A Time for Anger: The Myth of Neutrality

by Frank Schaeffer

Argues that American society is dominated by an anti-Christian, pagan culture and suggests that the government should not take neutral stands on moral issues

Genres: Politics, Christian, Christianity, Nonfiction, Christian Living, Philosophy, History

206 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 1982

About the author

Frank Schaeffer is a New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen books. Frank is a survivor of both polio and an evangelical/fundamentalist childhood, an acclaimed writer who overcame severe dyslexia, a home-schooled and self-taught documentary movie director, a feature film director of four low budget Hollywood features Frank has described as “pretty terrible.” He is also an acclaimed author of both fiction and nonfiction and an artist with a loyal following of international collectors who own many of his oil paintings. Frank has been a frequent guest on the Rachel Maddow Show on NBC, has appeared on Oprah, been interviewed by Terri Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air and appeared on the Today Show, BBC News and many other media outlets. He is a much sought after speaker and has lectured at a wide range of venues from Harvard’s Kennedy School to the Hammer Museum/UCLA, Princeton University, Riverside Church Cathedral, DePaul University and the Kansas City Public Library.

Reviews

[Aaron Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book was published in 1982, it is startlingly relevant to our times 40 years later. Though "Franky Schaeffer" was a rightist Christian when he wrote this book, unfortunately, Frank turned into an angry anti-Christian who identifies as a "Christian Atheist" - someone who follows select Christian principles from Jesus, but rejects the intervening, benevolent, One True God as well as some core principles of the Way of Jesus (which can be summed up by love for God, as well as love for others that leads them to righteousness).

In this book, old Franky Schaeffer tackles the secularist humanist control ("hegemony," you might call it) over every key factor of our society - media, education, the sciences, the arts. What's interesting to me is the utter shock and anger with which this is met. Whereas for most Christians nowadays this is no surprise, for old Franky Schaeffer, this was an overturning of centuries of America's tradition and a revisioning of America from a Judeo-Christian nation to a secular humanist nation.

Schaeffer decries Christian passivity in the face of this silent revolution and calls for Christians to take action. Ultimately, the call to action is much needed in our own time.

Since Franky the Christian became Frank the radical anti-Christ, a natural question is begged: have the views in this book been shown to be wrong?

My argument is twofold.

On the one hand, there was clearly something in Schaeffer's philosophy that was a bit too focused on the state of the nation. It transcended social action, seeking justice and doing righteousness and became something more of "Let us take our nation back." This mentality produces less a Christianity that uses spiritual weapons against spiritual foes, and more a Christianity that uses weapons of the flesh to impose its own will.

But that is not how Christ defeated the Satanic force. He defeated it through meekness, humility, submission (to the will of His Father), bold proclamation of the truth, through a forehead as hard as flint that withstood the impressions of the world (Ezekiel 3:9), through zeal for the house of the Lord, through the denunciation of the proud, by laying down His life for His friends. And so, there is something that does taint Schaeffer's argument. It is even notable in the workings of Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority (with which the Schaeffers were in league) - which although we must thank God for their work and (indeed, they did much good). we should admit that they might have been lacking in some of the spiritual weapons of Christ in their cultural warfare. Better to wage that war with the armaments of Christ.

On the other hand, there is something needed here: a call to action, a denunciation of comfortable Christian passivity, a call for holy and righteous anger against sin and transgressions multiplying in our culture, a call for Christian involvement in the media, arts, sciences, politics, laws (though in a flavor more in keeping with Christ).

May the Lord preserve us from turning from Franky's to Frank's. May He keep His people humble and in step with the nature of Christ. May He harden our foreheads like flint against the vices of our culture. May He put fire in our mouths to proclaim His Laws and His Good News.

[Donna Gabbard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The article on abortion reprinted in full in the appendix should be read by everybody.

[Alex Kearney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A scathing exposé on the blatant hypocrisy of secularism. Too bad he became a secularist himself :( Lord open his eyes!

Reading any Schaeffer book (father or son) is like having him in your passenger seat on a long drive at night. As you slowly doze off to sleep, he open-palm slaps you right in the face, and you grip the steering wheel like your life depended on it, because it does.

We’re living in a cultural moment in which we Christians are tempted to fall asleep and let go of the wheel. Books like this scream, “Don’t let up! Don’t hand this thing over to them! We can take control and influence our culture for Christ!”


“I have a vision of someone like Hugh Hefner sitting in his company mansion, penning a diatribe against ‘repressive’ Christian morality, while Gregorian chant plays on quadrophonic stereo system in the background. I see an atheist professor of sociology on holiday in France, eating his picnic lunch in the shade of Chartres Cathedral, while he works on the notes of a speech lamenting the conversion to Christianity of some quaint tribe of cannibals. I hear the sound of a baby aborted in the third trimester, crying feebly as it died in a blood-stained tray. Its cries are muffled by the melody of ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’ playing on the FM station in the abortionist’s waiting room. It is time for those who are Christian to reassert themselves in the arts. And it is time for the Christian community to back them. We must fill people’s imaginations with the images of the Christian vision. The arts and media must be a focal point for protest against the pagan world that has come upon us, while we have had our Christian heads in the sand of ‘spirituality.’”

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though this book was written in the 80s, it is still very, very applicable today. In a straightforward, solidly biblical way, Schaeffer points out the flaws in our society's idea of "neutrality". No one is really "neutral"; we all have set beliefs and principles on which we stand that affect the way we make decisions and how we live our lives. Our secular culture is by no means "neutral"; rather, it is very biased towards things like abortion and evolution, and against things like Christianity, basic moral principles, and the Bible. The way of life and the way of death... our culture is following the way of death.

There is no need for Christians to mince what they say about this. We should be bold; the Bible is very clear about the sanctity of human life (all of it!), the purpose and beauty of marriage and the home, and the fact that men are sinners in need of a savior. We must compromise no longer to the whims and evils of our culture, but should rather stand our ground, holding fast to the truths of Scripture and speaking out with confidence. Abortion is evil, abominably wicked, and must be stopped. That's that.

Schaeffer's anger is a righteous anger, a set indignation against anything that opposes his God. My God. The God our fore-fathers worshiped and followed. Yes, it is a time for anger, and it is also a time for action. Like slavery, abortion isn't something we can just ignore; it is a wicked blot on the reputation of our country, and it must be stopped.

[Travis Daggett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good explanation of how we got here.

[Larry Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

an angry book by an angry guy, who has since repented and is no longer mad at the world