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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, November 7, 1980
Page 17
Democrats. (But Mr. Reagan's proposal for a separate wage structure for
youths below the minimum wage should help more inner-city teenagers find
jobs.)
The "Moral Majority" people and other elements of the so-called "New
Right" will try to challenge the debasing--and often government-sponsored-
trends eating away at the social fabric, primarily the family structure.
One thinks of the plethora of such issues and the inertia behind them--gay
rights, ERA, forced integration and reversed discrimination policies.
Mr. Reagan himself gave indication of what he and his supporters are up
against when he told an interviewer during the campaign that society
should not condone the "gay rights" movement. Asked whether his objec
tion to homosexuality was based on the Bible, he answered, "Well, you
could find that in the Bible it says that in the eyes of the Lord, this
is an abomination."
Whereupon the interviewer replied: "But should that bind the rest of the
citizens who may not believe in the Bible?"
A pop-country song rocketed to the top of the charts earlier this year,
called "America." Its country-rock singer, trying to lift up America's
lagging spirits, noisily--and nasally--intoned:
"The eagle's been a flyin' slow, and the flag's been flyin' low. And a
lotta peoples' sayin' that America's fixin' to fall." To which he dis
agreed, claiming that once again, "We're walkin' real proud and we're
talkin' real loud again."
And the future? The singer proclaimed that "We're going to put our feet
back on the path of righteousness and then, God bless America again." But
do Americans even know where that path lies? Organized religion isn't
supplying the answer.
Mr. Reagan made an emotional and obviously sincere appeal for God's help
and guidance at the end of his convention acceptance speech in Detroit
last July, something his "born again" predecessor probably wouldn't have
thought of doing. It will be an interesting new team in Washington to
watch.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau