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Townhall...
Equipping Children
With Spiritual and Political Armor
By David Limbaugh
As my friends’ kids leave the nest for their first year away at
college, I think of the monolithic ideas with which they will surely be
bombarded in an environment that is supposed to expose them to a
variety of ideas. Are they prepared to resist the seductive but
destructive message?
Liberal elites have dominated most university faculties for years, but
it seems they’ve become bolder, more radical and more militant. It is
not their ideas I fear, because Christianity and conservatism stand up
to truth challenges. It is the moral preening, the politicization of
academics, the peer pressure, the revisionist distortions and the
potential discrimination against dissenters.
You know the drill. The professorate will aggressively beat into your
children’s heads that America is not the greatest nation in history,
but largely responsible, through action or inaction, for much of the
suffering in the world and that it is imperialistic, exploitive and
selfish. They’ll say that Christianity is narrow, intolerant,
anti-intellectual, anti-science, homophobic, hateful and judgmental and
that capitalism is corrupt and skewed toward the “rich” and big
corporations. They’ll say or imply that political conservatism is
inherently racist, homophobic, sexist, militaristic, unenlightened,
close-minded, mean-spirited and uncompassionate.
As parents, are you aware that the above scenario is likely to play out
to some extent at most universities? Do you disagree or think it’s not
a big deal? Do you believe your kids are immune from this inevitable
onslaught? Are you confident that even if they are exposed to such
slander, they will reject it as inconsistent with their own personal
experiences?
Are you sure, for example, that your kids have the discernment to
recognize the disinformation that Christianity and conservatism are
hardhearted, selfish, hateful, bigoted and intellectually backward and
the strength to oppose it? Apart from your kids’ presumed respect for
you, do they have the intellectual ammunition and the spiritual armor
to resist the pressure to conform?
Parents who find themselves in this position must not be complacent,
assuming naively that they’ve done all they can do and that their kids
have picked up, by osmosis or example, a proper and sustaining
worldview orientation. Though they have been exposed to a culture war
since they first started watching TV and going to movies, they are
about to enter a new, intensified phase of it.
Christian parents should not assume their kids are equipped to filter
out the false claims they will likely encounter. Christianity is the
opposite of how it is often portrayed in our culture and is none of
those negative things indicated above. You owe it to yourselves and
your kids to anticipate the attacks and think through how they can be
countered. Don’t assume your excellent child rearing will be enough. We
must stand up to the challenge and test our own faith, if necessary,
reviewing what and why we believe. If we can’t explain it, should we
expect our kids to understand it?
Please don’t dismiss these warnings as my opportunistic construction of
a straw man. As my friend Frank Turek warns, “Christian young people
are leaving the church at an alarming rate, mainly because they are not
equipped to examine the skepticism and atheism they encounter, often
coming from their college professors, after leaving home.” So do your
homework and help arm your kids. Or consult other sources for help,
such as Frank’s website, CrossExamined.org, which has information on
how you can help teach or reinforce in your kids why Christianity is
true and reasonable -- and loving.
Likewise, as politically conservative parents, you should help insulate
your kids from the propaganda coming their way. You might want to first
remind them that a strong majority of Americans are center-right and
reject most of the ideas being forced on us by the vocal, strident and
extreme leftist minority in this country. Next, of course, you need to
address the specific libels hurled at conservatives and substantively
respond to and refute the claims that they are bigoted, selfish and
unreasonable.
If you have time to address little else, at least strive to explain to
your kids in a thoughtful way why conservatism is not only not
uncompassionate but also more compassionate, open-minded, tolerant,
science-compatible and consistent with our human experiences than
liberalism. You must do what you can to help prevent your kids from
being shamed into liberalism through its false claim of having a
monopoly on compassion.
Parents, are you prepared? Are your kids? Can we agree we have some
work to do?
Read it at Townhall
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