 Bennett: Renewal begins with taking a stand By John H. Adams The Presbyterian Layman Volume 33, Number 4 Posted August 4, 2000 LONG BEACH, Calif. – William J. Bennett Jr. turned an axiom backwards to encourage Presbyterians to “don’t just do something; stand there.” “Some things are right and some things are wrong,” Bennett told an enthusiastic audience of nearly 1,000 people in a presentation sponsored by the Presbyterian Lay Committee. He was emphasizing the need for Presbyterians and Christians to challenge the nation’s “cultural rot” by standing firm in their faith. Bennett’s speech on June 24 was a preamble to that afternoon’s opening plenary of the 212th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), which met in Long Beach through July 1. An evangelical Roman Catholic who said he may at some time in the future run for president – “not vice president” – Bennett was secretary of the Department of Education under President Reagan and the nation’s drug czar under President Bush. He is the author of numerous books, including The Book of Virtues, which has sold more than 2.3 million copies. Bennett said his quest to find a publisher for The Book of Virtues is similar to the Lay Committee’s efforts to bring evangelical renewal to the PCUSA.
He noted that he contacted several publishers before one agreed to publish the book. Those who turned it down doubted that a book about virtue would have much of an audience. “The things for which you stand make The Book of Virtues small by comparison,” he said. “You have the notion that man is a moral and spiritual being. As Presbyterians, you believe what I believe, that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. You also believe, as I believe, that the world is against you in many ways.” Standing firm in those beliefs is essential to changing the culture, rather than allowing the culture to continue changing the Church, Bennett said. Bennett said the challenges are enormous. He said many institutions – from the Supreme Court to educators – are systematically trying to discredit Christianity. He cited the case of a professor whose grant application was rejected because, since he was a Christian, he could not be objective. “Everybody was welcome except those who believe,” said Bennett. Religion in the closet Lamenting a broad-based attempt “to put religion back in the closet,” Bennett said, “At no time in our history have we needed more of the kind of insights you have than today. … Every other harebrained idea is invited into the marketplace of ideas.” He talked about some of the codewords of a cultural movement that seeks to diminish the role of religion in the public forum. Tolerance – “This has become ‘indifference,’ but tolerance does not require indifference. We can be tolerant, but we still must take the stand that some things are right and some things are wrong.” He said he recently asked a college student to make an evaluation of two dissimilar people: one, a family man, hard-working, contributing to his community and church; another, a drug addict who destroys himself and his family. According to the student, there was no difference as long as each person was doing what he wanted. Judgmental – “In the times we live, many people believe the worst thing you can be is judgmental,” Bennett said. “Judgmental means using judgment. So what do you do about the jury system? What do you do about hiring a babysitter?” Pluralism – “This simply means that many will thrive. It does not require us to abstain from judgment.” Indifference, unwillingness to judge, and unfettered pluralism have led to paganism in a variety of forms, ranging from all types of consensual sex to crass entertainment. Meanwhile, “people of faith are being encouraged more and more to keep their views private. And the culture is suffering from rot.” Bennett implored Christians to engage culture with truth and traditional virtues. “If you declare that truth, that truth obligates you to engage the world,” Bennett said. “There are some fights that we need to be involved in. We cannot shrug our shoulders and say, ‘I don’t understand it.’” But Bennett said he was not promoting harsh attacks on the advocates of a culture separated from religious principles. “In engaging these arguments,” he said. “We do it in the Spirit of Christ.” He called for “dialogue” – but used a classical understanding of what dialogue means rather than the “softer version” of those who seek dialogue for the purpose of diminishing moral claims. To Plato, he said, dialogue “was hard, tough, and people were changed.” For the Christian to engage the culture, the three elements of good dialogue are “talk, candor and good will,” he said. Bennett quoted Pericles – “the secret to democracy is courage” – and said, “It takes courage to engage this culture.” Then, quoting Flannery O’Connor, Bennett said, “‘We live in a time in which the world is pushing hard against us.’ You have to push as hard as the age is pushing against us.” Bennett concluded his talk by turning to Scripture. “This quote is not mine: ‘Be not afraid. Be not afraid.’”
Bennett was introduced by Parker T. Williamson, executive editor of The Presbyterian Layman, who commended the speaker for advocating truths rather than trends and virtue rather than values. (Later, Bennett quipped that “values are something you get in a Sears catalogue.”) Jesus’ “truth – not our tiny truths – is the glue that holds us together,” Williamson said. He credited Bennett with “lifting the level of discussion in the public square. Where some would settle for trends, he sets our sights on truths.” Williamson said trends and values are cheap words that are merely descriptive, and that lead us to a “wallowing place called the common ground.” In contrast, he said, “truth and virtue lead us to the higher ground. This is the place where the church must stand.” |
|||||
| Respond
to this article |
|||||
| Home
· News
· PLC
Publications ·
The
Presbyterian Layman Online Reviews · Archives · History of the Lay Committee · Feedback · Links |
|||||
