Attacks on Christianity
from the 1960 and 1970s
Attacks on Christianity
from the 1960 and 1970s
• Christianity is under attack today from many
forces on many fronts
• We are commanded to “go ye therefore and teach
all nations” (Matt. 28:19-20, KJV)
• We are to put on the whole “armor of God”
• If you are engaged in spiritual warfare, you must
know your enemy and be prepared for battle
• The church of Jesus Christ is under assault and
many people merely sit in the pews and seats and
never do anything, virtually “denying” Christ
almost as badly as Peter did and more than 3
times
The “God is Dead” Movement
• Late 1960s attack on the Church and the US
beginning with the “God is dead” movement
• The concept of “God is dead” originally came
from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
who spoke in his parable of “The Madman”
who is searching for God. Nietzsche is quoted
from his work, The Gay Science:
• He accused all people of being murderers of
God, in saying “’Wither is God?’ he cried; ‘I
will tell you. We have killed him – you and I.
All of us are his murderers…”
• He also said “Gods, too, decompose. God is
dead. He remains dead. And we have killed
him”
Even “Christians” Pushed
the “God is Dead” Movement
• Time Magazine came out with an article about a
new movement even in supposed “Christian”
circles and churches in October 22, 1965.
• Thomas J.J. Altizer, 38, Associate Professor of
Religion from at Emory University in Atlanta, a
“Methodist” school, said “We must recognize
that the death of God is a historical event: God
has died in our time, in our history, in our
existence.”
“Is God Dead?”
• Time Magazine
put the following cover story
and cover in their April 8, 1996
issue saying “Is God Dead?”
• Later on in time, the counterculture movement taught that
God is dead and took God out
of the schools, public life
• We are paying the price for it
now
Attack with Drugs on Youth
• Time, in the September 26, 1969
issue, talked about drugs and the
young who were using
marijuana, heroin and major
hallucinogens such as LSD
• LSD especially was pushed by
Harvard professor Timothy Leary
to students and others; he said:
“My advice to people today is as
follows: If you take the game of life
seriously, if you take your nervous
system seriously, if you take your sense
organs seriously, if you take the energy
process seriously, you must turn on,
tune in, and drop out.“
Timothy Leary and Drugs/Religion
• On September 19, 1966, Leary tried
unsuccessfully to main legal status for LSD by
creating a new religion called the “League for
Spiritual Discovery”
• Another group related but not started by Leary
was the Brotherhood of Eternal Love that said
smoking “marijuana” and “acid” (LSD) were
sacraments of their church; they started a
distribution network and especially created the
legendary “Orange Sunshine” (LSD)
• He published a pamphlet in 1967 called “Start
Your Own Religion” to encourage people to do so
Timothy Leary and Drugs/Religion
• About the group, the Brotherhood of Eternal
Love, Leary said the following:
“The whole concept of the Brotherhood of
Eternal Love is like a bogeyman invented by the
narcs. The brotherhood was about eight surfer
kids from Southern California, Laguna Beach,
who took the LSD, and they practiced the religion
of the worship of nature, and they’d go into the
mountains. But they were not bigshots at all.
None of them ever drove anything better than a
VM bus. They were just in it for the spiritual
thrill.”
Timothy Leary and Drugs/Religion
• On January 14, 1967, Leary spoke at the “Human
Be-In”, 30,000 “hippies” gathering at Golden Gate
Park in San Francisco
• Leary wrote an essay called “The Seven Tongues
of God” that claimed the human mind and
nervous system consisted of seven circuits that
produce seven levels of consciousness, but then
was expanded to an eight circuit.
• Leary said that to get to the top four circuits, or
“gears” you need to do yoga or LSD
• His ideas in part were developed with a Hindu
“holy man” or “guru” (similar to gnostic teacher)
Albert Hoffman – Inventor of LSD
• On his 100th birthday, Albert Hoffman
met at a conference entitled “LSD:
Problem Child and Wonder Drug” at an
International Symposium
• Hoffman said at his birthday, “SD
wanted to tell me something. It gave
me an inner joy, an open mindedness,
a gratefulness open eyes and an
internal sensitivity for the miracles of
creation.”
• He also said, “When you study natural
science and the miracles of creation, if
you don’t turn into a mystic, you are
not a natural scientist.”
Attacks through Music/Drug Culture
on Christianity
• Jimi Hendrix first album was “Are You
Experienced?”
• Acid rock guitarist Hendrix, was originally part
of a group called “The Doors” in honor of
Aldous Huxley’s essay “The Doors of
Perception” that said that mescalin and
lysergic acid were “drugs with unique
distinction” that were to be exploited for their
‘supernaturally brilliant’ visionary experience
• In “Voodoo Chile”, the lyrics of the song say:
“He (an eagle) took me past to the outskirts of
infinity, and when he brought me back, he gave
me a Venus witch’s ring and he said fly on, fly
on, because I’m in a voodoo chile . . .”
Aldous Huxley Influence on
Drug Counter-Culture
• Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World and
was the grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley
who was called “Darwin’s bulldog”
• Huxley was to appear on the sleeve of the
Beatle’s “Sergeant Pepper” Album
• Aldous Huxley who associated with Hollywood
movie stars, said, “All gods are homemade,
and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give
them the power to pull ours.”
• Huxley was pushed the usage of drugs and
LSD as part of his “religion”
Jimi Hendrix and Others
Died from Drug Overdose
• Hendrix burned his guitar after a concert and
said ”it was like a sacrifice. . . You sacrifice the
things you love”
• Famous acid rockers Brian Jones, Janis Joplin,
and Jim Morrison all died at age 27
• They died within months of each other
• All of them including Jimi Hendrix died of drug
overdose, leading to a rash of major music and
entertainment stars since then dying from drugs
• Jimi Hendrix second album, Bold as
Love, displays Jimi as two Vedic gods
with the multiple hands of Durga and
his band as avatars of Vishnu
The Beatles, Drugs and
Eastern Religions
• More attacks came from the movement towards
Eastern religions, especially as pushed by the
Beatles and other rock groups.
• John Lennon offered his infamous opinion that
Christianity was dying and that the Beatles were
“more popular than Jesus”
• The Beatles encouraged the seeking of gurus
(similar to the gnostic teachers), Transcendental
Meditation (opened mind to evil spirits), and
Eastern philosophies, even mocking Jesus
Christ
The Beatles, Drugs and
Eastern Religions
• The Beatles opening pushed drugs including in
many of their songs
• Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was “LSD”
• Bridge over Troubled Waters talks about
“silver girl” – street slang for a drug needle
• Strawberry Fields Forever is about a drug trip
• With a Little Help from My Friends – “I get high
with a little help from my friends”
• Hey Jude is street slang for heroin – “the
minute you let it under your skin, then you
begin to make it feel better”
• The Beatles studied TM in 1968 with a guru in
India
Aleister Crowley
• Aleister Crowley was a British occult writer and
drug experimenter
• At his wife’s instruction he performed an
invocation to the Egyptian god Horus (child of
Isis and Osiris) on March 20, 1904 that he said
he did with “great success”
• A “god” told him that a new magical Aeon had
begun and that Crowley would serve as its
prophet
• One of his precepts from “Thelema” was the
sovereignty of will: “Do what thou wilt shall be
the whole of the Law”
• Before WW II he said, “before Hitler was, I am”
Aleister Crowley and Rock Music
• Aleister Crowley was a major influence on many
bands including:
• Jim Morrison – Members of the Doors pose
with a bust of Aleister Crowley
• The Beatles – his photo is on the cover of the
Sergeant Pepper album cover
• Ozzie Osborne – song lyrics to “Mr. Crowley –
You fooled all the people with magic, you
waited on Satan’s call”
• Rolling Stones
• Led Zepellin – their song “Stairway to Heaven”
was about a Satanic occult ritual service
• And many, many others including Iron Maiden,
David Bowie, Sting, Daryl Hall, Marilyn Manson
Timothy Leary and Aleister Crowley
• Timothy Leary aid about Aleister Crowley:
• “I’ve been an admirer of Aleister Crowley. I
think that I’m carrying on much of the work
that he started over a hundred years ago. … He
was in favor of finding yourself, and ‘Do what
thou whilt shall be the whole of the law’ under
love. It was a very powerful statement. I’m
sorry he isn’t around now to appreciate the
glories he started” (Late Night America, Public
Broadcasting Network)
Origins of the “Peace” Sign
with a Broken Cross
• Neronic cross based on Peter’s crucifixion by
Nero upside down; also called “the broken cross”
• Used by Nazis on German death notices
• One former witch said that the broken cross “is
an ancient and powerful symbol of the Antichrist.
During the dark ages it was used in Druid
Witchcraft and by Satanists of all sorts”
• Anton LaVey used the peace symbol as the
backdrop for his altar
• The outer circle represents earth (waste and void
in Gen. 1:2) and the inner circle represents
witches/crows feet, designating “God” reaches
down which blasphemes the Holy Spirit
Attack on Public Schools
• Attacks in the public schools
• Teaching of evolution as a fact
in the early 1970s rather than
as a theory
• No references to creation
• Not allowing God or Jesus to
be spoken in public schools
due to the “separation of
church and state”; Time
Magazine cover, Dec. 9, 1991
• No singing of Christmas carols
or talking about what
Christmas means
Separation of Church and State
• Separation of church and state is NOT in the
Constitution
• Thomas Jefferson who was NOT a signer of the
Constitution wrote a letter to the Danbury
Baptist Church in Connecticut
• The concern was over there being only one
denomination controlling the US government
• However due to the fact that the first amendment
of the Bill of Rights protects freedom of religion
and freedom from religious oppression, there is a
movement to remove all Christian symbols from
work, from the public square and from
government buildings, especially led by the ACLU
The Attacks in the 60s and 70s
Affect Us Today
• Many people still are influenced by the “religion”
established in the late 1960s by Leary, Huxley and
various rock and movie stars
• The religion teaches the “Me” generation that
other how we feel is important rather than being
selfless and thinking of others
• The focus is on obtaining higher levels of druginduced states which ultimately destroys your
mind instead of “expanding your mind”
What can we do against the attacks
on the church?
• Share your faith with others
• Support Christian organizations that are fighting
for our rights as Christians against the forces that
want to take Christianity out of the public square,
out of schools, and out of government
• Voice your beliefs to many others
• Exercise your right to vote for issues based on
your faith in God and on principles in the Bible
• Write and call your elected officials and others to
let them know where you stand
• Be aware of issues in the world and in your
community today and take a stand for Jesus