God-Drunk Society
by Sam Harris

America is now a nation of 300 million souls, wielding more influence than any people in human history—and yet 240 million of these souls apparently believe that Jesus will return someday and orchestrate the end of the world with his magic powers. This hankering for a denominational, spiritual oblivion is not a good bet, much less a useful idea.

And yet, abject superstition of this kind engorges our nation from sea to shining sea. Consequently, the rest of the developed world has learned to view America like a rich, southern auntie: She may be bumptious, bloviating, smarmy, and God-drunk, but she’s got all the money; everyone is in her debt, and every...

God-Drunk Society
by Sam Harris

America is now a nation of 300 million souls, wielding more influence than any people in human history—and yet 240 million of these souls apparently believe that Jesus will return someday and orchestrate the end of the world with his magic powers. This hankering for a denominational, spiritual oblivion is not a good bet, much less a useful idea.

And yet, abject superstition of this kind engorges our nation from sea to shining sea. Consequently, the rest of the developed world has learned to view America like a rich, southern auntie: She may be bumptious, bloviating, smarmy, and God-drunk, but she’s got all the money; everyone is in her debt, and everyone is hoping that she’ll just shut up and go to sleep.

It need not be so. As Islamic medievalism threatens civil society in a hundred countries, America could easily unite her erstwhile allies in defense of reason. We could also lead the world in wise environmental policies, scientific education, medical research, aid to developing countries, and every other project relevant to the durable welfare of humanity.

Instead, we devote our national conversation to pious phantasmagoria like intelligent design, school prayer, and the problem of gay marriage. We elect presidents and legislators who speak with terrifying certainty about an imaginary God, and with disgraceful ignorance about established science.

This must change. America is now the world’s lone superpower. If the idea of “America” is to mean anything at all, Americans have a moral responsibility to become citizens of the 21st century.

Godless Society
by Tim LaHaye

America’s uniqueness is based in the Christian consensus of the Founding Fathers, who penned documents guaranteeing religious and personal freedom for all. This nation was not founded by atheists, secularizers, or monarchists who thought the elite educated class should rule over the common people. America’s founding was based more on biblical principles than any other nation’s on Earth—and that’s the main reason this country has been more blessed by God than any other nation in history. No other nation has enjoyed freedom of religion, freedom of electoral choice, and freedom of vocational pursuits for a longer period of time than the United States.

The...

Godless Society
by Tim LaHaye

America’s uniqueness is based in the Christian consensus of the Founding Fathers, who penned documents guaranteeing religious and personal freedom for all. This nation was not founded by atheists, secularizers, or monarchists who thought the elite educated class should rule over the common people. America’s founding was based more on biblical principles than any other nation’s on Earth—and that’s the main reason this country has been more blessed by God than any other nation in history. No other nation has enjoyed freedom of religion, freedom of electoral choice, and freedom of vocational pursuits for a longer period of time than the United States.

The quest for freedom is what drove the Founding Fathers and what guaranteed that the government should not force any particular religion on its citizens—hence we have no national religion. But as early as 1830, a group of atheists, socialists, Unitarians, and other freethinkers planned the gradual secularization of this nation through control of public education. (Headed by Robert Owen, the British socialist who came to America to start a colony in New Harmony, Indiana, this group concluded that the American people were not mentally prepared for socialism.) These “friends of education” set out to make education mandatory, write their own curricula, and control the teachers’ colleges.

Who can deny that their basic doctrines of “scientific humanism” or “atheistic humanism” currently dominate public education in America? This, more than any other factor, has relentlessly changed our “Christian consensus” into a “secular consensus,” producing the moral meltdown that is rapidly destroying our people and our nation’s freedoms, integrity, happiness, and even safety.