3 Great Awakenings of Christians preceded the biggest movements and conflicts
that define the American Civilization and the Nation that it supports.
These Great Awakenings are interwoven in the fabric of what can be called the
American Experience. At every period in our time as a Nation there is a central
experience that the Nation is undergoing. It is what the country is 'about' at
the time. How the country begins and ends an experience are very different. The
Nation is constantly changing and morphs by degrees during each experience. The
experience can be oriented internally or externally from our homeland. Yet, the
whole experience profoundly effects our homeland and our views both internally
and externally.
Presently, America is engaged in WW IV against Islamist Terrorism. Yet, the
vision for how WW IV fits into a greater vision, our role at home and in the
World, is cloudy. Even if it were clear, it would be disputed by our deeply
divided Nation.
One possibility is a 'Munificent Destiny'. It's the wise application of our
wealth at home and across the World. It means not killing the golden goose of
Capitalism for a few socialist eggs. It means protecting our Republic in a
period of Imperial power and responsibilities without National - American -
Imperial ambitions or will. It's about embracing profound and accelerating
change throughout a society transitioning to a new Information era. It's about
keeping our individual freedoms to preserve liberty and opportunity as twin
objectives. See my archives for op eds with more information.
The National Missions are the role America plays in international affairs.
Some of the big movements that transformed the Nation are listed. Likewise, the
separate line of thinking is listed that leads to the great cultural divide in
the 1960s and the Great U.S. Culture War - our Second American Civil War.
Throughout American Civilization this Nation has been a place where it is safe
to be a believing Christian and Jew.
The Big Threads and Many Issues
Two great threads, you could call them American Civilization’s “DNA”
helicals, underlie our American Experience. These threads run the length of
our National timeline:
1. The Great Experiment. Democracy in the American Republic
2. The Great Commission. Christianity in American
Understanding American Civilization means knowing how The Great
Experiment and The Great Commission change over time in America.
The Great Commission is short hand for how Christians take Jesus’s
command to spread the Good News to the ends of the Earth. The thinking of
overwhelming Christian majority has provided the basis for the American
consensus culture. Civilizations are built on cultures. America’s culture
evolved to be a Judeo-Christian consensus culture.
The pagan challenge to Christian culture began as early as the French
Revolution. The pagans prefer to be called secularists or progressives. They
are Liberal Human Secularists in the 21st Century or Liberal Pagans. When
they are enforcing Political Correctness, they are Liberal Puritans.
The challenges to the Judeo-Christian consensus culture gained strength
with the Transcendentalists in the 1830s. From there you can draw
genealogical line of thinking to the big break in the 1960s. This website
will have a time line that provides those details – someday.
The rift in the 1960s can be dated for convenience, more than accuracy,
to the U.S. Supreme Court decision banning public prayer in school (Engel v
Vitale, 1962). The rift became the Great U.S. Culture War or our second
American Civil War. I call it ACW II.
Some excellent readings are:
1. America’s Real War, Rabbi Daniel Lapin
2. Culture Wars, The Struggle to Define America, James
Davison Hunter
3. One Nation, Two Cultures, Gertrude Himmelfarb
4. America’s Thirty Years War: Who Is Winning?, late Balint
Vazsonyi
The left turn from consensus culture is situational ethics essentially.
When Liberal Human Secularism is boiled down, it reduces to situational
ethics disconnected from orthodoxy, God and Natural Law. Many of the hot
button issues and distinctions are shown on the left lunging arrow.
Today’s sweet, idealistic, caring Liberal is tomorrow’s fascist. The
Liberals share the same line of thinking as Nazi Human Secularists and
Communist Human Secularists. So, liberal PC excesses which are amusing
today, will be as funny as a witch trial if, and when, Liberal Puritans
fully assume the mantle of their cultural ancestors.
