When I first really started seriously following politics in the 1990's, I heard a lot about "family values." That phrase was a talking point from the 1980's and the "Moral Majority" through the next decade. It sounded great, but that movement failed. "Family values" failed because it was based on nothing: "Family values" is a nebulous concept that lacks a substantive foundation. What the "family values" movement wanted was not family values, but Christian values.

Unfortunately, Christian leaders were too "woke" to say that explicitly. They wanted to be "inclusive" or were afraid of backlash from cultural elites. Too many of them tried to keep culture war battles secular, with some references to Christianity thrown in as seasoning. While it is true that strong families are the foundation of any strong nation, the foundation of strong families is a commitment to God. Not making Christian values the foundation of "family values" is why cultural conservatives lost and keep losing battle after battle.

The era of "family values" is over, and Christian conservatives who pushed for "family values" should do everything they can to keep it that way. By making secular "family values" the goal, we leave our most powerful weapon off the battlefield. That weapon is the Word of God. Having a Scriptural foundation for what we believe makes everything clear. It gives us a solid standard and solid, achievable goals. "Family values" does none of that.

We have lost a great deal culturally, but there is no reason we cannot bring this nation back to submission to God and His Law. Obviously, we should pray for revival, and God can certainly send that to this broken nation. But the culture war is ultimately fought by building Christian homes and churches, evangelizing the lost, and being salt and light. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the failed "family values" movement. We can only fight for Christian values.