When Nations Die

When Nations Die

Dear Editor:

John Nelson Black has written a powerful book entitled, When Nations Die. It is sub-headed, The Warning Signs of a Culture in Crisis. The author groups his ten reasons in three categories, Social, Cultural and Moral Decay.

Under Social Symptoms he lists:

The Crisis of Lawlessness.

Loss of Economic Discipline.

Rising Bureaucracy.

Under Cultural Factors he cites:

The Decline of Education.

Weakening of Cultural Foundations.

Loss of Respect for Tradition.

Increase in Materialism.

Under Moral Decay:

A Rise in Immorality.

Decay of Old Religious Beliefs and the Allurement of Alien Religions.

A Decline in the Value of and Respect for Human Life.

Other students of civilization have reached similar conclusions. C.E. M. Joad of England writes that “luxury, skepticism, weariness, superstition, and a preoccupation with self are unmistakable signs of decline.” C. Northcote Parkinson offers six symptoms of decline: “over centralized government, inordinate growth in taxation, a top-heavy system of administration, promotion of the wrong people, the urge to overspend, and a rise of ‘liberal opinion’–that is, the popularization of attitudes and policies controlled by sentiment rather than sound moral judgment.”

“The lesson of history is that nations die from a lethal combination of internal and external pressures. Moral decay, combined with rising violence, lawlessness, and intellectual apathy, leads invariably to the disintegration of the structures that make civilization possible....From ancient times to the present the pathology of decadence is unmistakable.

From 1960-1993 America’s population increased 41 percent. Yet:

Government spending increased from 142 billion to 787 billion dollars, a fivefold increase.

There was a 560 percent increase in violent crime.

Illegitimate births increased 400 percent.

The divorce rate quadrupled.

The number of children in single parents homes tripled.

There was a 200 per cent increase in teen suicides.

High School SAT scores dropped 75 points on average.

Our nation stands at the or near the top of all the industrialized nations in the rates of abortion, divorce and births of unwed mothers.

We lead the industrialized world in murder, rape and violent crime.

In our elementary and secondary education, we are at or near the bottom in achievement scores. (William Bennett and Jack Kemp).

Bennett further notes, “There is a coarseness, callousness, and cynicism, a banality and a vulgarity to our time.”

Alexis de Tocqueville in his Democracy in America reminds us, that not all nations die by conquest or civil war, “If the lights that guide us ever go out, they will fade little by little, as if of their own accord...We therefore should not console ourselves by thinking that the barbarians are still a long way off. Some peoples may let the torch be snatched from their hands, but others stamp it out themselves.” David asked, “If the foundations be destroyed, what will the righteous do?” (Ps. 11:3) . May we all ponder his question in our hearts.

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