Action Plan for American Christians

Christians who take their faith seriously are vilified by the federal government, the entertainment industry, the major universities, and the mass media. But don't blame the liberals; blame yourselves for your complacency. It is time to take back some ground in critical areas in order to save what is left of our constitutional republic and repair the damage done by a century of decadence in the world and apathy in the churches.

Provide Better Education

Public education is the tool by which the progressives co-opted children from Christian families and turned them into semi-educated robot workers and voters suitable to the needs of an increasingly socialist state. You give your children to the government for thirteen years at great peril! Christians have made a mistake in sending their helpless children to be educated by a government that is hostile to people of sincere Christian convictions. Feeble efforts to opt out of comprehensive sex education and influence textbook adoption committees have done nothing to save America's children from an "education" system that is actually about control and indoctrination rather than liberal education in the classical tradition.

Why work within a system that is corrupt at the core? Public education is not broken -- it is doing exactly what the big-government folks want it to do. Children will only learn the foundational truths of a free society if we teach them. Those in charge do not want students who can read the Constitution of the United States, Augustine's City of God, Smith's Wealth of Nations and the Holy Bible and understand them! They want people who will do/vote as they are told by their teachers, social workers, celebrities and politicians.

The answer is to create an alternative educational system so attractive that even the heathen will want their children to benefit from the excellent education offered by Christian schools. Home, private, and Christian schools enable individual families to escape the system. Christian schools, if done excellently, can produce intellectual giants such as those who founded America, launched international missions, and preserved the classics of Western civilization through the Dark Ages. One caveat: if Christian schools are done poorly, they reinforce the stereotype of the ignorant, "bitter clinger" as derisively described by a former president in a speech given on April 6, 2008.

Dominate the Arts

Christians, as people in an intimate relationship with the Creator, should be creating the best art on the face of the earth. Why do we not? We have ignorantly taught our children that the arts are an evil temptation and that true Christian service involves going into the ministry. Our children with gifts in music, dance, drama, and visual arts are left feeling like second-class Christians because their God-given gifts are considered bad by those in the church who should instead be teaching them to use those gifts.

An excellent painting, song, or screenplay can glorify God just as a sermon or Bible lesson can. Our nation has degrading, depressing, tacky, and crude art because God's people left a vacuum when they abandoned the arts. Nature abhors a vacuum, and it will be filled with something no matter what we do. The world needs what Christian artists can offer. Nurture artistic talent just as we nurture any other gift in the church. Do not settle for mediocrity, lest the world think less of our God. He deserves our best for His glory!

Speak Truth to Power

Do not withdraw in the face of relentless opposition by a hostile press. Engage them! They are no longer objective journalists, so attack them with the very thing they should be seeking -- the truth! Blogs, letters to the editor, letters to legislators and governors, full-page ads and newsletters are all ways to get truth out to a world that knows only what it sees on television or gets from a cursory internet search. Our founders counted on a free press to keep the government honest. Now that the mainstream media is simply an extension of one political party, somebody must perform the important truth-telling functions once performed by the press. Christians need to become real journalists and investigative reporters. Christians need to speak the truth without apology. Why apologize for the truth when it is truth that sets people free? Truth keeps people free!

Conclusion

Christians, get out of your Sunday bubbles. Get out of your Christian ghettos and engage the society around you. They need us! We have hidden our light under a bushel too long. Where is the "shining city on a hill" now, when it is needed most? Get to work, Christians. The country you save may be your own.

All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians & Popular Culture by Kenneth A. Meyers

Roaring Lambs: A Gentle Plan to Radically Change Your World by Bob Briner

Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality by Charles Murray

"47%" vs. "Bitter Clinger" by Simon Maloy