The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church, the fourth largest cathedral in the world, and unfinished. Begun in 1892, it is more exhibition hall than gathering for Christians. Given the rate of decline of the Episcopal Church, once called the Republican Party at prayer, it can safely be written that the last Episcopalian has been born in the United States.
Like other progressive denominations, the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ, and others went searching for relevance in the present age and left behind Christendom. They are now the most rapidly declining church denominations in the United States. In 1998, Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote "Why Christianity Must Change or Die," and every theologically progressive denomination that embraced change has begun dying. In 2000, the average national Sunday attendance of the Episcopal Church was 856,579 congregants. By 2030, attendance is projected to be 350,000.
Often attributed to historian Robert Conquest but definitely connected to Margaret Thatcher's former speechwriter and National Review editor-at-large John O'Sullivan, Sullivan's First Law (perhaps Conquest's second law) states, "All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing." Combine O'Sullivan's law with Rudolf Clausius' statement on the second law of thermodynamics: "The energy of the universe is constant. The entropy of the universe tends to a maximum," which means the universe heads to disorder. We get a picture of institutions which, when not led by those committed to the founding orthodoxy, head slowly to disordered irrelevance. That, unfortunately, leads me to the Heritage Foundation.
In 1993, at the Fraser Institute, Margaret Thatcher raised one of her favorite quotes: "There go my people. I must find out where they are going so that I can lead them." She then said, "Well, we didn't start that way. We knew where we were going, we knew the reason why, and we were prepared to persevere until the policies showed good results. The other thing that I find, is that your commentators are all sold on the idea that politics is the art of the possible. Now my friends, if you take that view in any sphere of life, you will soon lower your sights as to what is possible."
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The Iron Lady, for whom the Heritage Foundation has a floor in her honor, would undoubtedly be as perplexed by the institution's recent behavior as I am.
The Heritage Foundation claims its "mission is to formulate and promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." It seems embracing the populist zeitgeist of the right is more its mission now.
The Heritage Foundation is openly advocating for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is both pro-abortion and pro-national health care. Kennedy is a support of aggressive government, not limited government. He is not a champion of individual freedom but has long favored a robust nanny state. He is anathema to traditional American values. He is, after all, a Kennedy.
But we are in a populist moment with a populist President, and the Heritage Foundation seems to want a seat at the table more than to guide conservative orthodoxy when it is out of favor. Its people have gone to populism, so it must find out where they are going so that it can lead.
Ed Feulner, the first Heritage Foundation President, is the man who explained worldview to me as a young conservative and why it matters in those we place into positions of authority. The Apostle Paul himself admonished early Christians not to place new converts into positions of power. The Heritage Foundation seems to think Kennedy is a new convert, to which they should listen to Paul. But Kennedy's worldview is anathema to Heritage's printed mission, to which they should defer to Feulner.
Sadly, the Heritage Foundation seems to have deferred to entropy and O'Sullivan's law. St. John the Divine, last year, allowed in tightrope walkers -- staging a circus to be relevant to the present age. One must wonder if the Heritage Foundation can so easily abandon its convictions for fleeting populism, how soon it will be that the rest of the circus follows in behind the clowns.
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