{"id":5507,"date":"2014-09-25T05:53:37","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T09:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=5507"},"modified":"2014-09-25T14:21:50","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T18:21:50","slug":"the-race-is-on-authors-offer-five-core-principles-to-promote-peace-freedom-and-the-culture-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/the-race-is-on-authors-offer-five-core-principles-to-promote-peace-freedom-and-the-culture-of-life.html","title":{"rendered":"The &#8220;Race&#8221; is on. Authors offer &#8220;Five Core Principles to Promote Peace, Freedom and the Culture of  Life&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"The Race to Save Our Century \u2014 Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R7awDYemJnU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p class=\"yiv2201969352MsoNormal\"><strong>Core strength.\u00a0<\/strong> It&#8217;s said to be key to physical fitness. And according to Jason Scott Jones and John Zmirak &#8212; authors of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-Race-Save-Our-Century\/dp\/082452019X\"><em id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20277\">The Race to Save Our Century: Five Core Principles to Promote Peace, Freedom and the Culture of Life <\/em>(Crossroad Publishing, 2014)<\/a><strong id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20278\"> &#8212; <\/strong>it&#8217;s also the key to the health of nations. Core principles, they contend, are what provides society the discernment for distinguishing between the paths of good and evil.<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20279\">From the brutal violence in the Middle East to an erosion in agreed-upon unifying values at home, Jones <span id=\"yiv5300451255\" style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 10pt\"> (a filmmaker and human rights activist)\u00a0<em id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20320\"><\/em><\/span>and Zmirak (a <span id=\"yiv5300451255\" style=\"font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 10pt\">college teacher and political commentator who writes for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.intercollegiatereview.com\/index.php\/author\/jzmirak\/\">Intercollegiate Review<\/a>) see a fading of guiding principles as the root cause of the threats to peace and liberty that darkened the first half of the 20th century and threaten to do even worse (due to technology) in the 21st. Those threats, according to the authors, include: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20266\">\n<li id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20288\">Racism and nationalism\u2014from American eugenics and the Armenian Genocide to Hitler\u2019s Holocaust and the butcheries of Al Qaeda and ISIS.<\/li>\n<li id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20290\">Militarism and \u201ctotal war\u201d\u2014from starvation blockades to the Blitzkrieg; from Dresden to drone strikes and contemporary terrorism.<\/li>\n<li id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20265\">Utopian collectivism\u2014from Lenin, Stalin and Mao to Pol Pot, Kim Jong Un and Hugo Chavez.<\/li>\n<li id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20271\">Radical individualism\u2014from Hobbes\u2019s <em id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20270\">Leviathan<\/em> to Ayn Rand\u2019s self-worshiping heroes who made way for the Culture of Death.<\/li>\n<li id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_20293\">\u00a0Utilitarian hedonism\u2014from forced population control to euthanasia of the handicapped.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I recently had the opportunity to ask John Zmirak about the core principles he and Jones are identifying.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9789\" class=\"yiv2201969352MsoNormal\"><strong><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9788\" style=\"color: black\">JWK: Your subtitle of your book is &#8220;Five Core Principles to Promote Peace, Freedom and a culture of life.&#8221; Can you briefly tell me what they are?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9812\" class=\"yiv2201969352MsoListParagraphCxSpLast\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9791\" style=\"color: black\"><strong>JOHN ZMIRAK:<\/strong> Sure. The principles we uncovered by studying the horrors of modern history, and pondering how to stop total war, genocide, and totalitarianism arising all over again, were these:<br \/>\n<\/span><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9801\" style=\"color: black\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9800\">a.<span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9799\" style=\"font: 7.0pt\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>The sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person as an image of God. No exceptions.<br \/>\n<span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9945\" style=\"color: black\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9944\">b.<span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9943\" style=\"font: 7.0pt\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>The reality of a higher law that stands in judgment of all merely national laws, such as Germany\u2019s law after 1933, or America\u2019s segregation laws, or <i id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9805\">Roe v. Wade<\/i>.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: black\">c.<span style=\"font: 7.0pt\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>The need for small, decentralized government that doesn\u2019t try to replace or control free institutions, such as churches and the family.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: black\">d.<span style=\"font: 7.0pt\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>The value of a free, humane economy (with a safety net) centered on private property as the bulwark of the family.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: black\">e.<span style=\"font: 7.0pt\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>The crucial role of solidarity, a decent concern for the rights of every human being on earth, including civilians in enemy countries and workers in foreign sweatshops.<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9814\" class=\"yiv2201969352MsoNormal\"><strong><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9816\" style=\"color: black\">JWK: Have we, as a society, moved away from the very concept of core principles? Have we, in general, become more concerned with which group than what principle is at stake when confronted with controversies?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9819\" class=\"yiv2201969352MsoNormal\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9818\" style=\"color: black\"><strong>JZ:<\/strong> Identity politics are a tragic side effect of man\u2019s fallen nature. They amount to group narcissism, masquerading behind noble-sounding slogans. Far too many Americans think first and foremost of how a policy will affect their pocketbooks and their self-esteem, instead of looking to fundamental human rights and the Common Good. We are trying with this book to establish a common ground of political decency, which people from the Left and Right, religious or secular, can agree on\u2014then move forward to argue honestly about the smartest, fairest ways to do our national business. <\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9821\" class=\"yiv2201969352MsoNormal\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9823\" style=\"color: black\"><strong>JWK:<\/strong> <strong>Looking at the genocide going on in the Middle East, are we are on a path toward repeating and even exceeding deaths from mass murders and wars of the previous century?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9826\" class=\"yiv2201969352MsoNormal\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9825\" style=\"color: black\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9818\" style=\"color: black\"><strong>JZ:<\/strong><\/span> The moment that terrorist groups get hold of nuclear or biological weapons, all bets are off. The casualties will be astronomical, the retribution will be appalling, and you can kiss your constitutional and civil liberties goodbye. Unless we embrace higher values that will hold us back from overreacting, the next 9\/11 we experience will goad Americans to a ruthlessness that will recall the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima. Remember that last time mainstream magazine editors were pondering whether or not to \u201cNuke Mecca.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9829\" class=\"yiv2201969352MsoNormal\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9831\" style=\"color: black\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9823\" style=\"color: black\"><strong>JWK:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><strong>What role does popular culture play in fanning both the &#8220;utopian collectivism&#8221; and &#8220;radical individualism&#8221; you see as sowing discord at home and around the world? And how can it play a positive role in the future?<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9834\" class=\"yiv2201969352MsoNormal\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9833\" style=\"color: black\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9818\" style=\"color: black\"><strong>JZ:<\/strong><\/span> Popular culture encourages the worst elements of both ideologies, while tossing out the grains of truth. So people are encouraged to \u201cfollow their bliss\u201d and reject \u201cstale conventions\u201d of good behavior, to maximize their individual freedom. But then when their lives become a bleeding mess, they expect Big Government to provide for them and protect them from the consequences. So you end up with libertarians on welfare, blogging about the evils of the Nanny State. Radical individualism helps demolish the family and churches, which leaves the federal government as the only safety net for isolated, supposedly \u201cindependent\u201d citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9837\" class=\"yiv2201969352MsoNormal\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9836\" style=\"color: black\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9831\" style=\"color: black\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9823\" style=\"color: black\"><strong>JWK:<\/strong><\/span><\/span> <strong>Does it really matter whether Democrats or Republicans control government? Is there a difference between them?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1411547742955_9839\" style=\"color: black\"><strong>JZ:<\/strong> There is not enough of a difference for my taste. Republicans need to renounce crony capitalism, global interventionism, and middle-class welfare programs. They need to see how big business uses big government to agglomerate power, and return to the Founders\u2019 vision of a free people with a free economy, who view the government as the very LAST resort when every possible private initiative fails to solve a problem. We\u2019re a long way from that vision, in either party.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em><strong>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Core strength.\u00a0 It&#8217;s said to be key to physical fitness. And according to Jason Scott Jones and John Zmirak &#8212; authors of The Race to Save Our Century: Five Core Principles to Promote Peace, Freedom and the Culture of Life (Crossroad Publishing, 2014) &#8212;&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,7,9,10,7192,15,17,22,26,4318,3586,30,1],"tags":[7363,7362,7361,7364,7359,7360,7365,7367,7368,7366],"class_list":["post-5507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-atheism","category-books","category-christianity","category-current-events","category-freedom","category-history","category-interfaith-dialogue","category-media","category-politics","category-racism","category-religious-liberty-2","category-technology","category-uncategorized","tag-crossroad-publishing","tag-freedom-and-the-culture-of-life","tag-he-race-to-save-our-century-five-core-principles-to-promote-peace","tag-intercollegiate-review","tag-jason-scott-jones","tag-john-zmirak","tag-racism-and-nationalism","tag-radical-individualism","tag-utilitarian-hedonism","tag-utopian-collectivism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The &quot;Race&quot; is on. 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Authors offer \"Five Core Principles to Promote Peace, Freedom and the Culture of Life\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/the-race-is-on-authors-offer-five-core-principles-to-promote-peace-freedom-and-the-culture-of-life.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The \"Race\" is on. Authors offer \"Five Core Principles to Promote Peace, Freedom and the Culture of Life\"","og_description":"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Core strength.\u00a0 It&#8217;s said to be key to physical fitness. 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Authors offer &#8220;Five Core Principles to Promote Peace, Freedom and the Culture of Life&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/","name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - John W. Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5507"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5510,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions\/5510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}