Historical eras, like people, have their own defining traits. There is always a particular virtue or vice, hero or villain, war or revolution that indelibly marks a whole year, decade, or even century, making it easy to summarize these eras with a single phrase.
The Ancien Régime , the period of French history before the French Revolution, was one of them. While not perfect, many historians today admit to its cultural and social refinement and general well-being. If popular opinion is any guide, the three million tourists who flock to the Palace of Versailles every year – not to mention the many books, plays, and films that romanticize the period – reveal a widespread sympathy for a time that had, in the words of Talleyrand, much douceur de vivre or “sweetness of life.”
On the other hand, the name “Roaring Twenties” describes well the degenerate spirit of post-World War I Western society. Les années folles, or “the crazy years” as the French call them, saw unprecedented materialism, cultural change, and sexual immorality. Nineteen-twenty’s philosophy, art, music, literature and the newly invented medium of the motion picture were saturated with an enthusiasm for all things “modern” and a rejection of tradition.
Every era, of course, is judged by future generations. What name will our great-great-great-grandchildren give to ours? Long after the NFL, Wall Street, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley have disappeared in the sands of time, these characteristics will remain, as it were, like the ruins of Pompeii, without us there to make excuses. What will our bones reveal about us?
What Is “The Civilization of the Lie?”
They won’t have many good things to say. Twenty-first century Western society has mostly apostatized from the Catholic Faith that built it. Pagan religions such as Wicca, Buddhism and even Satanism have become mainstream, filling the void.
Apostasy from the Faith goes hand in hand with rejection of Christian morals. Beginning with divorce and contraception, the sexual revolution steadily advanced until abortion, pornography, homosexuality, and now transgenderism – unthinkable a few decades ago – were imposed on conventional society.
Socialism, once considered beyond the pale in American politics, is making inroads. On the one-hundredth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution research by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation showed that more millennials would prefer to live in a socialist country (44%) than a capitalist one (42%), and 7% even preferred a communist one.1 If not explicitly socialist, large numbers of millennials favor socialist policies such as gun control, the government takeover of health care, homosexual “marriage,” and confiscatory wealth redistribution.
A sizeable number of Americans support violence to achieve these ends. “Antifa,” the militant wing of the Left, has committed acts of domestic terrorism not seen since the seventies. A Brookings Institute survey reported that 1 in 5 college students support the use of violence to shut down controversial speakers.2 Political violence, an overwhelmingly liberal phenomenon, is now almost an everyday occurrence.
Both the Left and the Right are more polarized than ever. This polarization is no longer exclusive to politics or the front-line trenches of the culture war. In our times, it is almost unavoidable for housewives to have political disputes with relatives at family gatherings, or for men to lose their jobs for revealing a conservative position at work. These disputes are so heated, the two sides so irreconcilable, that one often has the impression that socialist-minded liberals deny the very reality in front of them.
And perhaps that is the defining characteristic of our times. The unholy war waged by liberal jihadists against traditional America is not simply based on one or another errors, but the most radical error possible: the denial of self-evident truth. Moreover, liberals wage a relentless war against the institutions, monuments, and traditions of our Western Christian civilization that reflect it. Worst of all, they seek to replace it with a chaotic anti-civilization. They might call it the triumph of political correctness. We can call it the Civilization of the Lie.
Communism was one of the great examples of this false civilization. Anticommunist author Fred Schwarz wrote that “the maturity of a Communist can be judged by the extent to which he can divorce himself from the evidence of his senses and totally identify himself with the verdict of the Communist Party.”3 In the twentieth century, when Communist economic policies caused massive famines in the Soviet Union, China, and other Communist countries, blame was never placed on the bad policies themselves. Bad weather or “saboteurs” were the culprits. Communist revolutionaries preferred to send tens of millions to their deaths rather that recognize the undeniable reality in front of them. The Civilization of the Lie and its partisans not only survived the fall of the Berlin Wall, but live on stronger than ever. It can be seen in every divisive social and economic issue, and its militants and enablers can be heard every night on the evening news, in elected office, and in academia.
Lie Number One
Take abortion. Never before in history have we had so much scientific proof that unborn babies are in fact living, breathing human beings. Unborn babies have their own DNA at conception, have a heartbeat at 3 weeks, produce brainwaves at 6 weeks, and feel pain at 16 weeks.4 At 24 weeks’ gestation babies can hear, feel, taste, dream, react to stimuli, learn and remember, and can even recognize the unique pitch and tone of his or her mother’s voice.5 Thanks to modern technology, babies can survive outside the womb as early as 22 weeks.
Abortion proponents have only hardened their position in the face of such overwhelming evidence. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said that the question of when life begins “will be debated through the centuries,” but stated that “for me, life began when I delivered” her three children. In 2002, then-Illinois state senator Barack Obama voted against a law that extended protections for children who survived abortion and were born alive.6 Canadian bioethicist and philosopher Udo Schuklenk advocates “post-birth” abortion for newborns with a “poor quality of life.”7 University of Chicago professor Jerry Coyne stated that “it’s time to add to the discussion the euthanasia of newborns who have no ability or faculties to decide whether to end their lives. Although discussing the topic seems verboten now, I believe someday the practice will be widespread, and it will be for the better.”8
Most cynical and disturbing of all is the increasing use of religion to deny the humanity of unborn children. U.S. House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, when asked by a reporter about the issue of late-term abortion in the wake of the Kermit Gosnell trial said, “As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this… This shouldn’t have anything to do with politics.”9 Joyce Arthur, Executive Director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, wrote that “abortion is a blessing and a sacred moral value.”10 Northland, Michigan “Family Planning Centers” are now advertising their services with a video calling abortion “sacred work.”11 Florida abortionist Patricia Baird-Windle called abortion “a major blessing” and “a sacrament in the hands of women” who sometimes “have an abortion out of love for the baby.”12 And Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, in her book What Happened, wrote that abortion is “sacrosanct” and non-negotiable for Democrats.
The Satanic Temple, known for its public satanic black masses, sued the state of Missouri for passing laws that restrict abortion. They claimed that abortion (as well as homosexual “marriage”) is a satanic “sacrament” and therefore worthy of religious protections. Zachary King, former satanic high wizard who converted to Catholicism, said that “abortion is a satanic sacrament so to speak. Just as Catholic men will join the priesthood because they are attracted to holiness and to working for God, an abortion facility attracts Satanists for the satanic priesthood.”13
Lie Number Two
Abortion is far from the only example of the Civilization of the Lie. Blatant denial of truth is just as inherent in the homosexual revolution. In fact, acceptance of homosexual sin and homosexual “marriage” is only possible thanks to the most cynical denials of the reality of human nature itself.
For decades, the LGBT movement has pushed for the acceptance of homosexuality based on three main arguments: that homosexuals are “born that way,” that they have a “right” to practice homosexuality, and that no one can impose his or her morality on another.
Biology is clear that human beings are born with one of only two sexes: male or female. Every cell of the human body contains either male XY or female XX sex chromosomes. The primary purpose of human sexuality, and the primary purpose of human sexual anatomy, are both obvious by the natural results of sexual intercourse: the conception and birth of children. Homosexual acts, which are sterile by their nature, violate this purpose.
Homosexual propaganda has drilled the “gay gene” myth into public opinion, changing homosexuality from a free choice to an innate biological characteristic like hair and eye color. According to 2015 Pew Research Center poll, 41% of Americans believe this theory, up from 20% in 1985.14
Yet there has never been any study to prove the existence of such a gene. On the contrary, a 2016 study by Dr. Lawrence S. Mayer of Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Paul R. McHugh of Arizona State University and published in The New Atlantis concluded: “The idea that people are ‘born that way’ is not supported by scientific evidence.”15 Dr. McHugh said “There is no gay gene. And there are factors more influential than biology…If you are a man and you grow up in a rural environment, you are four times less likely to have homosexual relationships than if you grow up in a metropolitan area. That’s not left-handedness.”16
Lie Number Three
After imposing homosexual “marriage,” transgenderism is the logical next step. As the LGBT acronym affirms, both are part of the same organized movement and based in the same revolutionary ideology: gender theory.
First introduced by sexologist John Money in the 1950s and popularized by the feminist movement in the 1960s and 70s, “gender theory” claims that the traditional, external manifestations of maleness and femaleness, ways of dressing, speaking, acting, and thinking (i.e. one’s “gender”) are imposed social constructs, unconnected to biology (i.e. one’s sex).
Stephanie Brill, author of The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals, explains:
For many people, the terms “gender” and “sex” are interchangeable. This idea has become so common, particularly in western societies, that it is rarely questioned. Yet biological sex and gender are different; gender is not inherently connected to one’s physical anatomy. (emphasis mine)
According to gender theory, a person’s “gender identity” is entirely subjective, determined by his or her own feelings and emotions. If a man feels that he is a woman, that feeling automatically overrides any biological evidence to the contrary. A person can be biologically male, but his “gender identity” can be female, male, a combination of both, or neither one. All that matters is what one’s “internal sense” dictates.
As true children of the Civilization of the Lie, it is not surprising that gender theory shamelessly contradicts itself. Homosexuality, they claimed, was innate and immutable. Homosexuals cannot violate what is naturally pre-programmed into their DNA, even if they want to.
With transgenderism, this novel gene theory conveniently goes out the window. One determines his or her gender not by the very real sex chromosomes found in every cell of the human body, but by the whims and emotions of the individual. “Sexual orientation” is supposedly innate, but a person can “self-identify” as one of more than 70 described “genders” and change it as often as his emotions sway him.
In other words, not only is homosexuality itself a lie, but the very propaganda used to promote it was in contradiction with the underlying gender theory ideology. This propaganda was used only as a tool to deceive public opinion until society arrived at the next stage of the sexual revolution.
Lie Number Four
An even more egregious lie is the call for “tolerance.” Most people have the vague idea that “tolerance” is some kind of secular version of the Golden Rule, updated for the twenty-first century. In reality, it is a valuable psychological weapon in the culture war. “Tolerance” silences opponents of the sexual revolution who fear to be called “intolerant,” clearing the field in order to impose one of the most radical revolutions in history.
Bakers, photographers, and business owners are losing their livelihoods and even their homes for refusing to participate in homosexual “weddings.” Aaron and Melissa Klein of Oregon were fined $144,000 for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a homosexual couple. An Albany, New York couple were forced to pay $10,000 to the state and an additional $3,000 in damages to a lesbian couple for refusing to host a “wedding” reception on their farm. Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana was forced to close after the owners voiced their support for Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Countless teachers, doctors, government officials, and even CEOs are losing their jobs in the name of “tolerance” for refusing to violate their consciences.17
The LGBT revolution was never about tolerance in the true sense of the word. Jeffrey Levi, former executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said, “We [homosexuals] are no longer seeking just a right to privacy and a right to protection from wrong. We have a right – as heterosexuals have already – to see government and society affirm our lives.” Paula Ettelbrick, former legal director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, stated:
“Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality, and family, and… transforming the very fabric of society …We must keep our eyes on the goals of providing true alternatives to marriage and of radically reordering society’s view of reality.” [emphasis mine]18
But the most explicit explanation of “tolerance” came from millionaire homosexual activist Tim Gill. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine he discussed LGBT movement strategy in the wake of the victory for homosexual “marriage” thanks to the Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges. “We’re going into the hardest states in the country,” he says. “We’re going to punish the wicked.”19
Lie Number Five
Feminism is also a fruit of gender theory. Since the 1960s, the sexual revolution has waged a relentless war to erase the self-evident sex differences. Feminists teach women to disdain men, motherhood, femininity, and instead to desire careers outside the home. Men are taught that traditional masculinity and oppression of women are the same thing. Law and social customs are mutilated to reflect this new orthodoxy.
The inevitable consequence of feminism was the Obama administration’s decision in 2013 to open combat positions in the military to women. Ignoring the overwhelming evidence that women are physically, emotionally, and psychologically unfit for combat, liberals cheered the decision as a victory for women.
Western Christian civilization ennobled woman from the slave of man to his dignified companion and co-heir to the fruits of Christ’s Redemption. It allowed the flourishing of an authentic Christian femininity modeled on the virtues of the Virgin Mary. The Civilization of the Lie, however, only considers a woman to be truly “free” when she has the chance to be shot, wounded, captured, tortured, raped, and killed by America’s enemies.
Lie Number Six
Ecology is another major front of the Civilization of the Lie. For forty years environmental activists and their media enablers spread the idea that the Earth is warming, that mankind is the primary cause, and that it will cause disaster unless drastic measures are taken. A 2017 Gallup poll reported that 62% of Americans believe global warming is happening, 68% of Americans believe this warming is mainly due to human activities, and 42% of Americans believe global warming will pose a serious threat in their lifetime, the highest levels since polling began.20 Al Gore and other climate activists claim that the time for debate is over. To even question man-made global warming makes one a “denier.”
Yet again, the reality is far different from the propaganda. Climate science is simply not settled, the Earth’s climate is remarkably stable by historical standards, there is no proof that man is causing the minor warming that is happening, global warming claims are based on outright fraud, and the real agenda behind it is political: the destruction of the Western economic system.
Over 31,000 American scientists, including 9,000 PhDs, signed the Oregon petition in 1999 which affirmed that “there is no scientific evidence that human release of… greenhouse gases is causing or will cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere…”. Climate computer models, our only tools to measure future warming trends, are unreliable. Over the past 20 years, 95% of the most important computer models predicted a far greater warming than what actually occurred.
In 2009, hackers released thousands of emails of Professor Philip Jones of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, the world’s premiere center for climatic research. These emails showed that Professor Jones and his associates falsified climate data in order to make it appear that the Earth was experiencing a warming trend when in fact it was not. This scandal, known as “Climategate,” greatly harmed the credibility of pro-global warming climate scientists.
Perhaps that is just as well, because the global warming movement has little to do with science. Former Canadian Environment Minister Christine Stewart stated in an interview with the Financial Post that “no matter if the science is all phoney, there are collateral environmental benefits…. climate change [provides] the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world.” Far-left activist Naomi Klein, in her 2014 book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, goes further:
“[A]s we remake our economies to stay within our global carbon budget, we need to see less consumption… less trade… and less private investment…. Implicit in all of this is a great deal more redistribution, so that more of us can live comfortably within the planet’s capacity. Which is precisely why, when climate change deniers claim that global warming is a plot to redistribute wealth, it’s not (only) because they are paranoid. It’s also because they are paying attention…. Climate change is our chance to right those festering wrongs at last – the unfinished business of liberation.”21
Quid Est Veritas?
Further examples of the Civilization of the Lie are almost limitless. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has very little to do with actually preventing the untimely deaths of black Americans and mostly to do, as they say on their website, with fomenting Marxist “liberation” and destroying the “Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement,” “heteronormative thinking,” and “patriarchy.” When Fidel Castro died, BLM issued a glowing obituary, thanking him for his “vision of freedom” and of “peace that only comes with justice.”
“Quid Est Veritas?” (What is truth?), asked Pontius Pilate. The Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Alpha and the Omega, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, the worker of miracles, the fulfiller of prophecies, Truth itself was standing before him. His wife pleaded with him, his conscience bothered him, but in the end he chose to reject Truth. No lie in history has been committed or could be committed like that of the Roman Governor of Judea.
Although different, the Civilization of the Lie is responsible for one of the worst rejections of truth in history. But like Pontius Pilate, Catholics today – both clergy and laity – ask themselves “What is truth?” and cynically turn their backs on Our Lord.
However, there are people willing to stand up and be counted in opposition to this madness. More and more faithful Catholics are praying the rosary, fighting the Cultural Revolution, and doing reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The 21,570 Rosary Rallies last October is a proof of this.
Our Lady of Fatima could be called the Apostle of Truth. She explained the crisis, gave the solution, and proved herself by performing the greatest public miracle in history since the Resurrection. For the 70,000 people who saw it, the Miracle of the Sun was impossible to deny. Atheists who were present at the Cova da Iria were forced to describe exactly what they saw, and many converted. Only by keeping our gaze firmly on her can we expect to persevere until that day when the Civilization of the Lie is smashed and replaced with the Reign of Mary, the mother of Truth itself.
- Fred Schwarz, You Can Trust the Communists to be Communists (Prentice Hall: 1960), p. 10
- Robert Reilly, Making Gay OK: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior is Changing Everything (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2015), p. 7
- Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate (Simon & Schuster) 2014, p. 92-93, 459