"Can you direct me to the DNC headquarters?"
Posted on 09/12/2006 9:39:00 PM PDT by jmc1969
President Bush said yesterday that he senses a "Third Awakening" of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation's struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as "a confrontation between good and evil."
Bush told a group of conservative journalists that he notices more open expressions of faith among people he meets during his travels, and he suggested that might signal a broader revival similar to other religious movements in history. Bush noted that some of Abraham Lincoln's strongest supporters were religious people "who saw life in terms of good and evil" and who believed that slavery was evil. Many of his own supporters, he said, see the current conflict in similar terms.
"A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good and evil, including me," Bush said during a 1 1/2 -hour Oval Office conversation on cultural changes and a battle with terrorists that he sees lasting decades. "There was a stark change between the culture of the '50s and the '60s -- boom -- and I think there's change happening here," he added. "It seems to me that there's a Third Awakening."
The First Great Awakening refers to a wave of Christian fervor in the American colonies from about 1730 to 1760, while the Second Great Awakening is generally believed to have occurred from 1800 to 1830.
Some scholars and writers have debated for years whether a Third Awakening has been taking place, although some identify other awakenings in U.S. history. Bush aides, including Karl Rove, have read Robert William Fogel's "The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Duck...liberals throwing multiple items in all directions about now. LOL!
Let's hope he's right.
I pray that is true. The forces of darkness are attacking us everywhere in this country and around the world.
Very kewl...that he would be willing to articulate this.
I sense a CWII.
I think that is the real reason they hate Bush. He's too good, upright, monogamous, loyal, etc. Clinton was the favorite of sinners, not Bush.
The war on terror, and our ability to endure to the end and emerge victorious, is as much a spiritual struggle as it is a political and military struggle.
Bingo. It's that simple.
Bush certainly has that "vision thing" his father lacked.
The Second great Awakening was in the 1820-1860 time. This one gave us many religious movements and new schisms and denominations--the Mormons, Christian Scientists, Adventists, Shakers, rise of Methodists, Unitarians, Congregationalists, etc. At the end, slavery was ended, Christmas was made a national holiday and Christmas trees became popular.
The Third Awakening was in the 1920-1930's. It gave us prohibition and social doctrines, like social security. Ended with the onset of WWII.
The Fourth Awakening started in the 1990s with televangelism, growth of psychics and similar beliefs, the fall of communism, and a generalized distrust of government. The fall-out is not known, but previously the pendulum has swung. From a faith-orientation to a secular orientation and back. Excesses of religious fervor and anti-rationalism were curbed in the past, and rational, pragmatic considerations won the minds of the day.
Some say great awakenings were actually "Great Darkenings".
And they say it from a position of bigotry and ignorance.
Only those who consider light "darkness." The other force at work in our society is a radical secularism, which claims for itself enlightenment and tolerance, but which is appallingly ignorant of religious conviction and is intolerant of people of faith.
This is probably the big divide in our nation -- a chasm between people of faith and radical secularists. Something has to give, and if I understand the signs, faith has the momentum at the moment, because what the secularists have to offer isn't enlightenment and tolerance, but nihilism.
I find Bush's line of thought (if that's the right thing to call it) a bit scary. Rather than simply "good" vs "evil," I would rather contrast hard reasoning vs mindless religiousity. Or we may find ourselves confronting the Rude Awakening of armed conflict with those those whose goal is the worldwide imposition of the Nth Caliphate and the culture of the 7th Century.
Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing, though. Some of the evangelicals being touted right now by the LameStream Media may not be as biblical as advertised.
"Can you direct me to the DNC headquarters?"
There's also a similar book out there called something like "The Turning" by a couple of sociologists, written in the 90s. They say we're due for the 4th turning about now, which is a very tumultuous time but is also an awakening of sorts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.