When Nations Die
Author:
Kerby Anderson
Source:
http://www.probe.org/docs/nationsdie.html
Introduction
One of the more popular Probe radio programs has been "Decline
of a Nation." I would like to return to this important theme
by summarizing the significant work by Jim Nelson Black in his
book When Nations Die. When we look at three thousand years of
history, we observe that civilizations rise but eventually fall
and die. The history of the world is the history of nations that
are conquered by other nations or collapse into anarchy.
Jim Nelson Black sees ominous parallels to our own country. He
says,
As I have looked back across the ruins and landmarks of antiquity,
I have been stunned by the parallels between those societies and
our own. For most of us the destruction of Carthage, the rise
of the Greek city-states, and the Fall of Rome are mere ghosts
of the past, history lessons long forgotten. And such things as
the capture of Constantinople, the dissolution of the Holy Roman
Empire, the collapse of the kingdoms of France and Spain, and
the slow withering decline of the British Empire are much less
clear and less memorable. Most of us do not remember much from
our history lessons about the French Enlightenment or, for that
matter, the issues that led to the American Revolution. But this
is the legitimate background of our own place in history, it is
vital that we reconsider the nature of life in those earlier times.
For within those eras and movements are the seeds of the troubles
we face today.{1}
There are many reasons for the decline and fall of a nation, but
an important (and often overlooked) reason is its abandonment
of religion. Russell Kirk has said that the roots of "culture"
come from the "cult." In other words, culture (cult-ure)
is based upon some form of religious or spiritual worldview. Egypt
was a religious society founded on the worship of nature gods
and goddesses. Greece and Rome had their pantheon of pagan deities.
And the list of nations in India, China, and other parts of the
globe all demonstrate the principle that civilization arises from
religion.
And the opposite is also true. When the traditional beliefs of
a nation erode, the nation dies. Religion provides the set of
standards that govern a nation. Historian Will Durant said, "There
is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society
successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion."{2}
Unfortunately, this nation has embarked on a journey to maintain
a society without a religious code. The Ten Commandments are pulled
from the walls, and religious values are stripped from the public
square.
Christian principles are no longer taught in the public schools
and often ridiculed in the arenas of education and media. One
has to wonder what the fate of this country will be in the future.
Social Decay
In his book When Nations Die, Jim Nelson Black lists three aspects
of decay: social decay, cultural decay, and moral decay. Three
important trends demonstrate social decay. They are "the
crisis of lawlessness," the "loss of economic discipline,"
and "rising bureaucracy."
History provides ample illustrations of the disastrous consequences
of the collapse of law and order. "In ancient Greece, the
first symptoms of disorder were a general loss of respect for
tradition and the degradation of the young. Among the early symptoms
was the decline of art and entertainment. The philosophers and
pundits distorted the medium of communication. Rhetoric became
combative and intolerant; intellectuals began to deride and attack
all the traditional institutions of Hellenic society."{3}
New thinkers in the society argued for "fundamental change"
and called for giving the youth a "voice in society."
Without traditional guidelines, the young men grew wild and undisciplined
destroying the old order. Slowly Greece devolved into a disreputable
and lawless nation. The Romans conquered Greece in 146 B.C. By
placing everything under military authority, they were able to
restore order and bring back the rule of law.
In a study of the French Revolution, José Ortega y Gasset
noted that "Order is not pressure which is imposed on society
from without, but an equilibrium which is set up from within."{4}
The Roman Empire (as well as other great civilizations) understood
that discipline and custom were essential to stability.
A similar story can be found in ancient Egypt during the fourth
century B.C. Lawlessness and violence crippled the economy, and
the nation was in chaos. When Alexander the Great invaded the
country in 333 B.C., his first task was to restore order and institute
martial law (which he did in a ruthless manner). With the death
of Alexander, Egypt returned to its old ways until the Roman Empire
brought peace to the region through conquest and martial law.
Carthage was once called "the eternal rival of Rome"
but its preeminence and impact waned as it "sank into debauchery
and dissipation as a result of great wealth and luxury."
Law and order were destroyed from within. Moreover, the rich young
men of Carthage no longer wanted to serve in the military so they
hired mercenaries to do their fighting. But when the army came
into fierce conflict with Rome and other adversaries, the mercenaries
ran and left the nation defenseless. Carthage fell to Rome in
146 B.C., and the first act of the Roman legions was to restore
law and order.
In these and many other examples, social decay led to the decline
and fall of a great civilization. If we are to prevent a repeat
of history, then we must learn from these lessons of history.
Cultural Decay
Four important trends demonstrate cultural decay. They are the
"decline of education," the "weakening of cultural
foundations," the "loss of respect for tradition,"
and the "increase in materialism."
In his study The Civilization of Rome, Donald Dudley says that
no single cause, by itself, would have brought the empire to its
knees. Instead, the fall came through "a number of weaknesses
in Roman society; their effects may be variously estimated, but
in combination they must have been largely responsible for the
collapse."{5}
The cultural decay of a nation leads inexorably to social and
cultural decline. And the patterns are similar from one civilization
to another. Samuel Eisenstadt wondered if the similarities were
apparent or if they were historical and legitimate. After studying
the work of a half dozen historians, he concluded that the similarities
were actual. He concluded that "despite the great difference
in cultural background?most of these empires have shown similar
characteristics, and that these characteristics provide the key
to an understanding of the processes of their decline."{6}
The Roman poet Livy wrote that greed and self-indulgence led Romans
to dangerous excesses. He said, "For it is true that when
men had fewer possessions, they were also modest in their desires.
Lately riches have brought avarice and abundant pleasures, and
the desire to carry luxury and lust to the point of ruin and universal
perdition."{7}
In describing the decadence of the Roman Republic, historian Polybius
wrote that this preoccupation with luxury led to carnal indulgences.
"For some young men indulged in affairs with boys, others
in affairs with courtesans." They paid a talent (roughly
a thousand dollars) for a boy bought for sexual pleasure and three
hundred drachmas for a jar of caviar. "Marcus Cato was outraged
by this and, in a speech to the people, complained that one might
be quite convinced of the decline of the republic, when pretty
boys cost more than fields and jars of caviar cost more than plowman."{8}
As we look at our society today, we too find ourselves in a world
where values have been inverted and where citizens pursue hedonistic
pleasures without counting the cost. Our nation would be wise
to learn the lessons of the past.
Moral Decay
Three important trends demonstrate moral decay. They are the "rise
in immorality," the "decay of religious belief,"
and the "devaluing of human life."
The classic study of Roman civilization, The Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire, written by English historian Edward Gibbon
was published in that famous year of 1776. He "observed that
the leaders of the empire gave into the vices of strangers, morals
collapsed, laws became oppressive, and the abuse of power made
the nation vulnerable to the barbarian hordes."{9}
British historian Catherine Edwards demonstrated that our current
examples of immorality are not a modern phenomenon. In her study
of the "politics of immorality" in ancient Rome, she
says that contraception, abortion, and exposure were common ways
to prevent childbirth in Rome. Husbands refused to recognize any
child they did not believe to be their own. "Until accepted
by its father, a Roman baby did not, legally speaking, exist."{10}
Life became cheap in the latter days of the Roman Empire. Burdensome
regulation and taxes made manufacturing and trade unprofitable.
Families were locked into hereditary trades and vocations allowing
little if any vocational choice. Eventually, children were seen
as a needless burden and abortion and infanticide became commonplace.
In some cases, children were sold into slavery.
Manners and social life fell into debauchery. Under Justinian,
entertainment grew bawdier and more bizarre. Orgies and love feasts
were common. Homosexuality and bestiality were openly practiced.
Under Nero, Christians were blamed for the great fire in Rome
and horribly persecuted.
Similar patterns can be found in other civilizations. In Greece,
the music of the young people became wild and coarse. Popular
entertainment was brutal and vulgar. Promiscuity, homosexuality,
and drunkenness became a daily part of life. And all moral and
social restraints were lost leading to greater decadence.
In Carthage, worship turned from Baal to the earth goddess Tanit.
"Sacrifices to the goddess of fertility were supposed to
ensure productivity, long life, and even greater profits."{11}
Ornately carved funeral monuments depicting infant sacrifice can
be seen today along with thousands of tiny stone coffins to infants
sacrificed to the pagan goddess.
The parallels to our own nation are striking. No, we don't sacrifice
infants to a pagan goddess, but we have aborted nearly 40 million
babies on the altar of convenience. And various sexual practices
are openly accepted as part of an alternative lifestyle. It's
no wonder that many believe our country is a nation in decline.
Are We A Nation in Decline?
Throughout this article we have been describing the patterns of
decline in a nation. Do these patterns apply to our own nation?
Many people looking at the patterns of social, cultural, and moral
decay in other countries and civilizations have concluded that
we are headed down the same path.
Russell Kirk put it this way:
It appears to me that our culture labors in an advanced state
of decadence; that what many people mistake for the triumph of
our civilization actually consists of powers that are disintegrating
our culture; that the vaunted 'democratic freedom' of liberal
society in reality is servitude to appetites and illusions which
attack religious belief; which destroy community through excessive
centralization and urbanization; which efface life-giving tradition
and custom.{12}
When we understand the factors that led to the decline of great
civilizations, we can easily see that this country can succumb
to similar temptations and decadence. What happened in Greece,
Rome, Egypt, Carthage, and many other civilizations can happen
to us.
Professor Allan Bloom in his book The Closing of the American
Mind, said, "This is the American moment in world history,
the one for which we shall forever be judged. Just as in politics
the responsibility for the fate of freedom in the world has devolved
upon our regime, so the fate of the philosophy in the world has
devolved upon our universities, and the two are related as they
have never been before."{13}
We as a nation and a people must rise to the occasion or suffer
a fate similar to that which has befallen civilizations in the
past. The task is not easy since the patterns of decay found in
other nations strike ours as well. Nations were subverted by false
and foreign ideologies. We too find hostile ideas in the public
arenas of media, politics, and education. Sexual promiscuity led
to the downfall of these nations. So too we find similar patterns
of sexual promiscuity and debauchery.
As nations fell into decline, life became cheap. Infants were
strangled, exposed to the elements, or sold into slavery. Others
were sacrificed to pagan goddesses in order to ensure productivity
or a long life. Today life has become cheap. At one end of the
spectrum, unborn babies are aborted. At the other end, physician-assisted
suicide is becoming acceptable for the aged.
In his study of history, Arnold Toynbee describes the predictable
pattern of "challenge and response." We as a nation
are challenged in fundamental ways, and our response will either
pull us back from the brink or push us over it. Will we follow
the path to renewal and reformation or will we follow the path
to destruction? The choice is ours.
Notes
1. Jim Nelson Black, When Nations
Die (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1994), 3.
2. Ibid., 9.
3. Ibid., 35-36.
4. Jos? Ortega y Gasset, Mirabeau: An Essay on the Nature of Statesmanship
(Manila: Historical Conservation Society, 1975).
5. Donald Dudley,
The Civilization of Rome (New York: Meridian, 1993), 238.
6. Samuel
Noah Eisenstadt, The Decline of Empires (Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, 1967), 2-3.
7. Livy, preface to bk. I, The History
of Rome from Its Foundation, trans. Aubrey de Selincourt (Baltimore:
Penguin, 1967).
8. Polybius, The Histories, trans. W.R. Paton
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1930).
9. Black, When Nations
Die, 187.
10. Catherine Edwards, The Politics of Immorality in
Ancient Rome (London: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 50.
11.
Black, When Nations Die, 165.
12. Russell Kirk, "Can Our Civilization
Survive?" address to Heritage Foundation, 24 July 1992.
13. Allan
Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (New York: Simon & Schuster,
1987), 382.