their audiences so persistently that it isnhard to understand why Dante putnflatterers in the eighth circle in hell —nalthough as newsmen and personalitiesngo to their reward, that neighborhoodnis bound to decline.nAs cable television and VCR technologyncreate ever more viewing opportunities,nas TV cameras multiply inncourtroom and in legislative chamber,nas schools create “media literacy”ncourses, as universities and churchesnOn ‘Hooked onnSocialism’n”Hooked on Socialism” by Paul Gottfriedn{Chronicles, January 1988) is likenan expose bringing up to date the earlynBolshevik-Menshevik split. The Westnreels under what Mr. Sidney Hookncalls a “form of secularization, dedicatednto the broadest religious tolerance,”nbut that could be the Menshevik strategynhidden under a modern label. ThenMensheviks believe in the evolutionaryntakeover while the Bolsheviks tooknRussia by revolution. Having ruinednthat part of the world, the Bolsheviksnare now challenging the Mensheviksnfor control of the West.nBut showing tolerance for religionndoes not give the secularist the key tonsuccess. What can be said in his favor,nif we are very very kind, is that he is notnas efficient as the Bolshevik in destroyingnthe part of the world he shows anninterest in controlling.nIf the conflict between East andnWest is to be waged with any hope, itnmust be a conflict between orthodoxnChristianity and atheism. Any form ofnatheism, be it labeled secularism orndevote ever more resources to publicnrelations — in all these developments,na priceless resource dwindles. Americansnare either surrendering or devaluingnthe private, nonpublicized spacenwhere individuals may still communenwith their thoughts, with close friends,nand with God. In the long run, the fatenof the culture depends not on thosenwho “stay on top of” all the currentntrends in entertainment, politics, economics,nand opinion but upon peoplenPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESncommunism, cannot lead to a satisfyingnlife because it seeks a future basednon a false and dangerous optimism.nThe atheist believes that society withoutnGod can be man’s heaven onnearth.nnnwho turn off the set and hang up thentelephone when a pollster or a journalistncalls. As the cult of publicity continuesnto gain strength in America, meaningfulnlife will still depend upon anpersonal willingness to pursue thentruth in solitary silence rather that tonaffirm falsehoods amid thunderous applause.nBryce Christensen is editor of ThenFamily in America.nG.K. Chesterton once said thatnChristianity liberates through dogmanwhile materialism imprisons by makingnthe world finite. From these two viewsnwe get an inkling of the kind of worldnmap must live in if he is to live innharmony with his nature and creation.nBelieving that man without God isnable to forge ahead, he becomes anvictim of his own deception when thensin problem turns his plan into chaos.nHis optimism afflicts him with a fatalnblind spot which renders him helplessnin coping with sin. In short he managesnonly to compound sin with atrociousnsin (legalized abortion being a case innpoint) and ultimately he is driven to anJim Jones-type madness. Mr. Chestertonnhad warned that wild reason, notnwild imagination, is what makes mannmad.nChristianity had found the way tonpersuade man, the backslider, to functionnmore on the angelic side of hisnnature. In doing so Christianity hasnliberated man. And Christianity is thenonly doctrine known to man that trulynliberates.n—Frank BroussardnOpelousas, LAnAPRIL 19881 47n