13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
They're leaving.
Leaders of a values-based organization have left California, where it is headquartered, and are heading for other areas, areas that might be more compatible with their lifestyle - and their worldview.
That's according to an article by Ruth Graham for The New York Times, which explored the transience of members of the Claremont Institute, included President Ryan Williams and his colleague Michael Anton, who moved to the Dallas area.
Skyler Kressin, who is 38 years old, moved from Southern California to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho back in 2020. He related: "A lot of us share a sense that Christendom is unraveling,” adding, “We need to be engaged, we need to be building.” These men and other like-minded individuals, described by Graham as "young activists and thinkers" who "see themselves as part of a project that goes far beyond electoral politics," are part of what she describes as a "movement to reclaim the values of Western civilization as they see it." According to Graham, their philosophy is "driven by their version of Christian values, with larger families and fewer immigrants. They foresee an aesthetic landscape to match, with more classical architecture and a revived conservative art movement and men wearing traditional suits."It is far clearer now that traditional, small-o orthodox Christians, are a minority in America, and an increasingly despised one. I anticipated this. The Benedict Option has in some ways been overtaken by Live Not By Lies, which is about how to live as a faithful Christian (or someone who refuses the lies of wokeness, even if not a Christian). But the two books are complementary, in fact. Live Not By Lies is more or less an intensification of The Benedict Option — but the more general point of The Benedict Option still holds firm: that Christians who expect to make it through the storm that has overtaken our culture had better form resilient, strong, disciplined communities of formation and practice.
But Dreher is not a pure isolationist; he wrote at the time, in 2022:
I’m still having to argue with people that I’m not saying that Christians should head for the hills. Actually, I’m probably more open to the “head for the hills” strategy than I was when the book was first published, but I really don’t think that anybody is going to be able to escape these trials by geographically situating themselves. I believe that this accusation is part of a coping strategy on the part of Christians who don’t want to accept that things are as bad as they are.He also contends that "we are not going to vote ourselves out of this crisis." That, I contend, is not to say that voting is not important - it is a civic duty, and we should redouble our efforts to select leaders who embrace our Christian values, even though in some cases that may be hard to find.
...Their vision includes stronger local leadership and a withered national “administrative state,” prompting them to celebrate last week when the Supreme Court effectively ended the “Chevron deference,” which could lead to the weakening of thousands of federal rules on the environment, worker protection and beyond.
Fed up by what they see as an increasingly hostile and disordered secular culture, many are moving to what they view as more welcoming states and regions, battling for American society from conservative “fortresses.”
Not only was there physical relocation occurring, but groups have been forming to address the ills of our culture. The New York Times says:
The year Mr. Kressin moved to Idaho, he and Mr. Williams were part of an informal conversation at Claremont about the need for new institutions in what some hope will be a rejuvenated American society. The idea was a “fraternal community,” as one leader put it, that prioritized in-person meetings. The result was the all-male Society for American Civic Renewal, an invitation-only social organization reserved for Christians. The group has about 10 lodges in various states of development so far, with membership ranging between seven and several dozen people.
Another person who is affiliated with the Claremont think-tank is Josh Abbatoy, described as "the executive director of American Reformer, a Dallas-based journal that serves as an informal in-house publication for the movement." He just moved his wife and four children to the Nashville area. The article says:
Through his new professional network, he is raising funds to develop a corridor of conservative havens between Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, where he has also purchased hundreds of acres of property. He expects about 50 families to move to the Tennessee town — which he declined to identify — in the next year, including people who work from home for tech companies and other corporations.
Mr. Abbotoy is betting big on the revitalization of the rural South more broadly, as white-collar flexibility meets conservative disillusionment with liberal institutions and cities. He sees the Tennessee project as a “playbook” for future developments in which neighbors share conservative social values and enjoy, he suggested, a kind of ambient Christian culture.
The Times also notes:
The Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized same-sex marriage nationally, was a watershed moment for Mr. Abbotoy and other conservatives’ understanding of how quickly the ground could shift under their feet. It is a decision that signaled to them the onset of an era that the conservative Christian writer Aaron Renn — who has spoken at the fraternal society’s events — calls “negative world,” an influential concept that describes a culture in which “being known as a Christian is a social negative, particularly in the elite domains of society.”
The article also referred to a man named Andrew Beck; it says:
“Something is shifting that’s tectonic,” said Mr. Beck, who wrote a widely shared essay on “re-Christianizing America” for Claremont’s online magazine the American Mind. “It’s not so much about staking out some stronghold where you can live in a cocoon, it’s to be a part of a place you can truly consider to be home.”
Quite frankly, I think this was a pretty fair and quite informative rendering that captured the mindset. These days, I think there are Christian believers - not to mention other citizens - who are determined to escape. You have those who want to escape that imposition of ideologies upon us that do not comport with our Christian values. We are concerned about safety for our families and can sometimes feel somewhat helpless. And, there are those that believe the cultural tide is far too great to reverse. I get it - so what do we do about it?
So, I sympathize with those who desire a change of scenery - and a more pure atmosphere. But, we cannot move far enough away where the world will not encroach upon us. We are engaged in a spiritual war, and it's hard to really fight from a bunker. Can we experience a "rejuvenated American society," using the language of the Times article, without having the advantage of being salt and light to impact that society?
So, we can pray to find our place. And, recognize that at this point in time, unless God has shown us that he wants us to uproot our families and move to some other place that is, well, more isolated or insulated, then we are called to have influence right where we are. This very day. We cannot change the world in a day or a year, but we can change the direction of our neighborhood. We can let our light shine, and as more believers are modeling the character of the Savior, more can come into a saving knowledge of Him. That produces real change.
No comments:
Post a Comment