(Editor's Note: This blog was first posted on The Stand in July of 2017.)
It is a time of divisiveness in America that has not been seen since the late 1960s. Colleges and universities are once again hot spots for radical ideologies; riots are springing up, and conservative speakers are shouted down; American ideals are despised by a small but vocal segment of the population, and the American flag, seen as the symbol of those values, is spurned by them; and the hostility between the Right and the Left is white hot.
We might not be as badly divided as the America that fought on battlefields in the Civil War, but that no longer seems like an impossibility.
When Pat Buchanan, addressing the Republican National Convention in 1992, famously labeled this divide as a "culture war," he was ridiculed by the mainstream media for being on the "fringe." Now, no one doubts the accuracy of his assessment.
At its most fundamental level, this is not a war about mere cultural values or even public policies such as abortion, sex, or marriage. At its heart, this is a war over the subject of God.
Is He real? Is He the God of the Bible? Did He create mankind? Does He care what we do? Do His commandments apply to us in America? Will we all one day stand before Him in judgment? Does God judge nations as well as individuals?
These are the questions behind the rancor. They are questions that had, with minimal dissent, been settled at the founding of our country. Even those founders who were not Christian knew our nation could not survive without God.
They believed God had His hand on those who fought the American Revolution and that God had granted us liberty. They knew the constitutional republic that they eventually established could not succeed without an educated and involved citizenry, whose lives were anchored by what George Washington called the "indispensable supports" of "religion and morality."
Even as late as 1956, our national leaders validated that foundation when Congress adopted our national motto: "In God We Trust."
While we are witnessing the disheartening results of forsaking the founders’ wisdom, many Christians refuse to let this terrible tragedy destroy our nation. In fact, for the last 40 years, AFA has continued to inform, equip, and activate God's people to stand boldly and firmly against secular humanist attacks on the founding principles of America.
That is no exaggeration. The progressive faction in this nation believes that there is no God and thus no absolute morality. They reject the ideas of the Declaration of Independence, which famously states:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
For the secularist, man is the highest being on earth, and the governmental state is the highest authority. Humanists believe that society's elites should make the decisions that are important, and human rights are granted by the state – not God. The America they are building has a different motto: "In Man We Trust."
For four decades, AFA has fought against every inch of encroachment by the secular humanist progressive movement. From earlier clashes over violent, profane, and filthy television programming on the nation's networks, to current threats to the safety of women and children in the bathrooms of Target, AFA has understood that all these battles are skirmishes in the war over God.
As long as we are free to do so, we will continue to fight in this culture war with the cherished help of thousands of like-minded, God-fearing supporters, who fight side by side with us.
There is only One who can reunite this disintegrating nation, but that can only happen when the hearts of people are united to His. That has been the only route – for individuals, communities, and countries – to true blessing and peace. For that goal AFA exists; toward that end, AFA will continue to fight.
May God bless America!
