“People still want reasons because they still have heads. It is as simple as that.”
– Prof. Peter J. Kreeft
Like a small seed, all major cultural shifts in world history first start with an idea inside the mind, and then it grows outward to influence the path of a civilization toward good, or toward evil. “Ideas have consequences,” as Prof. Richard Weaver famously wrote.
FPIW aims to equip people with a strong cultural apologetic — a defense, a logical explanation — on key issues such as Life, Marriage, Parental Rights, Religious Liberty, and many others. (See our Issues booklet for all 18.) As intellectual armor in a culture set against us, a cultural apologetic protects us. And more importantly, it’s a way for us to love others toward the truth: By going through the mind, we can change hearts.
And by changing hearts, we can change laws because good laws flow from a good, virtuous culture. As Thomas Aquinas wrote: “The common good of the state cannot flourish, unless the citizens be virtuous.”
I. Three Categories
We engage the culture by way of three major categories: prayer, events, and apologetics.
• Prayer — as spiritual warfare, such as our Prayer Tour at the Capitol in Olympia:
And our Adopt an Elected prayer ministry:
• Events — for relationships, strategy building, and voter turnout:
• And cultural apologetics — the war of ideas:
II. Two Types of Cultural Apologetics
Our cultural apologetics comes in two forms:
(a) Some of our apologetics is “Bible Apologetics.” It cites the Bible often and is especially useful for those who hold the Bible as an authority but may not be very biblically literate. (Click on the images below.)
(b) Another type of apologetics is “Logical Apologetics,” which uses reason alone: it gives a logical reason unaided by faith or the Bible as to why, for example, we defend pre-born babies, or marriage between one man and one woman, or the primacy of parental rights. It argues on the plane of reason alone, of logic alone, and does not quote Holy Scripture, but comes to the exact same conclusions. It’s useful for engaging those people who do not hold the Bible as an authority.
Using this approach, we ask ourselves: “If the Bible did not exist, how would I argue for these pro-family views using logic alone?” This method is also called natural reason, rather than supernatural revelation (the Bible). (Click on the images below.)
In our booklets above, we feature a “Debate” section: If they say X, you can say Y. It engages logical arguments to lead the person you are speaking with closer to the truth.
In fact, some top secular thinkers who reject the Bible and God are in fact pro-life, pro-marriage, and pro-parental rights.
This war of ideas by way of natural reason is not easy: it takes mental sweat. It takes reading and thinking. It’s a workout. But it’s worth it!
You will feel more confident in your cultural apologetic and not easily swayed, and you will be able to talk to non-Christians on the plane of reason alone, step by step, often by asking them key questions.
III. Roots for a Lasting Civilization
In the American story, there have been notable periods of “awakenings” toward God and His good ethics for our nation — such as the First and Second Great Awakenings in the 1700s and 1800s. But they lacked intellectual depth and academic roots, notes J. P. Moreland in his wonderful book Love Your God With All Your Mind.
They did not last. And they did not last in part because they were not intellectually equipped, and so they lost the argument.
Dr. Moreland points out that they lacked “a studied period of reflection and conviction,” emphasized personal-and-emotional experiences, and were rather quickly washed away once other ideas came onto the cultural stage. They lacked a strong cultural apologetics because they did not properly engage the mind with much depth.
For cultural apologetics to transform a civilization, and to build a good society that lasts, our cultural apologetics needs to avoid such errors, or it too will be swept away. In fact, as the expression goes, thinking is not something we can avoid doing; we can only avoid doing it well.
In his book The Historic Reality of Christian Culture, the great historian Christopher Dawson observes:
“I do believe that it has been on the plane of ideas that the process of the secularization of culture began, and that is only by a change of ideas that this process can be reversed.”
On that “plane of ideas,” let’s prepare ourselves with the intellectual armor needed. Join us as FPIW aims to win back the culture by winning hearts. A change in laws will follow. Or as we like to say:
“Changing Hearts, Changing Laws.”
Transforming culture is important to us at FPIW, and we hope you share our sincere passion in defending and advancing Biblical and conservative values in the public square. Join us! Please sign up to become a Defender today, and join us in praying for our elected legislators.