Why Uneducated Pseudo-intellectuals are Happy to March for Murderers
A Reformation Day Reflection on Faith and Freedom, Delusion and Truth
How did we miss it? Yet it has happened. “Never forget!” We urged each other. But did we ever really think we could be so callous, so loose with the truth that it would give way to what we are witnessing?
Somewhere, somehow, each of us needs to pause. We must engage in earnest contemplation of the events transpiring before us—if independent thought remains within our grasp. If. Some of us believe that kind of thinking is getting scarce.
Contemplate Our Current Reality
Public safety’s decline into selective warnings for specific citizens—Jews, for example—to avoid public spaces is an alarming low in our nation’s history. This perilous trajectory won’t self-correct. University leaders who permit their campuses to be hijacked by extremist elements, exploiting naive and ill-educated students to propagate hate-filled rhetoric without the slightest hint of resolute condemnation, are displaying a woeful, and indeed sinister, weakness. Such cowardice by administrators and boards (and in some cases state legislators that oversee public universities) is a shame, the shadow of which covers us all.
Reflect on Our Journey Here
The perilous descent into collective madness—a dangerously predictable groupthink—inevitably ends in disaster. Filling the chasm between the repudiation of foundational principles—like Aquinas’s Summa—and the rot of once-majestic civilizations lies a divine constant: our society is anchored in the God of the Jews and the teachings of Jesus Christ. As public intellectuals such as Tom Holland and Roger Scruton (1944-2020) have affirmed, this Judeo-Christian framework elevates all individuals, irrespective of their faith or lack thereof. It is the framework of faith. And it is present even if it is not acknowledged. The Gospel grows from the inside out. Sin grows. Grace more so. This truth is the most dynamic unchanging reality in the world. As classicist and historian Tom Holland reminds us in his work, Dominion, all ideas that seek public expression in the West must do so with inevitable contrast with Christianity. Secular is just so because it is secularized from Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Hatred, such as we see in anti-Semitism, is defined by the love of Christ which led to “human rights,” and “the brotherhood of Mankind” shaped by two thousand years of Christianity.
The probability that those brandishing hate-filled placards have pondered this enduring legacy is low. Exceedingly low.
The perilous descent into collective madness, known as groupthink, inevitably ends in disaster.—M. A. Milton.
Consider the Foundation of Humanity: Marriage
Society’s cornerstone is the nuclear family, formed through the sacred covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. The government’s role is to safeguard this bedrock by meting out justice and promoting communal welfare. All societal structures emanate from this familial nucleus, as elaborated by seminal thinkers like Samuel Rutherford and John Locke, whose insights are rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Ignoring these enduring truths by those inciting animosity is tragic and perilous for all. In short, to deface the divine and enduring institution of marriage—the word reflects the reality of the complementary union which is only possible through male and female in a monogamous lifelong relationship—is to distort the meaning of life. You just as well ink the final chapter.
Such Orwellian tinkering leads to a most uncomfortable reflection.
Examine Our Complicity
Our tolerance of linguistic and behavioral absurdities has eroded our social fabric (I think a note of gratitude is necessary and appropriate for Mrs. Matt Walsh, who gave us the answer to “What is a Woman?” She said, with the complete confidence of common sense and now, seemingly, uncommon intellect, “A woman is an adult female.” She should be a Supreme Court Justice). Indeed, Justice Clarence Thomas, in his dissenting opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, presciently warned of the unforeseen ramifications of reconfiguring the millennia-old institution of marriage.
It is a relatively short distance from asserting that “there are at least three genders” to deducing that some people are not really human. That is how this happens.—M. A. Milton
To deny the truth is to gamble not just with our heritage but also with the well-being of future generations. Even more. Denial of the plain truth leads to a calculus that ends in personal and collective destruction. It is a relatively short distance from asserting that “there are at least three genders” to deducing that some people are not really human. That is how this happens.
Acknowledge What We Might Yet Receive
Tolerating lies has a calculable progression toward endangering the innocent (see Romans 1:18-32). However, the enduring laws of divine forgiveness remain ever accessible: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32 KJV). Thank God.
This doctrine of theology, this essential principle of all life, is, at once, observable, provable, and accessible. Thus, to know God through His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, is to locate truth, and to receive that truth is to escape the innate chains of our own prejudices. In a word, it is to receive peace with one’s Creator and to realize liberty with one’s self and others. That central teaching remains as potent today as when Augustine articulated it, Aquinas expounded upon it, and Martin Luther nailed its veracity to the church door. It has always served as a branch of hope for the fallen. Grab hold of it. It is here offered by a fellow fallen truth seeker. This Branch that appears is the Branch of David, from the tree of Jesse, extending its strong safety to each of us at just the right time. To break your fall with this Branch is to know the initial step back to level ground—the hallowed terrain where truth invariably fosters freedom.
This is a lesson each of us must internalize, yet its transformative impact remains as pertinent now as ever.
Oh, how we need to be free. Then, will we exalt others as higher than ourselves, weep with those who mourn, and, if necessary, offer the most personal liberty we have as a token of love for one we do not even know.
Truth has prevailed in darkness before. Truth has produced generations of pilgrims and pioneers before. Spiritual reformation is just a prayer away. And what follows is to die for.
References
Eliot, T. S. (1927) 1925. Poems 1909–1925. London: Faber & Faber, 128.
Holland, Tom. Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind. Hachette UK, 2019.
Scruton, Roger. The Face of God: The Gifford Lectures. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012.
______. The Soul of the World. Princeton University Press, 2016.