Nothing less than whether or not we are witnessing the decline and fall of the American republic is the focus of a conference this weekend featuring scholar and author Paul Kengor.
The 2018 Catholic Classical Studies Conference, initiated by a group called Catholics Who Homeschool, will be held at King's College in New York City on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Registration is available online.
The conference annually looks at education, vocation, history and the arts from the viewpoint of the classical Catholic tradition. But the organizers say that while it may be an event organized by Catholics, "the civic, social and political issues that we face as Americans are now too profound to ignore."
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Based on his book "Dupes: How America's Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century," Kengor will focus on how communists and radical secular progressives have "successfully misled, manipulated, and duped many good, traditional Americans and Christians over the last century."
The title of this year's conference is "Dreaming Up A New America: The Decline and Fall of the American Republic?"
"The far left has been remarkably adept at doing this, including by cynically peddling slogans like 'peace' and 'tolerance' and 'social justice,' often dishonestly," Kengor told WND.
In a breakout session, Kengor, a political science professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, will talk about the remarkable history of the church's successful confrontations with communism and socialism.
Among Kengor's other books are "Takedown: From Communists to Progressives: How the Left Has Sabotaged Family and Marriage" and "The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism."
He hopes that those who attend will be informed and inspired by "some of the crucial, lost history that remains very relevant to this day."
"The radical left continues to mislead and hoodwink -- and dupe -- trusting, caring Christians who don’t know when and how they’re being targeted and exploited," Kengor said.
He noted the scriptural exhortation to be "gentle as doves but wise as serpents," and the warning in 2 Timothy 4: 3-4 that "the time will come when people … will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths."
"That has happened for a long time now," he said. "Some of the worst damage done within Christian churches has come from innocent, trusting Christians ignorant and unaware of those non-Christians seek to prey upon them."
Among the other speakers at the conference Saturday is Terry Jeffrey of CNS News.