A Review of Live Not
By Lies, Rod Dreher, Sentinel Press, 2020
No one would argue that being a Christian in the United
States is easier than almost anywhere else. One of our founding pillars was the
freedom to practice our religion as we see fit and people have migrated for
centuries to enjoy that freedom. Nevertheless, there are changes afoot. Basic
moral codes, understand in the West for thousands of years, are not only being
questioned but mocked and vilified. Under our current legislation, speaking
plainly about what Scripture calls sin can lead to accusation of hate crime.
Big businesses, once protectors of the moral status quo (whether for the right
reasons or not is another matter), now enforce an actively libertine agenda
through their profits and their “training” sessions. Any state who dares to
oppose this risks losing the tax dollars that come from those successful
businesses.
At the time of this writing Kristi Noem, governor of South
Dakota and favorite of social conservatives, just vetoed a bill passed by the
South Dakota legislature that would protect women’s sports to only women. She
admits it was for fear of the NCAA’s potentially negative response to the bill.
This even though the NCAA had yet to address the bill in any form. Just the
thought that South Dakota might face collegiate consequences was enough to
derail a bill Lyndon Johnson would have thought common sense. But Governor Noem
is not alone. Many other red-state, supposedly reliable conservative governors
have capitulated to the woke crowd. As the late columnist Joe Sobran said, “Fool
me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, I'm a
Republican.”
Yet Christians are still free to
practice their beliefs without fear, aren’t they? Yes, but with increasing
limitations. States drunk with power during the COVID crisis shut down churches
because of the health risk while allowing other institutions and rioting
activities to proceed with few precautions. The state of Christian freedom in
the U.S. is not what is used to be. That leads me to the excellent book by Rod
Dreher, Live Not By Lies.
