Vision and Values

We are an organization of fans of American conservative and radio talk show host, Dennis Prager.  Our concerns are primarily over moral issues in maintaining the traditional “American character.”   Our goals are to clarify the issues honestly and to remind our fellow Americans of the extraordinary blessings of living in our country based on the rule of law under the primacy of our remarkable Federal Constitution. -Glenn H. Ray, Organizer

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“There is no permanent class of hired laborers amongst us. Twenty five years ago I was a hired laborer. The hired laborer of yesterday labors on his own account today; and will have others to labor for him tomorrow. Advancement…improvement in condition….is the order of things in a society of equals.” Abraham Lincoln…16th President of the United States
March 4, 1861-April 15, 1865.

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Prager University
posted by Dezra Helgeson

“People don’t have a lot of time these days, but a lot of truths can be distilled into a few minutes. Prager University is an attempt to really start you on your way to more clarity in life and we’re going to try to give you a lot in a little time. Give us five minutes we’ll give you a semester.” -Dennis Prager

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The (Unofficial) Theme Song for Dennis Prager’s Happiness Hour
Lyrics by Alan Miller

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Meeting the Challenges of Today
posted by glenn h. ray

30 years ago an American religious leader foresaw the coming of a grave malaise approaching our Nation and its historic code of living in a land dedicated by the Grace of God, to “Life, Liberty, and  the Pursuit of Happiness”.   His prophetic warnings have come true.

Please listen carefully to the concerns spoken so eloquently by this American leader in 1978 in this moving video of our America’s major twenty first century dilemma.  Listen to it often.  Please answer its questions.  And then listen again.  These words from 30 years ago make me feel extra proud to be a fan of Dennis Prager.  Please find time to help America return to its core values.  (This video was featured at the April 9, 2009 General Group Discussion Meeting)

Transcript of video (continued below)

“You will have noticed that with rare exceptions-especially when the First Presidency has spoken out-the concerns expressed have been over moral issues, not issues between political parties.  The declarations are about principles, not people, and causes, not candidates.
“We are now entering a period of incredible ironies.  Let us cite but one of these ironies which is yet in its subtle stages: we shall see in our time a maximum, if indirect effort, made to establish irreligion as the state religion.  It is actually a new form of paganism that uses the carefully preserved and cultivated freedoms of Western civilization to shrink freedom even as it rejects the value essence of our rich Judeo-Christian heritage.”

Transcript of video (continued from above)

“Your discipleship may see the time come when religious convictions are heavily discounted.  ‘A religious conviction is now a second-class conviction, expected to step deferentially to the back of the secular bus, and not to get uppity about it’ (Human Life Review, Summer 1978, p. 58). This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain of people’s opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions. Resistance to abortion will soon be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.

“In its mildest form, irreligion will merely be condescending toward those who hold to traditional Judeo-Christian values. In its more harsh forms, as is always the case with those whose dogmatism is blinding, the secular church will do what it can to reduce the influence of those who still worry over standards such as those in the Ten Commandments.

“If people, however, are not permitted to advocate, to assert, and to bring to bear, in every legitimate way, the opinions and views they hold that grow out of their religious convictions, what manner of men and women would we be, anyway? Our founding fathers did not wish to have a state church established nor to have a particular religion favored by government. They wanted religion to be free to make its own way. But neither did they intend to have irreligion made into a favored state church. Notice the terrible irony if this trend were to continue. When the secular church goes after its heretics, where are the sanctuaries? To what landfalls and Plymouth Rocks can future pilgrims go?

“If we let come into being a secular church which is shorn of traditional and divine values, where shall we go for inspiration in the crises of tomorrow? Can we appeal to the rightness of a specific regulation to sustain us in our hours of need? Will we be able to seek shelter under a First Amendment which by then may have been twisted to favor irreligion? Will we be able to rely for counterforce on value education in school systems which are increasingly secularized? And if our governments and schools were to fail us, would we be able to fall back upon the institution of the family, when so many secular movements seek to shred it?

“Remember, we are, as Nephi and Jacob said, to learn to endure “the crosses of the world” (2 Nephi 9:18) and yet to despise “the shame of [it]” (Jacob 1:8). To go on clinging to the iron rod in spite of the mockery and scorn that flow at us from the multitudes in that great and spacious building seen by Father Lehi, which is the “pride of the world,” is to disregard the shame of the world (1 Nephi 8:26–27, 33; 11:35–36). Parenthetically, why–really why–do the disbelievers who line that spacious building watch so intently what the believers are doing? Surely there must be other things for the scorners to do–unless, deep within their seeming disinterest, there is interest.

“Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even these, however, must leave a record so that the choices before the people are clear and let others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, that others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds–a majority which was, till then, unconscious of itself.”

PDF of Video Transcript, including glossary.