this is why benjamin franklin who isn't an orthodox christian love george whitfield because wherever he goes, the people become virtuous.r, he suddenly the people are uniquely prepared to govern themselves. they have a better chance ofav keeping it than anyone in the history of the world. so without whitfield, we wouldn't exist. but the point is that seems to t be the case. so, when i understood all this i thought to myself it's kind of scandalous that we don't know all this and we don't know how fragile our government is our way of life and culture and everything we have. if we don't get serious about keeping it, whatever that means, it is game over and i do think it is as serious as we face in the revolution or the civil war. if we are facing johnny you get that crisis and see it in front of your eyes. it's termites slightly howling from the outside so nobody seess the threat but if we become a name only and a hollow shell of america where americans used to be, we would cease to haveill cv self-government. in other words, it's not for democrats or republicans or liberals or conserv

this is why benjamin franklin who wa wasn't an orthodox chrisn loved george whitfield because he said wherever they go they become virtuous and govern themselves. so by the time this is over, he dies in 1770 and suddenly, the people are uniquely prepared to govern themselves. to create this government, they can hand it over to people who can keep it, who have a better chance than anyone in the history of the world. so we would not exist. now, who knows but the point is that seemed to be the case. i thought to myself it's kind of scandalous we don't know all this and we don't know how fragile our government is our culture. everything we have is republic. if we don't get serious about keeping it, whatever that is, it is game over. we are in the civil war an endes the next essential crisis. if we are facing java web you can pull out a gun and fight the fight. you get that crisis you see. but this has been termites hollowing assault so that nobody really sees any threat. but if we become america in name only and a hollow shell. we will cease to have self-government, and it's already happe

this is why benjamin franklin who wa wasn't an orthodox chrisn loved george whitfield because he said wherever they go they become virtuous and govern themselves. so by the time this is over, he dies in 1770 and suddenly, the people are uniquely prepared to govern themselves. to create this government, they can hand it over to people who can keep it, who have a better chance than anyone in the history of the world. so we would not exist. now, who knows but the point is that seemed to be the case. i thought to myself it's kind of scandalous we don't know all this and we don't know how fragile our government is our culture. everything we have is republic. if we don't get serious about keeping it, whatever that is, it is game over. we are in the civil war an endes the next essential crisis. if we are facing java web you can pull out a gun and fight the fight. you get that crisis you see. but this has been termites hollowing assault so that nobody really sees any threat. but if we become america in name only and a hollow shell. we will cease to have self-government, and it's already happe

might be aware of the new book "if you can keep it" and he mentions george whitfield's impact in american -- not just christianity but conservatism in the 1700ss' as being a foundational turning point for american morality, and our kind of continual decline since then. do you think -- is there a chance of hope for a turn-around in america for, i guess, political revival outside of a spiritual revival? >> why don't you throw a softball. i'm not sure they can always be distinguished, but i would make this point, against the sort of historism of our time. you can never rule out a great awakening or a revival. they come in the most unlikely places. oartist who depicted the gin al wyoming london and those guys, they didn't see -- gin alleys and those guys didn't see the reveal in england that became victorian reality. we never see these things coming. so that's another point that weighs against the idea of the inevitability of religious decline. >> i think it's a fallacy of progressivism that the ratchet of history only turns in one direction and once a ratchet clicks, it can't possibly go bac

and he mentioned george whitfield impact in america and not just christian but also conservatism and the 1700 as being a turning point for american morality and our continual decline since then. so do you think is there a chance of hope or a turnaround in america for i guess a political revival outside of a spiritual revival? >> why don't you throw a softball? [laughter] i'm not sure they can always be distinguished, but i would make this point against the sort of cave art historicism of our time, -- kmart -- to you can never rule out a great awakening of our revival coming in the most unlikely places. the argus who depicted the gym alleys in london, they didn't see the revival in england. it was right around the corner that became victorian morality. we never see these things coming. that is another point that weighs against the idea of the inevitability of religious decline. >> i think it's a fallacy of progressivism as the racket of future returns of one direction. once the ratchet clicks they can never go back and that's a very powerful conceit and it's very pervasive. people fee

you might be aware, he mentions george whitfield in american not just christianity that conservatism in the 1700's as a foundational turning point or mesmerized he and continual decline since then so do you think is there a chance of hope for a turnaround in america for the political revival outside of the spiritual revival? >> wider view throw softball? [laughter] i'm not sure they can always be distinguished but i would make this point against the sort of kmart historicism of our time, that you can never rule out a great awakening or a revival. they come in the most unlikely places. the artist who depicted the ginelli's of london, and they didn't see the revival in england that was right around the corner that became victorian reality. we never see these things coming so that is another point that weighs against the idea of the inevitability of religious decline. >> the fallacy of repressiveism is a wretched of history only turned in one direction and once it does it can't can possibly go back and that's a very powerful, saberi powerful conceit and it's very pervasive. people feel

for a marvelous talk you might be aware of the new book, if you can keep it, and he mentioned george whitfield in american christianity and conservative conservative in the 1700 and our our continual decline since then do you think there's a chance of hope for a turnaround in america for a political revival outside of a spiritual revival? >> i'm not sure they can always be distinguished but i would make this point against the kmart historicism of our time that you can never roll out a great awakening or a revival. they come in the most unlikely places. they didn't see the revival in england that was right around the corner that became victorian morality. we never see these things coming. that is another point that ways against the inevitability of religious decline. >> once the ratchet clicks, it can't can't possibly go back. i'm at the very powerful, of course you can't turn the clock back but certain things reemerge again and again and again and it seems to me that religious impulse is one of those impulses. one more question. >> what to think about the impact. [inaudible] you might say he's