WORLDVIEWS AT THE HEART OF CULTURE WAR

 By Bill Dunn

Back in March, state Sen. Andrew McDonald (D-Stamford) and state Rep. Michael Lawlor (D-East Haven) introduced S.B. 1098, a bill that would have stripped Catholic priests and bishops of their authority to govern local parishes. The bill was universally criticized as being blatantly unconstitutional, and the two legislators, co-chairs of the powerful Judiciary Committee, withdrew the bill when thousands of Catholics gathered at the state capitol to protest.

At the time, a friend asked me, “Why do those two guys hate the Catholic Church so much? Is it because the Church opposes their favorite cause, same-sex marriage?”

The answer is a bit more complex than that. It’s not that McDonald and Lawlor are against a particular religious institution over a particular controversial issue. Their animus goes much deeper. The battle over S.B. 1098 was merely a skirmish in the greater cultural war, a war based on starkly different worldviews.

“Worldview” means a person’s fundamental understanding of reality; the beliefs he or she sincerely holds regarding the origin and nature of mankind’s existence. The culture war that began in the latter half of the 20th century, and which continues to rage today, is a struggle between two opposing and mutually exclusive worldviews. On one side of the divide is the traditional Judeo-Christian worldview, the “faith” camp. On the other side is the progressive humanist worldview, the “secular” camp. Here is a summary of the stark differences:

• The faith camp believes the all-powerful, supernatural God created life, including mankind. The secular camp believes impersonal, blind-chance, natural processes created life accidentally out of non-living material.
   
• The faith camp believes values and morality come from God. The secular camp believes values and morality are based on personal opinion and human experience.
   
• The faith camp believes God and His revelation are Truth. The secular camp believes there is no such thing as absolute truth, everything is relative.
   
• The faith camp believes mankind is sinful and in need of forgiveness and redemption. The secular camp believes mankind is basically good, and the concept of “sin” is old-fashioned and harmful.
   
• The faith camp believes evil behavior originates from within individual human hearts. The secular camp believes evil behavior is the result of evil social structures, such as poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc., and the individual is not at fault.
   
• The faith camp believes moral guidelines are needed to curb the individual’s selfish desires, and thus prevent society from plunging into chaos. The secular camp believes moral guidelines are artificial and stifling constraints, and the most fulfilling course of action is for each individual to embrace and celebrate his or her particular desires.

The furor caused by S.B. 1098 was not an isolated incident. It was just another in a long series of clashes between these two opposing worldviews. The difference in basic beliefs is the reason the two camps always seem to line up on opposite sides of a multitude of issues: abortion, embryo-destructive stem cell research, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, the structure of the family, the interpretation of “separation of church and state,” etc.

The secular camp has been focused, determined, and actively fighting this culture war for over 50 years. The faith camp, although comprised of the vast majority of citizens in the U.S., for the most part does not even realize there is a war going on. Which explains why, despite a temporary setback with S.B. 1098, the secularists are winning.