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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Digital Library Collections This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections. Collection: Blackwell, Morton: Files Folder Title: Dr. Francis Schaeffer Box: 40 To see more digitized collections visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected] Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/ The Secular Humanistic World View Versus The Christian World View and The Biblical Perspectives On Military Preparedness a speech by Francis A. Schaeffer at the Mayflower Hotel Washington, D.C. June 22, 1982 Host Committee: The Honorable and Mrs. James G. Watt The Honorable and Mrs. James B. Edwards The Honorable and Mrs. Terrel H. Bell The Honorable and Mrs. Edwin Meese, III The Honorable and Mrs. Strom Thurmond The Honorable Jennings Randolph The Honorable and Mrs. Howard H. Baker, Jr. The Honorable and Mrs. Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr. The Honorable William V. Alexander The Honorable and Mrs. Jack F. Kemp The Honorable and Mrs. Carlos J. Moorhead The Honorable and Mrs. J. Marvin Leath The Honorable and Mrs. C. William Nelson The Honorable and Mrs. Charles W. Stenholm The Honorable and Mrs. James L. Buckley General and Mrs. John William Vessey, Jr. Mrs. Mary C. Crowley Mr. Larry Lightner Mr. James E. Lyon Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Parker Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Pittenger Mr. and Mrs. George F. Will This is a speech - not fully edited c Francis A. Schaeffer All rights reserved The theme I've been asked to speak on tonight is rather a double one, but actually these two halves are not in conflict. As we shall see, they really make one unity: The Secular Humanistic World View Versus The Christian World View and The Biblical Perspectives on Military Preparedness. First of all we must be very careful to define what we mean by humanism. By humanism we are not talking about humanitarianism. Humanitarianism means being kind to people, and as Christians we should be humanitarian even more than anyone else. We must be equally careful not to bring into confusion the difference between humanism and the Humanities. A study of the Humanities is the study of human creativity -- often related to classical learning, but also to the whole of human creativeness. And as such Christians above everyone should be interested in the Humanities. Many of my books, films, etc. deal with a Christian consideration of the Humanities - being thankful for the creativity which is a natural part of Man because people are made in the image of God. Then we must ask what humanism is which we must contrast with great clarity to the Christian world view. We must realize that the contrast goes back to two different views of final reality. What is final reality? In the page 2 Judeo-Christian world view, the final reality is the infinite-personal God who truly is there objectively whether we think He is there or not. He is not there just because we think He is there. He is there objectively. And He is the Creator. He is the Creator of everything else. And we must never forget that one of the distinguish- ing marks of the Judeo-Christian God is that not everything is the same to Him. He has a character, and some things agree to His character and some things conflict with that character. To this God (in contrast to Buddhism and Hinduism for example) not everything is the same, and, therefore, there are absolutes, right and wrong, in the world. As we come on the other side - to the final reality which is being taught in our schools and which is much of the framework of the thinking and writing of our day - the final reality is thought of as material or energy which has existed in some form forever and which has its present configuration by pure chance. The real issue is the question of final reality. The difference lies in what the final reality is: Either the infinite-personal God to whom not everything is the same, or merely material or energy which is impersonal, totally neutral to any value system or any interest in man as man. In this view the final reality gives no value system, no basis for law, and no basis for page 3 man as unique and important. Beginning about eighty years ago we began to move from a Judeo-Christian consensus in this country to a humanist consensus, and it has come to a special climax in the last forty years. For anyone here who is fifty years of age or more, the whole dramatic shift in this country has come in your adult lifetime. And today we must say with tears that largely the consensus in our country, and in the western world, is no longer Judeo- Christian, but the general consensus is humanist with its idea that the final reality is only material or energy which has existed forever, shaped into its present form, by pure chance. There is no value system at all from that final reality. No one has said it better than Jacques Monod, the Nobel prize winner in biology, a Frenchman, who wrote a book some years ago, which was very popular at the time, called Chance and Necessity. His view is that this is the final reality. He laid down very firmly that with this view there is no way to determine the "ought" from the "is" - - none at all. On this basis, therefore, Man makes himself the measure of all things. All the things that have come into our country which have troubled us are only the inevitable results of this world view. If you hold this world view you must realize there is no source of knowledge except what man can find for himself; all revelation is ruled out. Knowledge never page 4 can be certain; and there can be no value system except that which is totally arbitrary. This view leaves us with no final value system, and, therefore, with only personal, arbitrary, relative values. It isn't only Fletcher who teaches situational ethics today; it is the general concept that we find on the basis of this view of the final reality. And more serious than the personal arbitrary value systems is the fact that it leaves us only with arbitrary law. There is no basis for law. Law becomes only the decision of a small group of people, and what they decide at a given moment is for the good of society. And that is all because the final reality gives no clue as to what law should be, and it is left up to a group of people, the Supreme Court, or whoever they are, to make their own decision as to what is good for society at the moment. So you have relative personal values and arbitrary law, and you will also have the loss of any intrinsic value of the individual person. This is the reason that today in this country we accept what would have been an abomination just ten years ago, and that is abortion growing on into infanti- cide, the killing of babies after they are born if they do not come up to someone's standard of value, and on into the drift toward euthanasia of the aged. This is all a natural result of the acceptance of this other view concerning final reality and the lowering, therefore, of any view of page 5 human life. In their view, the final reality has nothing to say about any real value, any unique value to human life. In our country, this shows itself in many ways, but it most clearly shows itself in the syndrome of abortion leading to infanticide leading to the euthanasia of the aged. When Dr. C. Everett Koop, my son, Franky, and I worked on Whatever Happened to the Human Race? and we began to talk about infanticide, people really thought we were way out in left field somewhere, but now it has been declared legal in the case in Indiana where this baby, this Down's syndrome child, was allowed to die upon the basis of the parents' wishes. And the euthanasia of the aged will also come with speed. If you think this is extreme, think back on the change from abortion to infanticide and with what speed that came. What is involved is not only a loss of the baby that is killed, but it is a loss increasingly of a whole view of the unique value of human life; and it is the loss of compassion. The compassion this country never has had enough of, but for which it has been somewhat known, will not stand if we continue to go down this humanistic road, because there is no real value for people intrinsically and as such it is not only the babies that can be killed with abortion and infanticide, but there is no real reason for compassion toward other people. page 6 I would plead with those of you who are in government not to allow other things to sidetrack you in the need to stand against this downplaying of the value of human life. Many things might distract you, but you must realize, for those of you who are Christians especially, that there is an absolutely unbreakable link between the existence of the infinite-personal God of the Bible and the unique value of human life. And if you allow the unique value of human life to be played down legally, as it is at the present time in this country, not only does it lead on to other things such as the euthanasia of the aged, but the whole basis of compassion is lost. For those of you in government who think this is a small issue that should be swept under the rug, I plead with you to think again of the fact of how crucial and central this issue is. This is a vital issue, which the Judeo-Christian final reality gives us, and we are losing it with great speed. It is where humanism in medicine and in law have come together at the point of human life, and it naturally favors abortion and equally it has no way to put any emphasis on the value of human life when we consider it politically in other countries. The First Amendment, of course, has been stood on its head. The First Amendment was that there should be no state church for the thirteen colonies, and that the State should never interfere with the free expression of religion. Today it has been turned over by the humanistic society, page 7 the Civil Liberties Union, and so on, and the First Amendment is made to say the very opposite. That is, that Christian values are not allowed to be brought into contact with the governmental process. The terror is, that in the last forty years increasingly government, and especially the courts, have been the vehicle to force this other world view on the total population. It is government that has done it by its laws and court rulings. We find as we look at this country that we have now a largely humanistic consensus, a humanistic culture, a humanistic society, but happily we do not have yet a totally humanistic culture or consensus. It isn't total; we still have the Christian memory, although it is moving with titanic speed. Now, this being so, our calling is clear. It is that we who hold the Christian world view, we who love human life, we who love humanity, should stand first for the honor of God, but we should also stand so that humanness will not be lost in all areas. And then, we must say with sobriety that the United States does not have a "manifest destiny". Consequently, if we continue to insist in walking down this road, at some point, as God is God and not all things are the same to God, we who have trampled so completely on all those amazing things that God has given us in this country, can we expect that God does not care? So we must not feel that we are page 8 only playing intellectual and political games. If this God exists and not all things are the same to Him, we must realize as we read through the Scriptures that those who trample upon the great gifts of God one day will know His judgment. The first part of our topic was the secular humanistic world view versus the Christian world view, and I have dealt largely with our own country. The second half is "The Biblical Perspectives on Military Preparedness". This is related to what I have just been speaking about; they are really not two divergent subjects at all. You must realize that the Soviet Union and the Soviet bloc and all of the Marx-Engels-Lenin Communism -- all of it also has as its base that the final reality is only material or energy shaped by pure chance. This is the central thing. The economics of Marxianism really is not that which is central. It is a dialectical materialism -- you have heard the term all your life, I am sure. "Dialectical" and then comes the word -- "materialism". In other words, the final reality is only material or energy shaped by chance, exactly the same thing that is a plague in our own country under the term of humanism. Now where does it end? It ends in the Marxist bloc, therefore, inevitably to a devaluation of human life. As in our country humanism leads to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia and a loss page 9 of compassion, this view of final reality does so more totally in the Communist bloc because it is totally committed to this view. There is a total emphasis that there are no fixed values. Therefore, there is a total emphasis that there is only arbitrary law. Franky has just made a new film called The Second American Revolution which we plan to show here in the fall in Washington. It is a powerful thing, and one of the people in the film is Stalin, and he says exactly what his own position was. Law is only what he arbitrarily sets forth. That's all. Now actually you will notice that we have a parallel here to what is happening in our own country, but the difference is that in our country, it is not total. In these countries it has become total. This idea of the final reality has come to its total conclusion, so there is no fixed value; there is totally arbitrary law, and there is the total loss of the value of the individual person, and only the State has come to matter. There is an elite which sets the laws, which says arbitrarily what the laws are, and which sets forth these things as arbitrary abso- lutes. So we find in the Soviet bloc a natural direction toward an elite that has more total power in an arbitrary fashion than any of the old kings. There is no final value system, and, therefore, we should not be surprised that they sign the Helsinki Accords page 10 and then go ahead and continue to persecute their people without ever a wink. Why should they not? There is no absolute standard. Only the State matters, and the good of the State, as they see it. We are totally naive if we are surprised that when it is convenient the Helsinki Accords or anything like them can be broken overnight, for "the good of the State". It is an interesting thing in regard to their abortion laws that when the Soviets first came into power, they made easy abortion laws. Later they found it was not helpful for the State so overnight they changed them and in the Soviet Union abortion became illegal. Later they changed it back again. Truly just a flip-flop with no problem. Why not? They were making arbitrary laws. We find that on the basis of their world view they have a low view of human life concerning the individual person. This takes two forms: First, internal oppression from Lenin onward. Lenin wrote before he ever came to power that the reason that one of the early attempts at revolution in France was not successful was that they had not killed enough people. With their low view of human life, we cannot expect anything else. You must understand that oppression is not an incidental thing in their system. From Lenin onward, oppression was logical - on their own base as an integral part of their system. page 11 The second result is external and that is external expansion and oppression. But I beg you to understand that this is not a fluke of one moment of their history. It is also a part of the integral system which they hold. As naturally as humanism in our country leads to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, in the more total expression in the Soviet system humanism leads to internal oppression and external expansion and oppression. I must say that I have one admiration for them; that is, from Lenin on they have been, I think, the only country in the world that has had a consistent foreign policy. They have been totally consistent, unhappily so. We can think of Latvia. Poor Latvia, they did not want to be overrun, but they were overrun. If you go into Finland where people have contacts into Latvia and Estonia, there is sorrow because of this expansion and oppression in these countries. More close in time we have the immediate history of Afghanistan and Poland. This is as natural to the materialistic world view as is abortion, infanticide and euthanasia on this side of the iron curtain. Those of you who understand what is happening in our own country with regard to the lowering of standards in these areas ought to be able to understand what it means in Communist countries where these concepts are total, and there is total power to bring forth their natural results. page 12 Now in the light of this natural expansion and oppression wherever they go, what should be our Biblical perspectives on military preparedness? That is the second half of our talk for tonight. I would say that from my study of the Scripture, to not do what can be done for those in the power of those who automatically and logically oppress is nothing less than lack of Christian love. This is why I am not a pacifist. I am not a pacifist because pacifism in this poor world in which we live, this lost world, means that we desert the people who need our greatest help. As an illustration: I am walking down the street. I see a great big burly man that is beating a little tiny tot to death -- beating this little girl, beating her, beating her. I come up and I plead with him to stop. If he won't stop, what does love mean? Love means I stop him in any way I can including, quite frankly, hitting him, and to me, this is necessary Christian love in a fallen world. What about the little girl? If I desert the little girl to the bully, I have deserted the true meaning of Christian love, and responsibility to my neighbor. And we have in the last war the clearest illustration you could have with Hitler's terrorism. That is, there was no possible way to stop that awful terror that was occuring in Hitler's Germany except by the use of force. There was no way. As far as I'm concerned, this is the necessary outworking of Christian love. The world is an abnormal world, because of the Fall page 13 it is not the way God meant it to be. There are lots of things in this world which grieve us, and yet we must face them. Now I want to read tonight a portion from a letter that I wrote to a certain person that I like very much but who was in danger of being confused at this very point: We all grieve at any war and especially atomic war, but in a fallen world there are many things we grieve at, yet nevertheless we must face. From the time of the last World War onward, it is the Europeans more than the Americans who have wanted the protection of atomic weapons and have demanded it. They understood the reality of what Winston Churchill said immediately after the last war - that is that with the overwhelming forces of the Soviets that they could easily dominate Western Europe to the Atlantic Ocean if it were not for the fact of being deterred by the United States having the atomic weapons. We have come to a crazy place undoubtedly, with much too many of the atomic weapons on both sides, and where there must be open discussion and reduction concerning this. But the initial factor is not changed. Europe would even more today than in Winston Churchill's day be subject to either military or political domination of the Soviets if it were not for the addition of the factor of the existence of the atomic weapon. page 14 Further than this, Europe's economic wealth, to the level that some European nations now have a higher standard of living than the United States, rests upon the fact that they are spending less for defense then they normally would have because of dependency on the atomic weapons the United States holds. As the Soviets, with their lack of care for the individual, have used a larger proportion of their national income for building up their great military machine, so Western Europe has used less money for defense and built up its economy. If the balance is now destroyed, there is no doubt in my mind that either militarily or politically the greatly superior Soviet Forces in Europe would soon overshadow Western Europe. The leaders like Schmidt of Western Germany understand this, even if the left wing of his party and the peace movement do not understand it. Unilateral disarmament in this fallen world, and with the Soviets' materialistic, anti-God base, would be totally utopian and romantic and lead, as utopianisms always do in a fallen world, to disaster. Further, it may sound reason- able to talk of a freeze at the present level or "we won't ever use atomic weapons first", but thinking it through, either of these equals practical unilateral disarmament. The atomic deterrent is removed and Europe stands at the absolute mercy of the overwhelmingly superior Soviet forces. page 15 The world quite properly looks back to the church in Germany during the early days of Hitler's rise and curses it for not doing something when something could have been done. Churchill said in the house of Commons after Chamberlain signed the Munich pact: [The people] should know that we have sustained a defeat without a war. They should know that we have passed an awful milestone in our history and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: "Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting." And do not suppose this is the end; this is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be profferred to us year after year unless, by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in olden times. I do not always agree with the French theologian- philosopher, Jacques Ellul, but he certainly is correct when he writes in his book, False Presence of the Kingdom: It was in 1930 that Christians should have alerted the world to decolonization, to Algeria and to Indochina. That is when the churches should have mobilized without let-up. By 1956, those matters page 16 no longer held a shadow of interest. The socio- political process was already in operation, and it could not have made an iota of difference whether Christians got into the act or not. It would not have lessened a single atrocity nor resulted in a single act of justice. Likewise it was in 1934 (the occupation of the Ruhr) or in 1935 (the war in Abyssinia), that Christians should have foretold the inevitable war against Nazism. That was when clarity of vision was essential. After 1937 it was too late. The fate of the world was already sealed for thirty years or more. But in those years the Christians, full of good intentions, were thinking only of peace and were loudly pro- claiming pacifism. In matters of that kind, Christians' good intentions are often disastrous. I am convinced that if the Bible-believing people now go along with the concept of "peace in our time" under the plausible concern and fear of atomic warfare (which we all certainly feel) that our children and grandchildren will curse us quite properly for not doing something at this moment to restrain the drift toward the loss of Western Europe and other places to the Soviet expansion. It is not a bare theoretical concept. It means more of the world being not only under tyranny (which the Christian always should resist) but also means more of the world page 17 living in the horrible conditions of our brothers and sisters under the Soviet Union, with their not only lack of general freedom, but lack of freedom to teach their own children about truth and about Christ. I do not want that for my children and my grandchildren. The issue at this moment, I believe, is nothing less than Churchill versus Chamberlain. We stand with one or the other. In conclusion then (I am no longer reading from the letter): The question comes down as to who really is for peace and who really is for war. And the conclusion on the base of the Bible's realism and in the light of even recent history, is that those who say they are not for unilateral disarmament, but whose position equals unilateral disarmament, are those, who like Chamberlain, will bring war. Permission is granted in advance by the author to anyone who wishes to reproduce this speech in part or in full provided that the following credit is given wherever it appears: Copyright by Francis A. Schaeffer, 1982, "The Secular Humanistic World View versus The Christian World View and The Biblical Perspectives on Military Preparedness". A speech given at the Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C., June 22, 1982. The above permission is granted for non-commercial purposes only, not to be reproduced for financial gain in any form For additional information write to: Franky Schaeffer V Productions, P.O. Box 909, Los Gatos, CA 95031. REQUEST FOR APPOINTMENTS junis Schenffer To: Officer-in-charge Appointments Center Room 060, OEOB Please admit the following appointments on September 28 , 19 82 for Indian Treaty Room (Morton Blackwell OPL : (NAME OF PERSON TO BE VISITED) (AGENCY) Boehme, Ron Barry, Patricia Brewbaker, Bill Brabner-Smith, John " " Caulk, Mark , Daniella Debbie Butler, Greg Fuller, Brett Cresswell, Roger Gattis, Lou Anne Dimmit, Anthony Gianonne, Michael Gomes, Maria " Jean Jolly, McArthur " Hagan, James , Edna Holmberg, Eric McBride, Scott " Olsen, Antoinette Ruth Petersburg, Mark McNunn, Margery Rainer, Kiki Quinn, Joe Whitehead, John Riedesel, Richard Scott, Mary Scheaffer, Francis Singerhood, Hiles Edith Valdivia, Elizabeth Waller, James " Gail Buck HAM EDWIN Kenth Joyce ELLINGWOOD HeeB spiers Verne SALCEDO, FRANK MEETING LOCATION Building OEOB Requested by MORTON BLACKWELL - Room No. 474 (Treaty Room) Room No. 191 Telephone 2657 Time of Meeting 4:30 Date of request 9-28-82 Additions and/or changes made by telephone should be limited to three (3) names or less. APPOINTMENTS CENTER: SIG/OEOB - 395-6046 or WHITE HOUSE - 456-6742 UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE SSF 2027 (05-78) 219-A E Street NE Washington, D.C. 20002 August 18, 1982 The Honorable James A. Baker III Chief of Staff The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Jim: Dr. Francis Schaeffer will be in Washington, D.C. September 27, 28 and 29 to premiere a new film called C The Second American Revolution. This film was produced from the book of the same title which I enclose. The film is a drama showing how throughout society America has strayed from her Biblical foundations to a humanistic base instead. Distribution will begin very soon throughout the country and we would appreciate your considering hosting this film for showing at the White House. Arrangements could be made for a showing of the film during lunch or in the early evening. Would it be possible to try to arrange a meeting with President Reagan sometime during Dr. Schaeffer's P visit? He could return to the city at a later date in October if the time suggested is not convenient. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Y RMP:bh Enclosure THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON Dr Francis Scheaffer will be here tomorrow to introduce his son's powerful new movie THE SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION which seeks a true understanding of the Judeo-Christian heritage upon which our legal system was founded. Dr. Scheaffer is one of the most outstanding leaders of Christian thought in the world today and is in this country to introduce this film. He is from Switzerland. INDIAN TREATY ROOM 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 28, 1982 The film is 40 minutes - we anticipate the meeting will last about an hour. Please call Carolyn Sundseth on Ext. 2657 if you need to add anyone to the clearance list. The Past Brings Suit Against The Present For Abandoning mo God-Given Ideals Which Inspired The Founding Fathers of This Nation THE SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION See this thought-provoking film that seeks a true Directed by F. A. Schaeffer. understanding of the Judeo-Christian heritage Produced by J. Buchfuehrer. upon which our legal system was founded. Listen Screenplay by Harold Fickett. to the voices of the people who shaped the A film by Franky Schaeffer V Productions. American system of law and government. Released by WORD INC., Waco, Texas. Decide whether our lawmakers have aban- doned the original principles set forth by the Founding Fathers. Understand the frightening consequences of replacing the biblical base with a humanistic one. Judge your own posi- tion: Apathy toward the present grim reality of a decaying society or action toward a reversal of this trend A Second American Revolution. 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Edward A. Hurdle, D.D.S. Robert W. Boman, D.D.C. 5411 Old Frederick Road, Suite #1 Baltimore, MD 21229 788-4300