23. Ronald Reagan - Evil Empire
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you
very much.
And, Reverend Clergy all, Senator Hawkins, distinguished members of the Florida
congressional delegation, and all of you: I can"t
tell you how you have warmed my heart with your welcome. I"m delighted to be here today.
Those of you in the National Association of Evangelicals are known for your spiritual and
humanitarian work. And I would be especially remiss if I didn"t discharge right
now one personal debt of gratitude. Thank you for your prayers. Nancy and I have felt
their presence many times in many ways. And believe me, for us they"ve made all
the difference.
The other day in the East Room of the White House at a meeting there, someone asked me
whether I was aware of all the people out there who were praying for the President. And I
had to say, "Yes, I am. I"ve felt it. I believe in intercessionary prayer." But I couldn"t
help but say to that questioner after he"d asked the question that or at least say to them that if
sometimes when he was praying he got a busy signal, it was just me in there ahead of him. I think I
understand how Abraham Lincoln felt when he said, "I
have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had
nowhere else to go." From the joy and the good feeling of this conference, I go
to a political reception. Now, I don"t know why, but that bit of scheduling reminds me of a story which
I"ll share with you.
An evangelical minister and a politician arrived at
Heaven"s gate one day together. And St. Peter, after doing all the necessary formalities, took them in
hand to show them where their quarters would be. And he took them to a small, single room with
a bed, a chair, and a table and said this was for the clergyman. And the politician was a little worried about what might
be in store for him. And he couldn"t believe it then when St. Peter stopped in
front of a beautiful mansion with lovely grounds, many servants, and told him that these would be his
quarters.
And he couldn"t help but ask, he said, "But wait, how there"s something wrong how
do I get this mansion while that good and holy man only gets a single room?" And St. Peter said,
"You have to understand how things are up here. We"ve got thousands and thousands of
clergy. You"re the first politician who ever made it."
But I don"t want to contribute to a stereotype. So I tell you there are a great many Godfearing,
dedicated, noble men and women in public life, present company included. And yes,
we need your help to keep us evermindful of the ideas and the principles that brought
us into the public arena in the first place. The basis of those ideals and principles is a commitment to
freedom and personal liberty that, itself is grounded in the much deeper realization that
freedom prospers only where the blessings of God are avidly sought and humbly accepted.
The American experiment in democracy rests on this insight. Its discovery was the great
triumph of our Founding Fathers, voiced by William Penn when he said: "If we will not be
governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants." Explaining the inalienable rights of men, Jefferson said,
"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time."
And it was George Washington who said that "of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."
And finally, that shrewdest of all observers of American democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville,
put it eloquently after he had gone on a search for the secret of America"s greatness and genius and he said: "Not
until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with
righteousness did I understand the greatness and the genius of America. America is good. And
if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
Well, I"m pleased to be here today with you who are keeping America great by keeping her
good. Only through your work and prayers and those of millions of others can we hope to
survive this perilous century and keep alive this experiment in liberty, this last, best hope of man.
I want you to know that this administration is motivated by a political philosophy that sees the
greatness of America in you, her people, and in your families, churches, neighborhoods,
communities: the institutions that foster and nourish values like concern
for others and respect for the rule of law under God.
Now, I don"t have to tell you that this puts us in opposition to, or at least out of step with, a
a prevailing attitude of many who have turned to a modernday secularism, discarding the
tried and timetested values upon which our very civilization is based.
No matter how well intentioned, their value system is radically different from that of most
Americans. And while they proclaim that they"re freeing us from superstitions of the past,
they"ve taken upon themselves the job of superintending us by government rule and
regulation. Sometimes their voices are louder than ours, but they are not yet a majority.
An example of that vocal superiority is evident in a controversy now going on in Washington.
And since I"m involved I"ve been waiting to hear from the parents of young America.
How far are they willing to go in giving to government their prerogatives as parents?
Let me state the case as briefly and simply as I can. An organization of citizens, sincerely
motivated, deeply concerned about the increase in illegitimate births and abortions involving
girls well below the age of consent, some time ago established a nationwide network of clinics
to offer help to these girls and, hopefully, alleviate this situation. Now, again, let
me say, I do not fault their intent. However, in their wellintentioned
effort, these clinics decided to provide advice and birth control drugs and devices to underage girls without
the knowledge of their parents.
For some years now, the federal government
has helped with funds to subsidize these clinics. In providing for this, the Congress decreed that
every effort would be made to maximize parental participation. Nevertheless, the drugs and devices are prescribed without getting
parental consent or giving notification after they"ve done so. Girls termed "sexually active" and
that has replaced the word "promiscuous" are
given this help in order to prevent illegitimate birth or abortion.
Well, we have ordered clinics receiving federal funds to notify the parents such
help has been given. One of the nation"s leading newspapers has created the term "squeal rule" in
editorializing against us for doing this, and we"re being criticized for violating the privacy of
young people. A judge has recently granted an injunction against an enforcement of our rule.
I"ve watched TV panel shows discuss this issue, seen columnists pontificating on our error, but
no one seems to mention morality as playing a part in the subject of sex.
Is all of JudeoChristian tradition wrong? Are we to believe that something so
sacred can be looked upon as a purely physical thing with no potential for emotional and psychological
harm? And isn"t it the parents" right to give counsel and advice to keep their children from
making mistakes that may affect their entire lives?
Many of us in government would like to know what parents think about
this intrusion in their family by government. We"re going to
fight in the courts. The right of parents and the rights of family take precedence over those of
Washingtonbased bureaucrats and social engineers.
But the fight against parental notification is really only one example of many attempts to
water down traditional values and even abrogate the original terms of American democracy.
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
When our Founding Fathers passed the First Amendment, they sought
to protect churches from government interference. They never intended to construct a wall of hostility between
government and the concept of religious belief itself.
The evidence of this permeates our history and our government. The Declaration of
Independence mentions the Supreme Being no less than four times. "In God We Trust" is
engraved on our coinage. The Supreme Court opens its proceedings with a religious
invocation. And the members of Congress open their sessions with a prayer. I just
happen to believe the schoolchildren of the United States are entitled to the same privileges as Supreme
Court justices and congressmen.
Last year, I sent the Congress a constitutional amendment to restore prayer to public schools.
Already this session, there"s growing bipartisan support for the amendment, and I am calling
on the Congress to act speedily to pass it and to let our children pray.
Perhaps some of you read recently about the Lubbock school case, where a judge actually
ruled that it was unconstitutional for a school district to give equal treatment to religious and
nonreligious student groups, even when the group meetings were being held during the
students" own time. The First Amendment never intended to require government
to discriminate against religious speech.
Senators Denton and Hatfield have proposed legislation in the Congress on the whole question
of prohibiting discrimination against religious forms of student speech. Such
legislation could go far to restore freedom of religious speech for public school
students. And I hope the Congress considers these bills quickly. And with your help, I think it"s possible we could also
get the constitutional amendment through the Congress this year.
More than a decade ago, a Supreme Court decision literally wiped off the books of fifty states
statutes protecting the rights of unborn children. Abortion on demand now takes the lives of
up to one and a half million unborn children a year. Human life legislation ending this tragedy
will someday pass the Congress, and you and I must never rest until
it does. Unless and until it can be proven that the unborn child is not a living entity, then
its right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness must be protected.
You may remember that when abortion on demand began, many, and indeed, I"m sure many
of you, warned that the practice would lead to a decline in respect for human life, that the
philosophical premises used to justify abortion on demand would ultimately be used to justify
other attacks on the sacredness of human life infanticide or mercy killing. Tragically
enough, those warnings proved all too true. Only last year a court permitted the death by
starvation of a handicapped infant.
I have directed the Health and Human Services Department to make clear to
every health care facility in the United States that the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects all
handicapped persons against discrimination based on handicaps, including infants. And we have taken
the further step of requiring that each and every recipient of federal funds who provides health
care services to infants must post and keep posted in a conspicuous place a notice stating that
"discriminatory failure to feed and care for handicapped infants in this facility is prohibited by
federal law." It also lists a twentyfourhour. tollfree number so that nurses and others may
report violations in time to save the infant"s life.
In addition, recent legislation introduced by in the Congress by Representative Henry Hyde
of Illinois not only increases restrictions on publicly financed abortions, it also addresses this
whole problem of infanticide. I urge the Congress to begin hearings and to adopt legislation
that will protect the right of life to all children, including the disabled or handicapped.
Now, I"m sure that you must get discouraged at times, but there you"ve done better than you
know, perhaps. There"s a great spiritual awakening in America, a renewal of the traditional
values that have been the bedrock of America"s goodness and greatness.
One recent survey by a Washingtonbased research council concluded that Americans were far
more religious than the people of other nations. 95 percent of those surveyed expressed a
belief in God and a huge majority believed the Ten Commandments had real
meaning in their lives. And another study has found that an overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of
adultery, teenage sex, pornography, abortion, and hard drugs. And this same study showed a
deep reverence for the importance of family ties and religious belief.
I think the items that we"ve discussed here today must be a key part of the nation"s political
agenda. For the first time the Congress is openly and seriously debating and dealing with the
prayer and abortion issues and that"s enormous progress right there. I repeat: America is in
the midst of a spiritual awakening and a moral renewal. And with your biblical keynote, I say
today, "Yes, let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a neverfailing
stream."
Now, obviously, much of this new political and social consensus I"ve talked about
is based on a positive view of American history, one that takes pride in our country"s accomplishments
and record. But we must never forget that no government schemes are going to perfect
man.
We know that living in this world means dealing with what philosophers would call the
phenomenology of evil or, as theologians would put it, the doctrine of sin.
There is sin and evil in the world, and we"re enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to
oppose it with all our might. Our nation, too, has a legacy of evil with which it must
deal. The glory of this land has been
its capacity for transcending the moral evils of our past. For
example, the long struggle of minority citizens for equal rights, once a source of disunity and
civil war is now a point of pride for all Americans. We must never go back. There is no room
for racism, antiSemitism, or other forms of ethnic and racial hatred in this country.
I know that you"ve been horrified, as have I, by the resurgence of some hate groups
preaching bigotry and prejudice. Use the mighty voice of your pulpits and the powerful
standing of your churches to denounce and isolate these hate groups in our midst. The
commandment given us is clear and simple: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
But whatever sad episodes exist in our past, any objective observer must
hold a positive view of American history, a history that has been
the story of hopes fulfilled and dreams made into
reality. Especially in this century, America has kept alight the torch of freedom, but not just
for ourselves but for millions of others around the world.
And this brings me to my final point today. During my first press conference as president, in
answer to a direct question, I pointed out that, as good MarxistLeninists,
the Soviet leaders have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is that which will
further their cause, which is world revolution. I think I
should point out I was only quoting Lenin, their guiding spirit, who said in 1920 that they repudiate all morality that proceeds from supernatural ideas that"s their name for religion or ideas that are outside class
conceptions. Morality is entirely subordinate to the interests of class war. And everything is
moral that is necessary for the annihilation of the old, exploiting social order and for uniting
the proletariat.
Well, I think the refusal of many influential people to accept this elementary fact of Soviet
doctrine illustrates a historical reluctance to see totalitarian powers for what
they are. We saw this phenomenon in the 1930s. We see it
too often today.
This doesn"t mean we should isolate ourselves and refuse to seek an understanding with
them. I intend to do everything I can to persuade them of our peaceful intent, to remind them
that it was the West that refused to use its nuclear monopoly in the forties and fifties for
territorial gain and which now proposes 50 percent cut in strategic ballistic missiles and the
elimination of an entire class of landbased, intermediaterange nuclear missiles.
At the same time, however, they must be made to understand we will never compromise our
principles and standards. We will never give away our freedom. We will
never abandon our belief in God. And we will
never stop searching for a genuine peace. But we can assure none
of these things America stands for through the socalled
nuclear freeze solutions proposed by some.
The truth is that a freeze now would be a very dangerous fraud, for that is merely the illusion
of peace. The reality is that we must find peace through strength.
I would agree to a freeze if only we could freeze the Soviets" global desires. A freeze at
current levels of weapons would remove any incentive for the Soviets to
negotiate seriously in Geneva and virtually end our chances to achieve the major arms reductions which we have
proposed. Instead, they would achieve their objectives through the freeze.
A freeze would reward the Soviet Union for its enormous and unparalleled military buildup. It
would prevent the essential and long overdue modernization of United States and allied
defenses and would leave our aging forces increasingly vulnerable.
And an honest freeze would require extensive prior negotiations on
the systems and numbers to be limited and on
the measures to ensure effective verification and compliance. And the kind of a freeze that
has been suggested would be virtually impossible to verify. Such a major effort would divert
us completely from our current negotiations on achieving substantial reductions.
A number of years ago, I heard a young father, a very prominent
young man in the entertainment world, addressing a tremendous
gathering in California. It was during the time
of the cold war, and communism and our own way of life were very much on people"s minds.
And he was speaking to that subject.
And suddenly, though, I heard him saying, "I love my little girls more than anything." And I
said to myself, "Oh, no, don"t. You can"t don"t say that."
But I had underestimated him. He went on: "I would rather see my little girls die now. still believing in
God, than have them
grow up under communism and one day die no longer believing in God."
There were thousands of young people in that audience. They came to their feet with shouts
of joy. They had instantly recognized the profound truth
in what he had said, with regard to
the physical and the soul and what was truly important.
Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness. Pray
they will discover the joy of knowing God.
But until they do, let us be aware that while they
preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict
its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil
in the modern world.
It was C.S. Lewis who, in his unforgettable Screw Tape Letters, wrote: "The greatest evil
is not done now in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint. It is not even done in
concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But
it is conceived and ordered. moved, seconded, carried and minuted in clear,
carpeted, warmed, and welllighted offices, by quiet
men with white collars and cut fingernails and smoothshaven cheeks who do
not need to raise their voice."
Well, because these quiet men do not raise their voices, because they sometimes speak in
soothing tones of brotherhood and peace, because, like other dictators before them, they"re
always making "their final territorial demand," some would have us accept them at their word
and accommodate ourselves to their aggressive impulses. But if history teaches anything,
it teaches that simpleminded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It
means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.
So, I urge you to speak out against those who would place the United States in a position of
military and moral inferiority. You know, I"ve always believed that old Screw Tape reserved his
best efforts for those of you
in the Church. So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I
urge you to beware the temptation of pride the temptation of blithely declaring
yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and
the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant
misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong
and good and evil.
I ask you to resist the attempts of those who would have you withhold your support
for our efforts, this administration"s efforts, to keep America strong and free, while we negotiate real
and verifiable reductions in the world"s nuclear arsenals and one day, with
God"s help, their total elimination.
While America"s military strength is important, let me add here that
I"ve always maintained that the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by
armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one. at root, it
is a test of moral will and faith.
Whittaker Chambers, the man whose own religious conversion made him a witness to one of
the terrible traumas of our time, the HissChambers case, wrote that
the crisis of the Western world exists to the degree in which the West
is indifferent to God, the degree to which it collaborates in communism"s attempt to make man
stand alone without God. And then he said, for MarxismLeninism is actually the secondoldest
faith, first proclaimed in the Garden of Eden with the words of temptation, "Ye shall
be as gods."
The Western world can answer this challenge,
he wrote, "but only provided that its faith in God and the freedom He enjoins is as great as communism"s faith
in Man."
I believe we shall rise to the challenge.
I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last last pages even
now are being written. I believe this because the source of our strength in the quest
for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it
must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow man. For in the
words of Isaiah: "He giveth power to the faint. and to them that have no might
He increased strength. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. they shall
mount up with wings as eagles. they shall run, and not be weary. "
Yes, change your world. One of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine,
said, "We have it within our power to begin the world over again." We can do it, doing together what no one church
could do by itself.
God bless you and thank you
very much.
英语演讲23. Ronald Reagan - Evil Empire
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