I think many people are asking a similar question in today’s world. How did the “us” become the “we” and the “they” in this country, seemingly almost overnight? We often talk about accepting diversity and certainly many of our nation’s forefathers embraced the thought. Abraham Lincoln stated, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” How then did our ideologies and thinking become so different that those differences became uncrossable divides? The steps of change took place on a road map of drastic developments in our nation’s history. The following will hopefully unfold that map so we can have a clearer understanding.
A notable pivot took place right at the end of World War II. The huge loss of life of our American young men also produced an unprecedented number of widows. Thousands of single military people who had survived the war returned home with hopes of getting married and starting a new life in this land that they had just fought so hard for. An attitude of celebration was in the air and new romances blossomed across our great country. Widows were finding husbands and returning war vets were finding spouses. First came love, then came marriage, then came thousands of babies! The country had experienced much trauma during the first half century. These new parents wanted nothing more than to raise children in a different way, in contrast to the strictness and problems that they grew up with!
In 1946, exactly one year after the war ended, a pediatrician by the name of Dr. Benjamin Spock published a book called “Baby and Childcare.” Dr. Spock’s education and practice had been in pediatrics, but he branched out into psychoanalysis, eventually conducting research on the psychoanalysis of children. Even though Dr. Spock’s collogues widely criticized him for relying too heavily on anecdotal evidence instead of conducting serious academic research, his book soon became a big seller. There was an appetite in the hearts of these new American families for something new. His new ideas of parenting appealed to this generation who had been raised by parents who held strict expectations, many of which were founded in Judeo Christian ethics, and parents who remembered very vividly the hard lessons of World War One and “The Great Depression.” Somehow the sacrificial philosophies that these young parents were raised on did not seem to correlate with the victorious and optimistic post war period and their desire for change. Therefore, their ears were itching for new truth and a type of new “truth” is what Dr. Spock was selling.
Dr. Spock introduced a very permissive style of child rearing. He opposed, for instance, corporal punishment, commonly referred to as “spanking”, which was generally accepted at that time. His teaching was in direct contradiction to the teaching of scripture and directly in opposition to what Bible believing Christians had been taught. Proverbs 13:24 states, “He who spares the rod hates their children but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.”(NIV) Dr. Spock also taught such things as “Hug your children, feed them when they are hungry, put them to bed when they are tired.” While those who believed in the teachings of the Bible initially opposed his teachings, it would take a few decades of watching this generation grow into young adulthood before any notable criticism emerged of Dr. Spock’s book. In the 1960’s, noting the rebellion of the hippy movement, Dr. Spock himself came to some realization of what he had done. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, considered a conservative minister during that time period, stated “Dr. Spock’s book and influence was at root of the problem.” He further stated, “The US was paying the price of two generations that followed the Dr. Spock plan of ‘instant gratification of needs.’” Although Dr. Spock disputed Dr. Peale’s claims, over the years he did change many of his philosophies. However, by then millions all over the world had been following his original parenting advice. His book, first published in 1946 and since translated into forty-two languages, has become one of the best-selling books of all time, selling over 50 million copies. Inevitably those American “free love” hippy teenagers grew up and raised their own families. Although three significant revivals from the 50’s-70’s taught the “crucified life”, unfortunately, because such teaching directly contradicted their own childhood core values and experiences, these new parents did as their parents had; they allowed their children to put “self” at the center of their universe through instant gratification.
The generations who follow these same ideologies have grown in number and in scope in these past 50 years. As a result, as a nation, we are extremely divided concerning how we think about the things that are important to us. At least half of our nation prioritizes focusing on their futures, including, for some, all the way to Heaven. The other half focuses, as they have been raised to do, mostly on what is best for “me” today.
I was driving home from an appointment recently when a business sign caught my attention. It said, “Your pleasure is our business!” This is the perfect segue to understand where and why our culture eventually split so deeply and went in two opposite directions. When the American culture shifted to the point where our religion became the philosophies of Secular Humanism and we put self as number one or what is called the “Me” culture in place, a giant crack opened across our nation. This great divide between those who hold fast to either the “self-denial” teachings or the “self-gratification” teachings of a post WW2 generation has become the “new normal!” The “us” became a “we” or a “they”, each on opposing sides of the ideological divide. Unless God sends another national revival, we are now at a hopeless impasse in this great country. The alternative is frightening!
For more detail on the subject, you can order a copy of the book “The Right to Believe”. The main author Tom Freiling invited 25 of us to be contributing authors. I am the author of the 3rd chapter and I discuss this same topic of the article in greater detail.
Rev Nolan J Harkness is the President and CEO of Nolan Harkness Evangelistic Ministries Inc. since 1985. He spent most of his adult life working in youth ministry. He also felt the calling of Evangelist/Revivalist and traveled as the door was open holding evangelistic meetings in churches throughout the Northeast. He is currently a contributor to christianlensonline.org and christianpost.com. His website is www.verticalsound.org.
