Cultural Revolution - Part III
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The first two parts of this series reviewed the seeds of socialism and its religion of humanism sown into the fields of science, government, philosophy, psychology, and economics.
In the 1920s, John Dewey of Columbia University was influenced by the Fabian Socialists—a radical campus movement that later became known as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
SDS philosophical concepts of a democratic society drew heavily from Robert Owen, Karl Marx, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Their left activist groups produced the radical leaders of the 1950s and 1960s.
Dewey and Education
John Dewey’s influence on education in America cannot be ignored. Just how could a corrupt atheist’s views gain prominence over God and the Bible in public education? Dewey wrote the following:
“There is no God and there is no soul. Hence, there are no needs for the props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, the immutable truth is also dead and buried. There is no room for fixed and natural law or absolutes.”
Dewey’s “permissive progressivism” was adapted from the educational ideas of Robert Owen and Horace Mann. Dewey was able to gain acceptability and support in the intellectual community that espoused and championed the humanist agenda.
The corroboration of intellectuals gave support to the new goal of eradicating Christianity from all areas of society, especially education.
Humanist author, John Dunphy, envisioned a full-scale assault on the citadels of learning. He wrote: “I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in public school classrooms by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new-the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism.”
There is no more effective means to changing society than to indoctrinate young children with these new concepts and principles of humanism and communism.
Communism is the supreme political expression of humanism. It disregards God’s law and governs by man’s law. Humanism began to affect U.S. society decisively when it swept into the educational system, and it was not by accident but done willingly by plan and design.
Humanism—Godless Religion
At first, humanists declared themselves to be free of religion. However, they still worshipped—but now at the altar of man.
Is humanism a religion?
In 1933, The Humanist Manifesto expressed both a religious and philosophical outlook. All who signed the new manifesto referred to themselves as “religious humanists,” and to their philosophy and beliefs as “religious humanism.”
The document was signed by eleven prominent college and university professors and other liberals, along with Dr. Harry F. Ward of Union Theological Seminary—an openly card-carrying communist member.
In 1961, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart declared humanism to be, itself, a religion.
Change
The intellectual community, influenced by modern science and evolution, was now equipped with the philosophical argument to attack Christianity and capitalism. The humanists and other liberals espoused a new religion that was anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-supernatural, and anti-capitalism.
Every major area of life was now influenced by humanists:
- John Dewey and others in the sphere of education were actively shifting the system to the left in the name of progressive education and government consolidation.
- The judicial system began to interpret the Constitution and declare it meant what they decreed, in a move away from absolutes.
- Bureaucrats in government pushed for more social programs and welfare, increased government spending, and limited private initiative.
- The gold standard was abolished. People became subjected to chaotic changing values, greed, and relativism while the entire economic system was undermined and unstable. The result gave more power to the Federal Reserve Bank to control the money supply system leaving inflation as a mechanism to rob future generations to pay for their current agenda.
- In religion, humanist-modernist influence invaded mainstream denominations. Intellectuals questioned traditional doctrines and beliefs, especially in theological seminaries.
A new society with new foundations was laid. Organizations were founded to protect these new progressive and humanist teachings.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a prime example.
Roger Baldwin and Crystal Eastman founded the ACLU in 1920 along with three other organizations dedicated to the most leftist of causes.
Baldwin openly sought the utter destruction of American society. Earl Browder, the general secretary of the Communist Party of the United States of America, admitted that the ACLU served as a “transmission belt” for the party.
Baldwin agreed, claiming, “I don’t regret being a part of the communist tactic which increased the effectiveness of a good cause.”
Baldwin was an admirer of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. Is it any wonder why the ACLU fights so hard for abortion rights?
In his wedding vows, Baldwin called marriage as between one man and one woman “a grim mockery of essential freedom.” He added, “The highest relationship between a man and a woman is that which welcomes and understands each other’s loves.”
The ACLU is America’s leading advocate for same-sex marriage. Their lawsuits are often won without much push-back from those who can’t afford the outrageous cost of defense. School districts, business owners, and organizations have greatly lost their freedoms to the self-imposed freedoms and higher rights of the new society.
Generational Influences
Early humanists laid the foundation and groundwork for others to build upon. From every example we have of those who built upon those early humanist philosophers and writers comes a despotic leader who wrought havoc upon humanity.
Friedrich Engels had inspired Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Tse-tung to throw off religious superstition. Engels also inspired Adolf Hitler.
Each of these dictators considered the ultimate solution to all economic, social, and religious problems to be the extermination of those who stood in their way.
Hitler would use the evolutionary theory of natural selection to promote his ideas of racial superiority.
Weapons of Their Warfare
Madalyn Murray O’Hair founded an organization of fellow atheists. This was a small minority of individuals that consisted of less than one-tenth of one percent of the population at the time but was able to enlist the Supreme Court to move from a neutral position toward religion to an anti-Christian position.
Her organization’s primary objectives were to remove “In God We Trust” as our national motto and the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance.
They also sought to ban prayers and religious holidays at any public place, challenge the phrase “so help me God” in the oath of office for public officials, and eliminate tax benefits or exemptions from religious organizations.
On June 25, 1962, prayer recitations were banned. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a prayer in New York public schools was a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The prayer read: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country.”
Next to go was Bible reading. But weren’t we taught that our nation was a Christian nation?
In 1878, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the legal structure of America is Christian in nature and equated civilization with Judeo-Christian moral standards.
In 1952, the U.S. Supreme Court said, “We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.”
The seeds of cultural revolution have leavened very quickly. Next month, in Part IV of this article, we will explore the destructive seeds of psychology.
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