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Constitutional Government and Free Enterprise – GOVT 200
Liberty University Online
Spring 2022 Semester
Scott Esterly
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This essay will explain how some facet of process philosophy has impacted our American
government and society regarding family and marriage. First, starting with what process
philosophy is and how it affected America. Next, review how our country was founded with a
Christian worldview and what this new philosophy brought to American society. Additionally,
looking at what the Bible says about family and marriage to understand better the Christian
worldview our founders started with and how to start transitioning back to it from where
America is today.
First is to look at how process philosophy became an idea and what it is. Before the
1800s, most philosophers and theologians centered their ideals around the supernatural. Meaning
the Bible was what most people allowed their thoughts and lives to be governed by. “This shift
was articulated in a very influential book by the German philosopher, Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-
1872), published in 1843, titled The Essence of Christianity” (Martin 2006). Feuerbach’s book
was focused on proving that Christianity and the Bible were just mythology of the supernatural.
The book had so much impact that an intellectual shift happened in the 1800s from France to
German states, causing a dramatic change in the education of the European region and the United
States. Until 1876, the United States institutions were able to grant terminal degrees through
John Hopkins University (which was modeled after German university). So, all the educators
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through most of the nineteenth century were learning the Feuerbach ideology of a non-existent
God, thus shifting “from an absolutist view to the process view, which comes to be known as
process philosophy” (Martin 2006). Before, the intelligence community believed that our world
and reality were based on constant and unchanging forces. “With the abandonment of the
supernatural, however, the conclusion was reached that there is nothing but change. Life and
existence are but a perpetual flux, a phenomenal flow, an endless stream, a chain of events, a
process of becoming” (Martin 2006). In other words, everything is changing around the world,
and humanity needs to be aware of such changes so that society can adapt as our reality changes.
Now let’s bring this to the American government and its impact on society concerning
family and marriage. The United States was founded on a Christianity worldview, and the
framers of the government built the documents that govern our country with this philosophy in
mind. The framers and settlers of this great nation came here with God’s plan for society and the
absolute philosophy as the basis for building a new country. That meant following what the Bible
says on family and marriage. “So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). “Therefore, a man shall leave his
father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
So, with these teachings from the Bible built strongly into the American society back then, this is
how the Christian worldview governed us until the mid-nineteenth century. Once Feuerbach’s
process philosophy came to the United States in the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth
century, our society changed. With our society and the failing marriages that have been so
prevalent in America and worldwide, people were looking for a change. These changes again
started with the family unit and marriages. As a society, we started looking for solutions to this
and created new types of family units. Single mothers and fathers trying to earn a living and
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provide for their children was not working. Our society started changing and having more
families building lives together from the broken pieces of previous marriages that didn’t work.
This trend started happening in the 1970s and has not improved until the most recent, on June 26,
2015. Primarily due to same-sex marriages becoming legal in the United States. “Despite the
overall long-term increase in divorce rates in America, more US residents were married in 2018
than in 1960. This may highlight the effect an increasing population has on the statistics on
marriage and divorce” (Vuleta 2021). This is mainly due to the process philosophy that America
and the rest of the world have accepted from the mid-1800s.
In summary, thought-out the centuries, this philosophy has been present in our daily lives
and as humanity looks to find a way to survive and thrive. The question is, does humanity's
survival mean separation from the Christian worldview that this great nation was built on, with
God at the foundation of it? The simple answer is no; humanity does not have to leave these
beliefs behind and create a worldview without God in it. Christians need to keep this worldview
as a part of American society and families, as God is the one true constant that this world should
always count on. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9 NIV). As Christians, we need to focus on what
Jesus said was most important, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like
it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments" (Mat 22:37-40 NIV).
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Bibliography:
BibleGateway. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2022, from
https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=Genesis&version=NIV
Martin, G. R. (2006). Prevailing worldviews of Western society since 1500. Triangle Publishing.
Vuleta, B. (2022, January 17). Divorce rate in America: 35 stunning stats for 2022. Divorce Rate
in America: 35 Stunning Stats for 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from
https://legaljobs.io/blog/divorce-rate-in-america/
