Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Why "Revolution?"

A revolution is seen by many today as a large-scale overwhelming revolt against conservative libertarian policies. What is a real revolution, and why is its name included in the name of this site?

A real revolution is a return to the old principles. It occurs when a society veers away from its heritage, only to return or "revolve." This term has been hijacked by Communists or socialists in the last century, and has begun to mean a fight for completely new ideas. A revolution does not mean an evolution. It means a turn-around.

Worldviews Revolution uses the word "revolution" in the same sense as the Founding Fathers did for theirs: a return to freedom and the rule of Law.


-R. Josiah Magnuson, Managing Editor

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Merriam-Webster disagrees with you on the definition of that word.

Revolution, noun: a sudden, radical, or complete change

b: a fundamental change in political organization; especially the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed

c: activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation

d: a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something : a change of paradigm (the Copernican revolution)

e: a changeover in use or preference especially in technology (the computer revolution) (the foreign car revolution)

SYNONYM: rebellion

The dictionary is clear that revolution in the sense of returning to one's original point is correct only when discussing how things move in the physical world.

R. Josiah Magnuson said...

Thank you for the comment! I appreciate people who are willing to research things out.

I realize that "revolution" is taken today as a rebellion or revolt. Unfortunatly, it has apparently gone so far that now the Merriam-Webster uses this as the only definition.

However, I am looking right now at our family dictionary. It is a World Book Dictionary from as recent as 1967. Its #3 definition for "revolution" is "movement in a circle or curve around some point." Its #5 definition is "a complete cycle or series of events."

Based on a number of statements from not only the Founding Fathers but also British dignitaries like Edmund Burke, the American colonists were fighting to preserve their traditional liberties and free culture. Their "revolution" was a fight to defend their way of life.

But in a sense what this site encourages is indeed "a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something: a change of paradigm." The change is from Evolutionary relativism and despotic whims to freedom in Christ, and can only be effected at an individual level.

These are the Revolution we proclaim.