Progressives Attempt to Make Church and State One and the Same
Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

The original American Progressive movement spanned from approximately 1890 to 1920. It began as a movement to bring about social and political reform, and the alleged intentions of the Progressives were to combat corruption. Ironically, the same movement became corrupted by its motives to undermine American values and bring about “social justice,” a code term for Marxism.

The movement ultimately failed because Americans at the time still rightfully clung to their Constitution, Founding Fathers, and above all, God. But the question is, did it really fail?

You see, the Progressives did not go away. They simply morphed into the modern day Democratic Party. Of course, there are exceptions to this, and there are indisputably Progressives in the Republican Party as well, beginning, it seems, with Teddy Roosevelt, but overall, the Democratic Party has been overrun by the Progressive machine.

I provided this brief lesson on American history for you, reader, to lay the foundations for what you are about to read. When the Progressives realized what it was that stood in their way of transforming America — God, Constitution, and the Founding Fathers — they reconsidered their agenda, and slowly but surely have dismantled these elements that were at the core of American values. The Founding Fathers have been portrayed as “rich white racists,” the Constitution has been distorted beyond recognition, and God has been removed from daily life.

Unfortunately for the Progressives, God’s presence has perhaps provided the most difficult obstacle of all, which explains why the Left has tackled this element with the utmost vehemence. The Progressives latched on to the rallying cry “separation of church and state” and have used it to bulldoze over Christians in courts and, with the help of groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the United Coalition of Reason, have been successful.

Somewhere along the way, however, it occurred to the Progressives that these efforts may not be enough. Rather, it would be best to infiltrate the church and distort its teachings in order to gain a larger following. This is most exemplified through churches like Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s United Church of Christ, which preached anti-Semitism, that "white America" deserved 9/11, and that God has “damned America.”

Now the Obama administration intends to place the final nail in American Christianity’s coffin through President Barack Obama’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, created in February 2009. In the announcement for the partnership, it states that the initiative will “be a resource for nonprofits and community organizations, both secular and faith based, looking for ways to make a bigger impact in their communities, learn their obligations under the law, cut through red tape, and make the most of what the federal government has to offer.”

The phrase “obligations under the law” is perhaps the most irksome. What are the obligations? According to Nancy Pelosi, those obligations are to preach amnesty for illegal aliens from the pulpit. According to John Kerry, those obligations are to support the cap and trade bill, which alleges to save the environment when in reality, it simply makes people like Gore, Goldman Sachs, Obama, the Joyce Foundation, etc. richer. Most importantly, the obligation seems to be to preach from the pulpit that the Bible asks Americans to “redistribute their wealth” to others in need, both in and out of America.

Among the priorities listed in the announcement, the two that are most disconcerting are:

• “The Office’s top priority will be making community groups an integral part of our economic recovery and poverty a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete.”

• “Finally, beyond American shores this Office will work with the National Security Council to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world.”

From those bullets, we can decipher the group’s objectives to include wealth redistribution and global government. 

One year later, the council made a variety of recommendations, including “bringing the power of 370,000 houses of worship across the country to the fight of climate change by greening buildings and promoting environmental stewardship in their congregations.” Alas, we come close to the truth.

If you’re not convinced that the intentions of this initiative are less than noble, take a look at the members of the council and you will find Reverend Jim Wallis, president and executive director of Sojourners. Jim Wallis has publically admitted to being a Marxist when recounting a conversation he had with social activist Dorothy Day, another pronounced Marxist. When asked, Wallis also admitted to seeking the redistribution of wealth. Though a reverend, Jim Wallis shares similar qualities with Reverend Harry Ward, founder of the ACLU, who was a Methodist minister but admitted under oath to being a communist.

It appears that some Progressives have discarded their former assertions of separation of church and state and elected to instead reconcile the two and make them one. The path through which this initiative takes us is similar to that of the Anglican Church of England, who exerted control over the colonists and the English, which our Founding Fathers steadfastly opposed. More frighteningly, it may not stop there. The eventual result of this could be that which has been seen in Hitler’s Germany, where the swastika was used in place of the cross, or Stalin’s Russia, which imposed atheism on the citizens in schools, through massive amounts of propaganda, discriminatory laws, and, finally, terror.

The Progressives continue to teach collective charity and collective redemption, all which are diametrically opposed to the fundamental Biblical teachings. Founding Father Reverend George Whitfield made this clear when he indicated that everybody has a soul and with that soul must stand alone before God. The Progressives distort the Bible to indicate that Americans must redistribute their wealth, and that it is appropriate to begrudge one another for his/her successes, but the Parable of Talents (Matthew 25: 13-30) indicates the opposite. According to the Parable, a master assigns talents to his servants based on their abilities. Those who utilize the talents to gain a profit are rewarded, while the servant who allows the talent to go to waste is punished. It has been increasingly evident that the same politicians who use the Bible for their political agenda are those that have yet to read the Bible. (Much like those who oppose the Arizona immigration bill and have yet to read it).

Religion, alongside Americans’ other fundamental liberties, is at risk. Americans should be aware of the movement to undermine their faiths and fight against the Progressive machine. You may begin by visiting http://manhattandeclaration.org/home.aspx to sign a declaration indicating your strict adherence to Christian teachings in your everyday life.  It also insists that we hold our government accountable to the inalienable rights afforded to American citizens in the Constitution. Above all, make your voice heard in November.