A CALL to RECLAIM AMERICA'S FAITH & PROMISE
by Carol M. Swain, PhD
Thomas Nelson, Nashville 2011
Be careful what you wish for! You've heard that before. When I was 16 and stupid (in spite of being very smart) my buddies and I took note, even then, of the decline in cultural standards. See, we were smart, but stupidly cheered on the decline. The logic was: if the bikini was becoming common, topless situations occasionally occurred elsewhere, and nude beaches were popping up here and there on the (later to be called) "Left Coast," it could only get better for us guys. We reasoned that trends seemed to loosen up society's rules, not tighten them. See, we were smart and had listened in history class. What we did not reckon with was that, as husbands and fathers, we would have different standards, not only later in life but throughout the main body of our time on earth.
Professor Carol M. Swain's book Be the People brings the impact of America's cultural decline home to us. As grown up men we are realizing what every Christian and otherwise moral person realizes with maturity, that straying from the moral path leads farther down the wrongly chosen alternate path and, with the resulting gratifying reinforcement of immorality, individuals and societies too often do not stop and turn back. In our youth during the '60s we saw a little loosening of the strict moral code of our parents as innocent, and perhaps many aspects of that relaxation of rules were. We cannot lump every innovation into good and bad baskets. Each has its merits or lack there of. We can, as Christians, judge the overall results we see around us, and Professor Swain does just that.
Carol Swain, Ph.D. takes a decidedly Christian approach in this book which is a pretty in depth look at our moral decline and its effect on our nation. She has taken a stand. This courageous and accomplished woman, an improbable success story in her youth, has been impacted by her Christianity, as many of us have. She does not hide that fact as if it were just personal or something to be ashamed of. She, like Tim Tebow, wears her faith on her sleeve, like a military chevron as my father used to say. It is not being a show off, or saying everything you do well (like Tebow's touchdowns) was because God helped you. It is simply acknowledging God and wearing one's Christianity publicly because it is what Christians are supposed to do. You will learn from her book that we must step up and really BE Christian's if that is what we are. She calls us to do that and to be the people, an obvious play on the opening words of the Constitution: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, . . . ." Throughout the book Professor Swain calls on Christians to stop being silent about their faith and the fact that America was founded as a Christian nation. We have religious freedom that allows other belief systems, but that does not deny our Christian roots. Carol Swain points out several positions that are Christian Conservative pillars of belief: that the freedom of religion guarantee means Christians and other religious people have the freedom to express their faith openly and publically; that government is not supposed to restrict public religious expression even in official settings; that there is no separation of church and state principle in the U.S. Constitution.
Much like Patrick Buchanan's Suicide of a Superpower, this book spends a lot of time laying out the problems we face, the reasons for them, and the underlying cause of failed faith. Moral relativism, a favorite topic of devout Catholic critics of society, is mentioned by Professor Swain, a devout Protestant Christian. Buchanan's focus is more on long term forces and trends such as birth rates and worldwide movements of people and ideas. Be the Peopleaddresses some of these issues, but Carol Swain's focus is a little tighter and focused on America's moral, legal, and religious failures. After each chapter she has Action Points which are a few basic steps for those who are motivated by the book to do next. They are not overwhelming. Readers are directed to Professor Swain's website where there are discussion questions for each chapter. These are not busy work, but good meaty questions. The very first one will suffice to make the point. She asks; "Why have Americans been largely complicit in the reshaping of their nation by a small group of elites?" This first question of the first chapter goes on to address new populist movements and their potential for longevity. This is a simple, yet complex and searching question, time for a little roll up your sleeves, elbow grease applied thought.
When you think about it, maybe one reason that decay has crept into our society, before we could take a good stiff brush and a cleaner to it, is that books like this get read, discussed lightly, and then put on the shelf or taken to the used book store. Perhaps Carol Swain is on to something here. This interactive approach makes us do something. Those who read it and do not act probably: already have a good grasp of the material, disagree with the premise, or would not be much help to the cause of America's renewal anyway. For those already knowledgeable, who agree with the positions expressed in this book, and those who are newly inspired by it, there is work to be done beyond educating one's self at her website or elsewhere. Professor Swain issues that call to action also.
A central theme in Be the People is courage, and Carol Swain has it and puts her money where her mouth (and pen or keyboard) is. Let's face it, football coaches have gotten fired for less than what she is doing. As you read this, she is standing up to her employer, Vanderbilt University, where she is a law professor. Liberal activist professors and students get away with this type of behavior, not Conservatives. Perhaps she is setting the standard for future Conservatives and Christians. The school is requiring open hiring of student organization leaders in the interest of equal opportunity employment. This new policy requires organizations to consider for employment people who are not believers in the principles of those organizations. Carried to the logical conclusion, these organizations could be required to hire leaders who were actually against the organizations beliefs, an atheist running a Christian fellowship for example. Her actions remind me of another hero of mine, actor Jimmy Stewart. While many Hollywood men of action were making World War II movies to inspire Americans during that war, Stewart was actually flying bomber missions over Nazi occupied Europe (one of the war's most dangerous jobs). Some walk the walk.
As we see in her stand against her employer, Professor Carol Swain's courage is on exhibit right now. She does not just write and talk about our problems and their solutions but also walks that proverbial walk. This is a person who admits to shyness even after becoming an Ivy League professor. I've had that problem and it requires strength to overcome. She takes strong Christian positions without recoiling from the fear of criticism. I do not want to give too many "spoilers" as you need to read the whole book, but examples include: that we might actually be suffering as a society due to biblical judgment for falling away from God and that the new age liberal view of the validity of many different religions is false. In America we allow other belief systems and respect the believers' rights. I do not know if Carol Swain would agree with me (I think she might), but I respect these non-Christians both as individuals and in the sense that I respect their right to be wrong. The uniqueness of the author's willingness to express strong positions includes stances that may be unpopular with the Conservatives who are becoming her fans. For example, she mentions biblical proof that we are supposed to accept bad leaders because they were put in their leadership positions by God, that God placed them in those roles for a reason. Perhaps these bad leaders are like Jefferson's fire bell in the night. Perhaps they are there to reveal to the most clueless among us just how far we have sunk.
This brave intellectual from an improbable background is the only mainstream writer that I have read so far to suggest that we Christians may, in the fight ahead, if we are willing and strong, expect to face actual, not metaphorical, martyrdom! She is also not afraid to address her own life and personal experiences. She is writing about our country, its people, and the social forces surrounding and engulfing us. She is one of those people, and first hand experiences matter. Maybe they matter most. I am glad that authors of nonfiction, non-biographical books have broken the barrier of not referencing oneself. I do it myself in my articles. The author's own experiences are the examples that he or she can offer that they know best, that they know the most about. Something else I never saw coming at 16, in a slightly racist environment, in a not quite Deep South school: I never thought that someday one of my true heroes would be a soft-spoken, black, scholarly woman from a poor background in rural Southwest Virginia. Go figure that one out. No, read the book. It will be obvious.