Public Discourse in America or We are All to Blame

    It is not fashionable to be "religious" or to believe in God now.  But it is ironic that a Nation founded in Christian values, should now come to think that we no longer need God.  But without some idea of what is sacred, how can any nation survive?  Without the absolute values of belief only available through belonging to a "faith tradition", by what agenda or set of ideals do people make decisions?

For some time, we have not had a set of 'core' values driving our social and National discourse which unite all Americans.  And because our country is so polarized into opposing camps, we are unable to talk to each other reasonably.
It is a perfect storm we have worked ourselves into and we are all to blame.
When we stop giving some respect to each other, especially because we disagree, we lose something very special: a sense that we are all in it together.

There are many reasons we have come to this point.  
    People who have given up on religion, for whatever reason, no longer understand the concept of Christian tolerance and the fact that our Nation was founded on the idea that 'each' person was entitled to determine how to worship God in their own way.   But worshiping atheism, the absence of a sense of what is holy, was not on the radar of our founding fathers.  If I am a believer, I have no right to expect you to believe what I believe.   If I am an atheist, I have no right to think that others are foolish for believing in a Supernatural Being. 

        People who are religious and who retain similar outlooks to those of our founding fathers, regard God as the ultimate authority, and separate the world of God and the world of man.  They do not understand how values can be determined by using only man as the measure of all things, as in humanism.  That kind of progressive and 'liberal' thinking eviscerates any concept of an "Ideal", an absolute standard that all people must adhere to.  So for them, taking God out of the equation is anti-thema to everything American.

        The other big input into how we fail to talk to each other now, is that our culture has come to a new low in demonstrating civility and mutual respect toward each other.   That is not the America I knew growing up, and I think, is distinctly anti-American.  I will not go into all the reasons for that, but all of us should agree, it is an untenable situation. 

       The U.S.A. is ringed with enemies who do not believe in free speech.   Are we willing to throw away everything we have, and our rights to worship freely, to voice our opinions, and everything else many Americans have given their lives to protect, because we are no longer willing to listen to our brothers and reason together?  If that is the case, then we will have done a great mis-justice and a great disservice to our fore-bearers and to our children. 

     For America to be great, we must settle our differences, agree to disagree, put our oars in the water, and row in the same direction or we will not have a country where we have the right, and the freedom to express our various points of view.