In order for a stool, chair or any inanimate object to be free standing, it needs at least three legs or pillars of support. With one it can easily be tipped in any direction. With two it can easily be tipped in either of two directions. But with three it can support itself. Add more and that’s great, but use less and you are in trouble.

And so it is with society. There are lots of great virtues that hold a society together. But in the end, there are three bedrock principles or pillars that hold us up. Now keep in mind, lots of things can wipe out a society. Environmental disasters like volcanoes, floods and earthquakes have claimed many civilizations. Epidemics of disease, drought, crop failure and other factors beyond the control of a society can ruin it. So having these three pillars present does not guarantee you safety from extinction.

However, of those civilizations and societies that did not collapse because of external forces beyond their control, you won’t have found these three principles prominently among the population. Many civilizations have collapsed simply due to inner decay. The government got out of control, the military got out of control, citizens got out of control, who knows, but all that turmoil led to their demise or their being conquered by other nations.

Could these civilizations have been saved? Could they have protected themselves? Unfortunately we’ll never know. We need to remember that correlation is not causation, or in other words, just because several collapsed civilizations have something in common, doesn’t mean that is what caused their demise.

Today, President Obama came out (no pun intended) in support of same-sex marriage. In 2004, he said, “What I believe, in my faith, is that a man and a woman, when they get married, are performing something before God, and it’s not simply the two persons who are meeting.”

Well his statement today included, “At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”

This is important to me precisely because of the Three Pillars. What are they? Well, they deal with the word “sacred,” a word that means little to nothing for most people today.

In Latin, “sanctus” means holy and “sacer,” “sacra” and “sacrum” all mean sacred. We have a lot of words today from those, like sanctuary, sacrament, consecrate and others. I was first turned to this topic in 2003 by a talk called “The Loss Of The Sacred” by Matthew Richardson. You can check it out here. Best talk I ever heard by the way.

So what is sacred and how are they the three pillars of civilization? These are the three pillars of a moral society:

1. Sanctity for God.
2. Sanctity for family.
3. Sanctity for freedom.

Sanctity for God

Nothing in the history of the world has brought more peace and joy or more death and destruction than religion. During the Crusades, Christian soldiers would kill in the name of that God who commanded, “Thou shalt not kill.” On 9/11, Islamic extremists killed thousands of innocent Americans while millions of Muslims the world over prayed for their families. The changing of the Pope throughout the Dark Ages is riddled with corruption and murder and Catholic priests today are caught up in a child sex abuse scandal. But Catholics and other Christians donate more of their time and resources to charity than anyone else.

Religion brings about the best and worst in people. Historically, strong religious divides have brought down civilizations, and strong religious unity has held them together. It’s an interesting thing, religion. You can’t quite predict how it will affect people.

And that’s what makes America so unique in the world. Our country was founded on, get this, religious freedom. The whole premise was to allow anyone to participate in any religion, even one of their own making. In writing our Constitution, the founders specifically declared that the government could not establish one religion for the country. We are as a country an experiment in Democracy, yes, but we are quite a religious experiment as well. And we have flourished.

It turns out you don’t need religious unity to thrive. In spite of many religious differences, our country has grown and prospered. Nowhere on earth can you find more religions in one place than in the United States. And if you were to make a bet looking at history, you would say that many different religions coexisting is destined for trouble. Well, no one religion has tried to take over the country yet, nor has anyone banded together to conquer another religion. We’re doing just fine.

And why is that? It’s not because I’m of any particular religion or that you are of any particular religion. The key to our success has been that we Americans as a people have been religious. Since our founding we have been “one nation, under God.” The founders invoked God often. As a society we have maintained a sanctity, respect, reverence and even fear of God for decades. So whether you worshiped God as a Christian, as a Muslim, as a Buddhist or anything else, you worshiped God.

And when a society ignores God, God ignores them. Atheism is the new trend in our society and it grows ever popular, fueled by celebrities like Bill Maher and lawsuits to remove crosses from public lands. The Atheism lobby is strong indeed. Now that’s not to say Atheists are the way they are because of some disdain for God. They don’t believe in God and generally believe what they do because of a disdain for religion in general. Those who view religion as oppressive tend to deny the existence of God. That can make for a very interesting discussion with someone well versed in philosophy and an oppressive government. But I digress.

The very thing that has held America together has been that we are a God-fearing people. What happens when you remove the fear of God from someone? Well, people and society have an internal system of checks and balances. It’s called accountability. I don’t mess around with other women because I am accountable to my wife, to my commitment with her and my covenant with God. I don’t take drugs because I am accountable to God for the actions I take with my body. I don’t steal from my neighbor because I will be accountable to the law for my actions.

What happens if you remove accountability? Take the fear of God out of someone, and to whom are they accountable? Those who have no sanctity for deity can justify anything and everything. Why not take advantage of one here and there? Why not do a little of this, a little of that? No harm done and I won’t get caught by anyone else, so why not? Security cameras are a strong deterrent to crime. When criminals know someone is watching, they aren’t likely to strike. Sanctity of God is a similar deterrent. If someone is watching, you are likely to act, think and speak differently.

This is why sanctity of God is the first pillar of society. Without it, it’s only a matter of time until a society crumbles. And ironically, of all the pillars, it is typically the first to collapse. But as soon as a society refuses to revere God or recognize any deity as sacred, well, that begs the question, what will they hold sacred?

Sanctity of Family

Family is the bedrock of a society. Humans are unique in that we form families which form neighborhoods which form communities which form towns, cities and nations. No other animal on earth has such social structure. Is it any wonder then that when a society eschews family obligations they soon collapse?

Three out of four black babies born last year were born to single mothers. If a boy has no father in the home as a role model, to whom do they turn? TV? Gangs? Movies? Celebrities? We know one thing for sure- they don’t graduate high school or attend college at nearly the rate of kids who come from homes with a mother and a father. Fractured families happen in any society, but the rate at which they are happening now, especially among minorities, is astounding.

To top it off, we have the first President in history to openly support gay marriage. Children were meant to be raised by a mother and a father. While homosexual partners can be great people and be productive members of society as much as anyone else, the human family procreates and is meant to be raised by a mom and a dad.

There was a time when families were sacred. Children had real respect for their parents. Fathers wouldn’t even think about walking out on their wives and children. A child born out of wedlock almost never happened. Heck, sexual relations outside of wedlock almost never happened.

Where did things go wrong? Just 60 short years ago we heralded the “greatest generation” of Americans. Now we have, well, we have what we have. Few historians will look back and refer to Generation X as the greatest, let’s leave it at that.

Part of a sanctity for family is a sanctity for the procreative powers that spawn families. We know reverence for that power went out the door in the 60′s and never came back. Once sex becomes casual, marriage becomes casual. Once marriage becomes casual, children become casual. And when we treat the raising of children casually, our sanctity for family is gone. If we aren’t forming strong families, we aren’t forming strong neighborhoods. If our neighborhoods are weak, then so are our communities, our towns, our cities and our nation as a whole.

Those with any sanctity for marriage or family do not treat sex casually, nor do they treat their spouse casually, nor do they treat their children casually. They treat these things as sacred. They treat their responsibility to their families as sacred. If these things are not sacred, how can a society survive?

Closely related to sanctity for family is sanctity for life. Abortion is being framed as an argument over whether or not women should have control over their own bodies. We forget so easily there is another body involved here. Sure a woman can control her body. But what right does she have to control another individual’s body? Again, if sex is treated casually and not as sacred, then life is treated casually.

And if we treat life casually, how do we respond to those in need? How do we respond to the poor? How do we treat our neighbors? Sanctity for life is paramount to a productive society. With a degradation in the sanctity for families follows the degradation of the sanctity for life.

Sanctity for Freedom

Do you know the FBI could arrest you today, not charge you, torture you, and hold you indefinitely for no reason at all? Well, they can. They can also listen to any of your cell phone conversations, read any of your emails, keep 24 hour surveillance on you and anything else they want. This is all in the name of security.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said that anyone who would give up freedom for security deserves neither. That’s because freedom is security. Imagine this scenario. You are in the middle of a crowded mall. Suddenly someone pulls a gun out of their backpack and starts firing.

In our free society as framed by our founders, any number of people in the mall would have a gun at the ready and put an end to that killer quickly. In fact, knowing that would be his fate, the would be killer would likely never attempt the act in the first place.

But what if the killer knew no one had any firearms? What if he tracked the movement of police in a way that allowed him to use his weapon at a time when no one could stop him? We gave up the freedom to carry a gun, were we more secure?

Freedom leads to more secure, more powerful people. Less freedom leads to less security and a more powerful government. When’s the last time the government did anything remotely intelligent? You want them to have more of your freedom? You think they can in any way make you more safe?

As a people our freedoms are being stripped away every day and we gleefully watch them go. If we don’t hold our freedom sacred, we don’t fight its being taken from us, little by little. And a society that isn’t free really isn’t safe. If you think so, go talk to some Jews that survived the Holocaust and see if that changes your mind.

So giving up your freedom for security means you will be safe from the enemies of the state. But you won’t be safe from the state. What if they decide you are an enemy?

Whenever there is strife or conflict, the government always claims to be the savior. They can end strife and conflict. Just give up some of your freedom to the government and you will be safe from it. Little by little our freedoms are taken away and pretty soon they don’t exist. If we hold our freedom sacred, if we hold our liberty sacred, then we will fight their being taken from us tooth and nail.

If we don’t, then the government will always take as much of our freedom as we allow them to. And once they have it all, we aren’t even free do worship God, to raise families or do anything. We are subject to the state. And that is a very poor state to be in.

Conclusion

Things in the United States are still good. Most of us are religious. Most of us are raising families. Most of us value our freedom. But if just 20 years ago you had told someone we would have a President supporting gay marriage you would have been called crazy. Things are still ok, but we are headed in the wrong direction. You see many symptoms every day of our moral decay. And it’s only a matter of time before one of the pillars gives out and the rest comes crashing down.

As Gandhi said, be the change you want to see in the world. If you want people to have sanctity for God, family, life and liberty, then you need to have it. If you have it, you need it in more abundance. The world is getting worse. Our country and society is getting worse. If you are in a ship and you see a leak letting water on, do you ignore it because there’s not enough water yet to sink the ship? Or do you fix it as soon as possible and prevent the ship from sinking?

Things aren’t terrible yet, no. But they are getting worse every day. Do we sit idly by and wait until things get so bad we have to act? Or do we try and fix it so the ship doesn’t sink?

So remember, be the change you want to see. Then encourage others to do the same. And keep this one simple truth in mind. Coercion follows contention. Persuasion follows peace. Contentious argument won’t convince anyone to change. Civil kindness will go a long way in persuading people of the truth.

Recent headlines have told us over and over again about Rick Santorum’s assertion that Barack Obama subscribes to a “phony theology.” And with Mitt Romney we have a Mormon running for President. In Newt Gingrich we have a serial adulterer turned Catholic convert only a few years ago. We haven’t seen this type of focus on religion in politics since JFK was running for President. And it has probably been that long since as a nation we had a discussion about the role of faith and religion in politics. I figured it was time to start that discussion.
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Today I am announcing the Indignant Independent Petition. Before I get in to the details, a couple of definitions should help:

Indignant [in-dig-nuh'nt]: feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, or insulting.

Independent [in-di-pen-duh'nt]: not influenced or controlled by others in matters of opinion, conduct, etc.; thinking or acting for oneself.

With an incredible 73.3% of the country saying we are on the wrong track, I would say a lot of Americans are indignant right now. With the approval rating of Congress at 12.7% I would say a lot of Americans are fed up with both Republicans and Democrats. And so if you are an Indignant Independent, please sign this petition. But what’s the petition and how do you sign?
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I’ve been seeing some interesting things in the world lately. Perhaps interesting isn’t the right word. I would say inexplicably depressing. And I’ve realized something. You know the saying that humans are only separated by the rest of the animal kingdom by the ability to reason? Well, I’ve realized the ability to reason is lost on humans and only available to the rest of the animal kingdom.
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Back when the Founders were putting together the Constitution and our country’s framework, they had a deep divide. On one side, people wanted pure democracy in which every citizen had a vote in electing a President. On the other, you had elitists and intellectuals who felt such an important decision couldn’t be left to the masses, and that state delegates should elect the President. Their compromise? Say hello to the electoral college.
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