Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408200017
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cody Lowe
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The question came up during a luncheon conversation between Charles Colson and William Bennett. In a column in the current issue of Christianity Today magazine, Colson related what followed:
"An abrupt silence fell as I groped for a single hopeful cultural indicator. Finally Bennett laughed. `All my friends respond the same way,' he said. `They can't find anything encouraging.' "
Colson and Bennett are two of the country's most articulate spokesmen for conservatism in both its political and religious manifestations.
Colson, you will recall, was jailed for his role in Watergate and was mocked by the suspicious when he announced his conversion to Christianity while serving his sentence. The proof of the authenticity of that experience has been in Colson's post-Watergate life. His Prison Fellowship organization is recognized as a model Christian ministry around the world, championing prison reform and helping inmates - and their families - avoid the pitfalls that lead to recidivism.
Bennett is a former Secretary of Education and so-called Drug Czar. A best-selling author on culture and values, he is widely considered to be a prime candidate for a not-too-distant Republican presidential nomination. I still tend to think of him primarily as a philosopher - his academic specialization - who once headed the National Endowment for the Humanities, which was his job when I interviewed him a couple of times in the late 1970s.
These are intelligent and thoughtful men who have distinguished themselves by the power of their ideas, even among many who don't often agree with them.
But this validation of negativity strikes me as a particularly troublesome paradox for Christian commentators.
Aren't Christians, after all, supposed to embrace the ultimate "positives" of atonement, redemption and salvation?
I am always amazed at how often Christian theology embraces and endorses a negative world view even in the face of the "good news" it preaches.
In fact and fairness, Colson does find potential for something positive in our pessimistic culture, if Christians use these "bleak times" as an opportunity to witness about Jesus Christ and bring unbelievers to faith.
Still, most of his brief essay outlines the case for negativity. He quotes polls showing 70 percent or more of the nation's residents are unhappy with our spiritual and moral state.
I, for one, would be surprised if any poll ever found any different result. Hasn't that dissatisfaction always been true?
I can remember the late 1950s, now almost universally imagined to have been an idyllic period of bliss and progress, when parents and grandparents bemoaned the fractured culture of ducktail haircuts and rock 'n' roll music. And they called for a return of the "good old days." It was puzzling then - if a bit less so for me now - to understand how "old days" that had included two world wars and the Great Depression could have been "good." But in the minds of those who resisted the passage of time, "old" was "good" no matter what the actual experience had been.
Of course, they did rightly notice a change in the application of morals and ethics. They noticed that society was beginning to frown on the use of the word "nigger." They noticed that more wives were deciding they'd rather be divorced than beaten up. They noticed that some churchgoers were starting to question the authority of the priest and minister.
And now Messieurs Colson and Bennett and a host of others are raising the alarm for our time. "Can you name one positive trend in our culture?"
It is worth thinking about. And I'd say, yes, I believe I can. More than one, in fact, though I recognize that all are debatable.
Some examples:
Music. I know some would argue that there is a lot of bad music being written and performed today and I won't dispute that. But there has always been more bad music than good written in any period of history. Today we probably are exposed to more genres than ever before, though, and much of it is quite good. If, as I believe, music - and the love of it - is a marker of culture, then we have every reason to be positive and enthusiastic.
War. There is no immediate prospect of our culture being involved in a military war, even though some might argue a culture war is going on inside society. Yes, we have been involved in some military adventurism in the last 20 years, and Bosnia and Haiti may yet see American troops. But we have helped avoid a third worldwide conflagration and most of us believe the likelihood of that is more remote than ever before.
Science. Despite occasional excesses and unreasonable expectations, science continues to combat disease and otherwise make life "better" for humankind. We face new dangers - in areas such as genetic manipulation, for instance - but there is the prospect of almost unimaginable benefits.
Tolerance. Society is becoming more tolerant of diversity. For some people, this is a big negative, I know. Maybe the biggest negative. Tolerance leads to all kinds of mischief. But for religious people, it should be viewed as a supreme good in a land where the first item in the Bill of Rights lists freedom of religion. For millions of Jews, Muslims, Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Christian Scientists, Pentecostals and other members of minority religious groups who have known the sting of discrimination from a mainstream Christian majority, tolerance is not a negative. For homosexuals who once feared being beaten to death if their sexual orientation were known, tolerance is not a negative. For the physically handicapped who once were excluded from much of public life by an attitude of indifference to the obstacles they faced, toleration is not a negative.
What do you think? Can you name one positive trend in our culture?
Write and let me know at The Back Pew, Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
by CNB