Human beings now demand to be masters of our own fate, lords of our own biology, and propose to claim absolute sovereignty over our own sexuality. Increasingly, this is extended to an absolute “right” of reproduction and complete control over the reproduction process–including the decision whether to have a girl or a boy.

The coarsening of America’s public life continues, with Hollywood and its media complex driving the decline in moral standards. Recent evidence of this comes from TV Guide, in an article that documents the rise of sex, nudity, and vulgar language in prime-time television. In light of recent developments, even TV Guide is prompted to ask, “How much freedom is too much?”

Over a hundred years ago, the great Dutch theologian Hermann Bavinck predicted that the 20th century would “witness a gigantic conflict of spirits.” His prediction turned out to be an understatement, and this great conflict continues into the 21st century.

Strip dancing has gone mainstream? The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously warned that America was “defining deviancy down,” and lowering the moral threshold to dangerous levels. Graphic evidence of this trend is found in the October 28 issue of USA Today, which featured an article on “Stripping’s New Side.” It’s not for the faint-hearted.

“If the Jews were alone in this world, they would suffocate as much in dirt and filth, as they would carry on a detestable struggle to cheat and to ruin each other, although the complete lack of the will to sacrifice, expressed in their cowardice, would also in this instance make the fight a comedy.” So wrote Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf.

Standing again before the General Assembly of the United Nations, President Bush not only did not back down–he pressed his case. The civilized world still faces a grave challenge, he asserted, and that challenge remains terrorism in all its forms.

The controversy over Alabama’s now-removed Ten Commandments monument has exposed the secular agenda determined to evacuate the public square of all biblical symbolism and content. This secular worldview is encapsulated in Thomas Jefferson’s concept of a “wall of separation between church and state” that has replaced the actual wording of the First Amendment in the public mind.

Philosopher Hannah Arendt’s famous report on the trial of Adolf Eichmann was subtitled, “A Report on the Banality of Evil.” Eichmann, the mastermind behind Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem,” was not a fearsome, imposing man. To the contrary, he looked absolutely normal–even harmless. The calculating murderer of millions resembled nothing so much as a mid-level clerk.