The Marxist/secularist assault on religion is well documented and continues today on many fronts. But one of the reasons for attacking Religion in the first place, is that the foundations of the Puritan/Protestant faith–in America at least–never viewed material success as an obstacle to spiritual salvation. In fact they encouraged it.
I was reminded of this while thumbing through Walter Isaacson’s Biography of Benjamin Franklin.
“The Massachusetts Bay Colony was, after all,established by investors such as (John) Winthrop to be a chartered commercial enterprise as well as to create a ‘Shining City on a Hill.” These puritans would not have made an either/or distinction between spiritual and secular motives. For among the useful notions that they bequeathed to America was a Protestant ethic that taught that religious freedom and economic freedom were linked, that enterprise was a virtue, and that financial success need not preclude spiritual salvation.
..being industrious was a heavenly as well as earthly virtue.
Making money was a way to glorify God.
Combined with the virtue of helping others, it made sense to be industrious to these ends. A poor man cannot do much for anyone but himself lest he learn from his circumstances and later thrive so that he may help others do the same. A concept which runs in direct opposition to Warrenism, Obamunism, and the socialist fantasy of the Democrat Left and more recently their sanction of the #Occupy movement; the you owe me mentality. No seriously religious nation with roots embedded in the practicality of a strong work ethic wold ever allow itself to be trundled down the path the Democrat party has placed us upon. Which is why the assault on religion and the endless picking at the edges of its finger-hold on morality–is a central feature of the lefts propaganda narratives. Until we, as a nation, completely abandon the virtue of hard work espoused by our primarily protestant roots–and yes Virgina, Catholics are more inclined toward socialism–the far left can never convert us into another failed European socialist theocracy constantly teetering on economic destruction.
The astute among you will suggest that we are already there–or very close, but how many of you are in fact secularists, atheists, or irreligious persons yourselves, who cling to the idea that there is room in human history for something our very nature has prevented us from ever having before–a secular-centrist nation state that promotes self responsible industry and liberty?
Human nature is incapable of such a thing. Only through a desire to aspire to something greater than ourselves, surrounded by a community of like minded persons to encourage us, did America ever create a rich nation filled with rich people. In the absence of protestant religious influence and the Judeo-Christain work ethic (Make no mistake, Jews are hated for their industry), human nature follows the path of least resistance, with society breaking down into two classes. The ruling class, and everyone else.
Proper Christian thought judges an honest and industrious man to be doing Gods work, especially when he uses such industry for other good deeds, like providing the resources with which to build roads, schools, to pay for our mutual defense and protection, and by providing employment and opportunities for others to be industrious. Socialism cannot survive in such fertile soil. For the state to control these means it cannot tolerate any other master but government. So the left must salt the field until nothing grows without its consent. But that is a barren field that only feeds the ruling class, with the rest of us wanting for table scraps.