Is This The Start of A Second American Civil War? 3 Things To Keep In Mind

Last updated on: July 13, 2015 at 4:50 am by Tom Zampino

Is This The Start of A Second American Civil War? 3 Things To Keep In Mind 2015-07-13T04:50:50-05:00 Tom Zampino

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What was once a simple cultural divide has now become what seems like an unbridgeable chasm.

In some ways, it feels as if we are playing out a second American Civil War, brother warring against brother.

Perhaps the current battle lines are, in some ways, even worse.

Communication has all but collapsed into vile name-calling. Those who once sought respect and tolerance now demand submission and abject surrender. Some voices on the left want nothing more than to silence all opposition in a barrage of false accusations of bigotry and hate – accusations which are no truthful or helpful than those which all too often emanate from the right, conflating sin and sinner.

So how do we move forward from here, in a culture where tradition is openly mocked, public expressions of sincere religious belief are often condemned as hate speech, and the secular ideology of relativism has all but condensed and replaced Sinai’s establishment of multiple, familial relationships – between the divine and the earthly, between man and himself – into one overweening dictate of self-love and self-actualization?

I propose that we keep three things in mind:

1) God remains in charge. While our cumulative efforts and failures may at times influence the trajectory of our movement forward, man’s unalterable destination was long ago established. Death has been conquered and we have already been set free. Nothing that we do can ultimately change that. Man’s influence has terrestrial limits.

2) We have taken part in this three-act play before. The story of the garden, the fall, and our ultimate redemption is the story of man. And, as Father Robert Barron reminds, even if the prevailing culture entirely rejects all that Christ came to fulfill, his message always manages to seep through. The seeds have already been planted. His words can never be entirely shouted down or shut out.

3) We really don’t have any choice but to keep engaging, so let’s do so with joy, and love, and peace, lest we find ourselves falling into the same irreparable despair of this fallen world:

The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades. This is a very real danger for believers too. Many fall prey to it, and end up resentful, angry and listless. That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life in the Spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ – Evangelii Gaudium.

So let your hearts not be troubled.

Go and be.

Peace

Photo Image Credit Here: Public Domain, via Pixabay.com (Gerd Altmann from Freiburg, Deutschland)

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