We are engaged in a ideological struggle for the soul of America.  On one side of the battle are those who wish to fundamentally change Western Civilization.  These are the so-called progressives. They reject the old Judeo-Christian ethic to which most of our society once subscribed.  They favor globalism over nationalism and promote a progressive, open, liberating approach to social relationships.  On the other side of this conflict are the traditionalists, those God-fearing, nation-loving, family-loving citizens who cling to many of the old attitudes and values.

A great number of the so-called progressives are militant secularists.  As Attorney General William Barr recently said in a speech at Notre Dame University,   “But where is the progress? We are told we are living in a post-Christian era, but what has replaced the Judeo-Christian moral system? What is it that can fill the spiritual void in the heart of the individual person? And what is the system of values that can sustain human social life?”

Secretary Barr also pointed out that “secular forces and their allies have marshaled all the forces of mass communication, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and academia, in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values.” 

This culture war is a bitter fight, and it will go on for decades.  It is being waged in the halls of Congress, in cinema, on television, in newspapers, on radio, and in academia. The extremists on the left do not hesitate to take the war into the streets. The hostility between progressives and traditionalists frequently results in prevarication, hyperbole, and vitriol, and it has a deleterious effect on civil discourse, personal relationships, and civil order.      

The entertainment industry (cinema, music, the arts) is firmly controlled by the progressives. The progressives also predominate in academia and the news media.  They are a powerful voice for those who wish to sever America from what they view as its anachronistically religious, sexually repressed, socially restrictive, chauvinistic roots.

Progressives often accuse people of faith of being intolerant, but that is not true.  According to Barr, “The problem is not that religion is being forced on others, the problem is that irreligion is being forced – secular values are being forced on people of faith.”

As an example of secular values being forced, on October 16, 2019, the city of San Francisco announced that it is blacklisting 22 states that have restrictive abortion policies, saying that it will no longer do business with those states “because of their severe anti-choice policies.” Nine of the states were already on the city’s banned list because of  LGBTQ laws that the city had deemed to be discriminatory.  In addition to travel restrictions to those states, the city will not enter into any new contracts with companies headquartered in any of the 22 states.

The battle for America’s soul is being waged on many fronts.  The skirmish lines are not always clearly defined, and good people might line up on either side depending upon the particular issue at hand.  Nevertheless, the lines are clear in this election.  The Democrat Party stands firmly with the progressives.  The Republicans are the traditionalists.