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Culture Wars

You hear evangelicals say sometimes, "The culture wars have really hurt our Christian witness." Nonsense. Hypocrisy has hurt the Christian witness.

When someone speaks derisively of the "culture wars," they mean the politics of sexual "liberation." They think somehow that there is some formulation of the good news that doesn't include sex, and if we talk about that other stuff, well, maybe that other stuff will go away.

Isn't it obvious that politics at its core is the imposition of public morality by force? The libertines know this; their opponents shouldn't be so naive. The very people you want to reach, Christian, nod their heads in tragic approval of your surrender, because that's exactly what it is. The people who say, "We shouldn't legislate morality" are actually saying, "I don't like the one you want to legislate." It's either deception, or stupidity, and we shouldn't find it compelling.

Law has not only a restraining influence, but a forming one, and any advocates of traditional morality--whether for religious motives or not--who cede the public sphere in this way make their goals moot.
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