If only people were social liberals, if only. Imagine how many lawyers would need another occupation. LOL Personally I can't take these 'the sky is falling' narratives as it seems more a trait of the person than a reality. But I think Christianity is less important to people today because it appears to many as a show rather than an act. You used to see lots of religious fighting for civil rights, equal rights, fair pay, minorities, unions, etc now they are about glass cathedrals and money. Add the hypocrisy when so many get caught doing what they condemn others for. An additional step towards irrelevance was the marriage to corporate power that started in earnest long ago. Christianity will die if it serves no greater good than sermonizing.
"[The Great Depression, Pat] Robertson wrote, did "more to shape the existing framework of U.S. government policy than any other single event in recent history." The legacy of the Great Depression included "a powerful central government ... an anti-business bias in the country ... powerful unions," and, most important of all, "the belief in the economic policy of British scholar John Maynard Keynes, to the end that government spending and government 'fine tuning' would guarantee perpetual prosperity." Robertson conceded that such measures might have played a role in ending the Great Depression. But fifty years later they were responsible for the "sickness of the 70s" - the devaluation of the dollar, inflation, the decline in productivity. Robertson called for a "profound moral revival" to combat the economic weaknesses plaguing the United States. "Those who love God must get involved in the election of strong leaders," he insisted, and they should choose men and women who were "pledged to reduce the size of government, eliminate federal deficits, free our productive capacity, ensure sound currency." Kim Phillips-Fein (p225 'Invisible Hands')
"Early issues of the 'Journal-Champion' carried numerous articles calling the faithful to the fight to cleanse America of sexual sin: homosexuality, pornography, and abortion. But interwoven with this campaign were descriptions of the economic and political crisis facing the United States. 'The greatest threat to the average American's liberty does not come From Communistic aggression, crime in the decaying cities or any other external cause," read an article in the June 1978 issue. "It comes from the growing internal encroachments of government bureaucrats as they limit the freedom of Americans through distribution of rules and regulations, many times called guidelines." The newspaper criticized OSHA's "insulting or silly" regulations, and published an open letter to Congress denouncing the "faceless bureaucrats who sit in strategy meetings and formulate federal guidelines," saying that they "pinch our pocket books, restrict our work privileges, govern our spending habits, determine the 'safety' restrictions of our businesses and influence the type of homes we live in."" Kim Phillips-Fein (p229 'Invisible Hands')
