The sight of a child praying wins more souls than 100 books of apologetics.
All sins affect all people. There is no such thing as private sin. A good illustration is sexual sin. The idea that what people do in their bedroom is their own business has led us to the idea that teachers, teachers unions, and governmental bodies have a legal right to teach and promote their personal sexual beliefs and practices to children in their care — as well as mock and exclude other viewpoints, including and especially those held by parents. Those who find the latter idea evil must find the former idea just as evil.
Even more troubling than the situation just described is the degree to which leaders of “progressive” movements are idolized rather than ostracized. Leaders are a reflection of what followers admire or ignore. This is why problems caused by current government policies cannot be solved at the ballot box. This is not a call to violence, but rather, a call to awareness, involvement, charity, and confident, constructive engagement. G.K. Chesterton is a great model on this count. He never compromised in what he believed to be true, and yet engaged those who disagreed with him with humor, grace, and respect. There is no better way to change minds and hearts.
I saw an interesting headline in the news yesterday: Banning Abortion Bad for the Economy — US Treasury Chief. Morality issues aside, I found it interesting this administration expresses such concern for the economy, after two ruinous years of needless COVID restrictions and having implemented policies causing economically destructive inflation and shortages of necessary goods including baby formula, fertilizer, and energy.
People say that family TV shows from yesteryear were unrealistic, that they presented an unrealistically rosy picture of family life. I say that today’s TV shows are unrealistic. It’s true that shows such as Leave It to Beaver were corny beyond belief, but at least they presented the model of a family that people could realistically aspire too, and perhaps with a great deal of effort and luck, come close to attaining. Today’s programs, though, present individuals (women, primarily) who have become or are attempting to be successful in demanding careers and in their parenting. It’s not a realistic model. With very rare exceptions, career success does not leave enough time for what must be the almost constant nurturing of children — and parenting success does not leave time for what must be the almost constant toil of being a CEO or an astronaut. The whole idea that a person can succeed at both is dubious at best.
