RESTORE
American Society for Cultural Virtue
The early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.
- Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from the Birmingham Jail"
So I need to be honest with you, I did not come up with this idea on my own.
My inspiration comes from Rita M Dunaway and her fantastic book "Restoring America's Soul" and her inspiration comes from William Wilberforce and his creation of a society "for the encouragement of piety and virtue; and for the preventing of vice, profaneness, and immorality."
So the idea is basically to create a sort of Social Club that makes conservatism and good old-fashioned moral values cool.
Now I was raised by hippies and I've struggled my whole life with different viewpoints of sexual morality and tolerance and all sorts of things. So even though I am a Christian I'm not one of those who goes around judging people.
However, I can tell you that I've learned in my many years that promiscuity and selfishness are disastrous things to practice in one's life.
I have learned that fidelity is the only way to have a fulfilling and rewarding relationship with your spouse and those around you and self-sacrifice is the only way to live out one's purpose, which in turn brings great joy and satisfaction.
Fidelity is the faithfulness to all the obligations of life. By being faithful, we earn the respect and trust of everyone with whom we come in contact.
Self-sacrifice is well, it is what Jesus did and what we should all do.
So here it goes! If you want to join the club you just need to understand and agree to the following:
Whereas, it's been widely recognized since the beginning of our nation that, as John Adams said in 1798, we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other; and
Whereas, laws and public policy may direct that actions and behavior conform to certain moral standards in some regards, but in a free Society government mandate cannot produce cultural virtue in every aspect of life; and
Whereas, religion and morality are objects that ought to be fostered and encouraged by families, churches, voluntary associations, and the individual members of our society in every station who desire to better orient our culture toward goodness truth and beauty;
Now therefore, be it resolved for the undersigned that we will do all that is within our power, whether at home, at work, in our places of worship, in our recreation, in our commercial transactions, or in the public square:
- To Foster and encourage individuals' worship of the Creator according to the directives of their own consciences;
- To Foster and encourage the pursuit of goodness, truth, and beauty;
- To Foster and encourage the recognition that every human life is precious and inherently valuable;
- To extol the virtues and significance of permanent, exclusive marriage between man and woman as a unique, comprehensive union that benefits society as a whole;
- To Foster and encourage the understanding that work is a human good, and that there is dignity and value in every type of lawful work that uplifts humanity and some form;
- To practice and promote private charity for the needy members of our community as a natural result of private religion and morality;
- To promote high-quality music, movies, books, television shows, and other forms of entertainment that foster or encourage virtue;
- To reject and oppose the promotion of immoral sexual behavior, both in life and in music, movies, books, television shows, or other forms of entertainment;
- To reject and oppose businesses or industries that promote the view of women and girls as sexual objects, as well as those that promote or condone the destruction of human innocent human life;
- To reject and oppose the use of obscenity, vulgarity, and profanity, as well as the use of racial or ethnic slurs in conversation, whether public or private.
So now having agreed to these things let me just say a final word. If you are a flawed human being like me you know that none of us has kept the moral law perfectly nor will we ever. We know from Romans 3:23 that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We also know that by His inconceivable mercy and Grace the hand of Providence has provided rescue from our depravity in the person of Jesus Christ and that those who trust in Christ become a new creation according to 2nd Corinthians 5:17.
No one is disqualified by past moral failures or current moral struggles, from running the race toward goodness, truth, and beauty or from encouraging others to join that race.
If not you or I then who will help our society climb back from the depths of depravity which have brought on nothing but discord and ugliness into our society today?
If you have agreed to all these things please fill out the form and you will receive your "American Society for Cultural Virtue" membership certificate free of charge!
