Who influences whom?

This morning my son Ethan was talking about the federal judge's ruling in California yesterday against Proposition 8, which had declared that marriage is to be between a man and a woman. The judge, in trashing Prop 8, called the prevention of homosexual "marriage" by law one of the last forms of government sanctioned discrimination in this country.

Ethan commented that this morning's blogs and news shows are full of Hollywood personalities hailing this as a great moment in American history. We both wondered out loud why anyone would want to know what a movie or television star thinks about a legal or moral issue. The fact that our society would even be interested in what people of their stature think on serious issues is disturbing.

In the course of the discussion we wondered who else are the big "influencers"? Ethan suggested parents, but I helped him understand that his growing-up experience with parental influence in faith and politics was pretty unusual in this country. I offered the opinion that among those who influence the future "movers and shakers" of the nation, it is probably teachers in general, and college professors in particular, who wield the most influence.

And then there are the media pundits. I can't tell you how many television interviews I've seen recently regarding (for example) SB 1070, in which the interviewee (always a protestor against the bill) is asked vague, softball questions which are replied to with passionate "fighting for a just cause" rhetoric. These are edited and included in the nightly news as if they actually mean something. They don't deal with questions like rule-of-law, national security, economic impact, or international reciprocity. They basically posit that somebody made somebody else feel badly about themselves, and so the first one who points a finger and yells "Bully" gets to claim victim status with all the attendant rights and privileges. This is less mature than the squabbles I arbitrate among elementary age children on the playground.

In contrast to the hours of interviews with these poor victims, what television station aired the photos of American flag desecration at a rally this past Sunday at the state capitol in Phoenix (photo above)? Right, not one.

And for the record, I'm not mad at the Hollywood stars, college professors, and media personalities for being who they are, any more than I would hate a snake or a scorpion for being what they are. I am mad at the church for not being the influence God created it to be. This will come to pass (Ephesians 5:27, Ephesians 3: 10-11, Isaiah 11:9) although not in my lifetime. I just want someone in my generation to be found faithful in standing against the affrontery of man's (insipid) wisdom against the eternally true counsels of God.