EDITOR’S NOTE: Katelynn Basnight is the daughter of Jacob Basnight, pastor of First Baptist Church, Mt. Leonard.

At the end of the 19th century, German universities were bringing five new ideas to the world that I like to call the five pillars of progressivism. These were modernism, evolution, modern psychology, Marxism and progressive education. These atheistic ideas found their way to America in the early 1920s and began the process of tearing the fabric of our Christian heritage apart. A book that I recommend for learning more about the following ideas is, America: the land I love (Abeka Book Publishers).

Modernism has atheism at its roots. Modernism teaches that the Word of God is not valid and that man’s ideas are better. He says that man is not a sinner and that there is neither heaven nor hell. This idea, as you will see, is the basis for the rest of the ideas that we will discuss in this article.

With the idea that there is no God, man had to find another way to get everything here. Charles Darwin seemed to have the answer. In his book “Origin of Species”, Darwin explained his theory of evolution. Instead of God creating the earth, Darwin said everything evolved over a period of millions of years. This theory is wrong, but when people are desperate to get God out of the picture, they get hold of everything. It is really sad because this scientifically disproved theory is now taught as if it were a fact in all American schools.

With this movement came modern psychology. This idea takes God out of the picture. I read a book called Forbidden Secrets by Grégory Thompson. In the book, he includes some of the “current communist objectives” from 1963 (these are Congressional archives and were compiled by a senior FBI agent). Objective 38 on the list says, “Transfer some of the arrest powers from the police to the social agencies.” Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders that only psychiatrists can understand [or treat]. ”

This leads to Marxism. Karl Marx was a German atheist philosopher. He studied Socialism and Darwinism and then from there he created Communism (also called Marxism). Marx believed that capitalism was bad and that being religious meant you were crazy. Instead, he believed that the government should control everything and that humans are their own god. It’s a good recipe for chaos and destruction. This form of government has never worked in any nation where it has been tried and never will. A nation cannot survive with man at the center. This is why this form of government does not work. It puts too much emphasis on man and absolutely no emphasis on the One who created man, God.

Last but not least is progressive education, specially pioneered by John Dewey. This movement essentially encompasses these four atheistic ideas and continues to indoctrinate generation after generation of American children. I’m not sure I would call it “progressive”. Getting further and further away from God is not a progression, it is a regression.

I would like to conclude with John 8:32 where Jesus says: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”.

As Christians, we are to be in the Word of God and live by the truth found there. The truth is, God really exists, He really created the whole universe, we really are sinners in desperate need of Jesus Christ, and America is a great nation, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.