to weld into society such as which toilet do I use.
    By having these mutants on the lose legally, I can no longer trust using public utilities for fear that I am sharing with an opposite sex or a pervert.
    Further, if these mutants want to marry, what would the law prescribe – do you take it to be your wedded it?

  2. I`d like to recommend young people who are politically aware, to research “The Macquarie Institute” (ACL),to see if this training would benefit them. From what I gather, it`s a strong Christian internship designed to build up strong leaders and prepare them for dealing with ungodly leadership etc. Most of our current Christian leaders appear ill prepared with dealing with The Left.

  3. People are starting to wake up and get organised to resist this totalitarian movement and they will win out in the end, unfortunately as in all wars there will be casualties. As Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 10: 34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.” In verses 16-17 he says as I’m sure you and many of your readers will know, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake.” It has happened before and it is happening again now.

  4. While at uni studying to be a teacher some 12 years ago I read material that opened my eyes to the agenda that involves the reconstruction of how we define family. By this I mean the total rewriting of our social codes, without any links to the Judeo-Christian worldview. Having witnessed some of what has transpired since then I can say that the reality matches into what was written about back then, and probably before. There I’d a lot of gullibility and naivety when it comes to these issues. We really do need to stand up and take notice.

  5. Not on topic.

    Bill, have you noticed that bullies in Mozilla have forced out Brendan Eich for expressing his personal viewpoint about homosexual ‘marriage’.

    Dear Mitchell Baker,

    I’m going to migrate back to Safari as my preferred browser because of Mozilla’s bullying of Brendan Eich for expressing his personal viewpoint about homosexual ‘marriage’ and I’ll encourage people to do the same.

    I don’t like bullies.

    Your press release was nauseating in its political correctness.

    So good riddance to Mozilla.

    Yours sincerely,

    (Mrs) Antonia Feitz

    ++++++

    On the 3rd April 2014 Mozilla issued this press release:

    Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

    Apr 3 2014

    Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves.

    We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act. We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry. We must do better.

    Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He’s made this decision for Mozilla and our community.

    Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech [But clearly they DON’T!] . Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.

    Our organizational culture reflects diversity and inclusiveness. We welcome contributions from everyone regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, gender, gender-iidentity, language, race, sexual orientation, geographical location and religious views. Mozilla supports equality for all.

    We have employees with a wide diversity of views. Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public. This is meant to distinguish Mozilla from most organizations and hold us to a higher standard. But this time we failed to listen, to engage, and to be guided by our community.

    While painful, the events of the last week show exactly why we need the web. So all of us can engage freely in the tough conversations we need to make the world better.

    We need to put our focus back on protecting that Web. And doing so in a way that will make you proud to support Mozilla.

    What’s next for Mozilla’s leadership is still being discussed. We want to be open about where we are in deciding the future of the organization and will have more information next week. However, our mission will always be to make the Web more open so that humanity is stronger, more inclusive and more just: that’s what it means to protect the open Web.

    We will emerge from this with a renewed understanding and humility — our large, global, and diverse community is what makes Mozilla special, and what will help us fulfill our mission. We are stronger with you involved.

    Thank you for sticking with us.

    Mitchell Baker, Executive Chairwoman

  6. Bill,

    Muslims have a very long term agenda, because their eschatology allows for millennia to transpire while they march towards their stated end: world domination. Secularists have a very long term agenda; Communists have a very long term agenda; all other Humanists understand that they have a very long time to accomplish their agenda, and so the historical dialectic can be trusted to win out in the end.

    On the other hand, the vast majority of Evangelical, Pentecostal, and many Reformed Christians, who have been tainted with dispensational, immanent rapturist teachings, cannot see very far ahead at all. If Jesus’ Second Coming return is soon, what is the point in long term strategies to win back the culture; what is the point in polishing the brass on a sinking ship.

    Eschatology does matter, Bill. The eschatological question is not a peripheral one, it is essential to our temporal and cultural salvation. Christians need a very long term view that involves careful, systematic strategizing and implementation, with a much longer view than “Maybe tonight, maybe this week” thinking that robbed me of decades of commitment to my cultural call back in the 1970s and 80s (until I was pointed to a more Biblical approach to eschatology).

    I call dispensationalism heresy, and lay much of the cultural reversal in the west at the feet of those who have propagated the heresy since the popularisation of it by C. I. Scofield and his Bible notes.

    Even in the last few days I have heard sincere Christians say that the decline of the West is necessary because it is the fulfilment of prophecy, and is evidence of the nearness of the return of Christ. No, no, no! The decline of the West is an indication that the modern Church has neglected the covenant of God that demands that His people walk in His ways that we might be His people, and that He would be our God (Jeremiah 7:23).

    I am finished with being nice on the issue of eschatology; the liberty of my children’s children is at stake. In Revelation chapters 2 and 3 Christ called His church back to the covenant, and promised that He would kill them with death if they failed to heed His call. Historically all those churches mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3 fell under the hammer of Islam because they did not heed the call. God is no respecter of persons.

    Throw out the heresy of dispensationalism and its truncated Gospel, or we also will go the way of the churches of Asia Minor, and Christ will not come back to rescue us from our just punishment, but to ensure that they are enforced.

    Amen and amen!

  7. Mozilla have shot themselves in the foot. From their icon being perceived as a user friendly, lovable little fox , it’s changed to a toxic political animal obedient to the command of activist haters. Overnight it’s had a chilling effect on the brand.

  8. I’ll be dumping Mozilla too.
    Don’t want to support it’s politically correct bigotry.

  9. I suspect the war has already been lost. In a watershed re-run of the Senate election in WA yesterday, the proportion of the vote claimed by the 2 major Parties was down 10 percent in total. Who was the major beneficiary? Not, as you might expect, the 3-4 Christian Parties which contested the election. Rather, the Greens who epitomise the kind of societal attitudes you are describing.

  10. And I say
    “Where is the resistance”??
    Unfortunately Bill, people want what they get and get what they want. The societies’ foundation has been so diluted by a people who are no longer interested in contributing to the justice standards in which we are all a part.
    Corruption can never be thwarted. It can be slowed, but never stopped. Just take our politicians for instance, friends actually believe that it is part of their job description to lie!
    It is difficult to apply socialist or Marxist ideologies where the population are good and just
    Just look inside some Christian churches and you will see how they view their adherence to the world and its declining standards
    Keep praying
    God bless you all

  11. When you look at Russia and the West, it appears the creeping subversion of values from the inside has been more successful. I guess it is easier to identify and fight an external foe, but harder to get rid of slow acting poison one has voluntarily injested. The only thing against these creeping social changes is time, and time thankfully is in the Lord’s hands.
    Many blessings
    Ursula Bennett

  12. God’s Word said it first, of course:
    Deuteronomy 1:17
    Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God.

  13. We are called to fast and pray on behalf of our own sin and the sin of our nation. Ask God for the battle plans and then “do whatever He tells you”.

  14. Re: Mozilla. I just read an opinion in Forbes supporting Mr Eich’s “departure”. Also, did you notice in his statement Mr Mitchell states, “Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public” yet when Mr Eich did exactly that he was put in a position where he had no choice but to leave?

    I suspect we’ll see much more of this. How does 3% of the population gain so much power? Mick Koster.

  15. Lance A. Box. Just out of interest did you read books by Lorraine Boetner or J. Marcellus Kik or similar post-mil’ writers?

    Mick Koster.

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