The twentieth century was the century of utopian fantasies. Whether through economics, military force, or eugenics, thinkers that abandoned the idea of sin and rejected the providence of God believed they could “fix the world.” They all failed. In fact, it is more accurate to think of the twentieth century as the century of failed utopian fantasies. Millions paid the price for these bad ideas.
Understanding this history—including the many casualties of these false worldviews and the bad ideas that still threaten our world—is crucial, especially for Christians. After all, despite the legacy of world wars, totalitarian regimes, and technological hubris, humanity is still tempted to try to fix the world without God.
My friend Tim Goeglein, vice president of Government and External Relations for Focus on the Family, has recently written a definitive treatment of the utopian myths that shaped the twentieth century and define the modern progressive movement.
Here’s Tim:
In 1516, Sir Thomas More published his book Utopia, comparing European social and economic conditions with those of an ideal society on an imaginary island off the coast of the Americas which he called “Utopia.” He sought to imply that the perfect conditions on his fictional island could never exist.
For centuries since More coined the word, men have sought to create their own utopias—places that possess highly desirable or near perfect qualities for its members—a heaven on earth where everyone would get along and there would be no poverty, no war, no conflict of any kind.
John Lennon described such a world in his 1971 utopian anthem, “Imagine,” which called for a world without religion, without countries, with no possessions, no greed or hunger, and a brotherhood of man “sharing the world.”
Unfortunately, all man’s attempts and wistful thinking to create such a society have failed miserably, with the latest attempt being the damage created by the utopian activists of the 1960s.
In my new book, Stumbling Towards Utopia: How the 1960s Turned Into a National Nightmare and How We Can Revive the American Dream (Fidelis), I survey the damage the 1960s has wrought as a result of this latest effort—one doomed to fail because its foundation was built on shifting cultural sand that never lasts rather than an eternal and firm faith-based rock.
I see young people – particularly young men – struggling to find purpose, settle down, and become productive members of society.
I see young women who want to be married and start a family but find a dearth of eligible men resign themselves to living alone as their biological clocks tick ever so much louder with each passing year.
And those men who are ready and eager to embrace the responsibility of being a loving husband and father often find the women in their lives suffering from sexual shame from their past or the trauma of a broken father relationship, which in turn negatively impacts all their relationships with men.
Government programs instituted in the 1960s to lift people out of poverty have, instead, trapped them in an endless cycle of generational poverty—ensnaring children and their children in a world with little or no hope of escape.
Thus, we are experiencing ever-rising national debt with a day of reckoning coming that will result in devastating economic consequences. Thanks to turning our schools into social experiment laboratories in the 1960s instead of institutions of learning, our educational system is broken. Our children are used as sacrificial guinea pigs, subjected to the latest, and often failed, educational fads while being indoctrinated in leftist worldview.
And finally, as a nation, we are adrift spiritually. The common moral values we endorsed—if not always followed—are gone. What was deemed right is now wrong and vice versa. Without a moral foundation, we make decisions that only make bad situations worse. The result is the dispirited and divided America we find ourselves in.
But the damage of the 1960s is not irreversible, but it will take time and perseverance to slowly reclaim each institution the progressive Left captured during the twentieth century. I am an eternal optimist, and I believe we can make America once again the “shining city on a hill” for which Ronald Reagan so eloquently advocated.
But America will not resolve its current crisis without a restoration of faith and the virtues that come with it—both of which were tossed aside by 1960s utopians in their quest for their idea of a perfect society.
That is the utopia I hope and pray for.
That was Tim Goeglein, vice president of Government and External Relations at Focus on the Family and author of the important and helpful new book Stumbling Toward Utopia: How the 1960s Turned into a National Nightmare and How We Can Revive the American Dream, which is available now.
Photo Courtesy:©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Pheelings Media
Published Date: November 21, 2024
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.