How to Stop the Seismic Cultural Shift Threatening the Next Generation

America is facing a moral and cultural crisis like never before. In his new book, Fault Line:  How a Seismic Shift in Culture is Threatening Free Speech and Shaping the Next Generation, author and journalist Billy Hallowell explores the battle being waged against our foundation through the mainstream media, the entertainment industry and the educational system. He also offers practical steps for all Christians to take and provides advice on how to respond to these growing problems. Hallowell joined Glenn Wednesday on radio for a lively discussion.

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

GLENN:  I'm going to look something up here.  I'm looking -- I'm reading Billy Holloway's book Fault Line.  And he says how to be able to solve this, one, you have to be informed.  I think we're informed on this story.

PAT:  Yes.

JEFFY:  We are.

PAT:  I think so.

GLENN:  Then don't tell me what you believe, live what you believe.  What are your values and beliefs?

PAT:  Okay.

JEFFY:  We put on the red, white, and blue flag.  We believe in America, amen.

GLENN:  Okay.  Got to make sure you're living it.  

PAT:  Right.

GLENN:  So the people that were wearing the red, white, and blue, they were living what they believe.  It wasn't about -- it was team spirit for their school.  Why is it that somebody else is -- why is there a problem here?  Most likely because people on the other side took offense.  That was coming from them.  Not from the other side.

PAT:  Right.

GLENN:  They took offense to it because they weren't informed on the subject.  They didn't know these guys did this all the time.  And they're not living their principles of, I am a refugee from a very oppressed place, and I'm coming to the United States for shelter.

PAT:  And the United States is taking me in.  So I should enjoy seeing those --

GLENN:  Hello.  I'm grateful that I live in a place with diversity.

PAT:  Yeah.  How about the fact that I'm at a basketball game looking at other students wearing red, White, and blue, rather than I'm looking out the window at an ISIS fighter slicing the head off of somebody?  How about that?

GLENN:  All right.  All right.  All right.  All right.  Okay.  I got it.  

Let me -- can I get Billy Hallowell on?  

Billy Hallowell has a new book called Fault Line:  How a Seismic Shift in Culture is Threatening Free Speech and Shaping the Next Generation.

This is really important to pay attention to.  Because the facts and figures in this book are accurate.  And they are going to fundamentally transform us.  Billy, welcome to the program.

BILLY:  Hey, thanks for having me.  

GLENN:  So let's go to -- you talk about in the book, you say, you know, one of the biggest faults we have -- and I don't want to misquote you, but basically that it is the line between being tolerant and being relative.  And we have slid into moral relativism, where we need to be tolerant, but it has been used against us.  How do we -- first, give me the facts or the stats on this.  And then tell me how to fix that.

BILLY:  Yeah, we've got over half of the country saying that it's up to cultures to figure out what they think is moral.  Right?  So there's this baseline of morality that's completely gone.  I mean, the majority of us are saying, oh, you just have to decide for yourself what you believe to be true.  And that's specifically true with millennials.  Fifty-one percent of millennials believe that truth is relative.  So you have a big problem there.  

And so that's sort of the starting point.  How do we fix it?  Well, you've got to acknowledge the problem first, which is that the Hollywood content we've seen, media universities, all three of those have really reshaped the culture.  We've allowed that to happen.  And we've allowed that to happen because so many of us have disengaged.  

So my big solution to this, and this is from a 30,000 foot level in fault line is that we've got to get engaged.  We have to make good Hollywood content.  We have to make -- you know, get involved in media.  We've got to be professors.  We've got to be out there.  People who are Christians, conservatives, people who are complaining -- you know, it's great to complain, but what are you going to do to fix the problem?

PAT:  Yeah, we got to -- we have to make an impact in the culture.  It's interesting that you note in the book, Billy, that 35 percent of millennials have no faith whatsoever.  They're atheist or agnostics.  Is it 35 percent?

BILLY:  So that number, in fact -- and it's crazy because every two years, you know, a new study will come out.  It was 2015 that Pew first came out saying it was about 34, 35 percent.

PAT:  Wow.

BILLY:  Now we've got a poll out saying it's about 39 percent.  Now, those people are -- and here's sort of the hope.  They're atheist, agnostic, or just unaffiliated.  And the biggest chunk are unaffiliated.  

But those are the people who we're going to lose, right?  If we don't go out there and bring the message to them, we're going to totally lose them.  

But the hope is, hey, they're not agnostic, they're not atheist.  They believe in something.  But because of this chaos that we've created in culture and that we've allowed, they're just not sure what that is.  So would he give you to get that message to them.

GLENN:  But, Billy, I think the churches are approaching -- most of the churches -- many of the churches are approaching these things all wrong.  They're still coming at it with the -- with the -- with the same style of message.  The message has to remain true.  But the same style of message.  And if -- if it's not the same style, it's just the -- the same kind of almost judgmental message.  Except now it has, you know, fog machines and -- and rock bands behind it.  People are not -- millennials are not interested in talk.  They're interested in, show me the results.  Do it.

BILLY:  Absolutely.  And so we've got a lot of Christian actors, which is great, right?  A lot of Christian journalists, which is wonderful.  But we need actors who are Christian, directors who are Christian.  I mean, look at Hacksaw Ridge.  Look at some of these films that tell really good stories.  And I think Christian moviemaking is great.  God's Not Dead.  All that is fine.  If you want to preach to the choir, that's great.  But that is not going to solve this problem.  We have got -- I know you've talked about this a lot over the years.  We have got to get engaged.

And I think the whole point here, you know, with this book is to show the problem, right?  These numbers -- you mention the statistics.  A lot of us don't know.  We kind of have a feeling that Hollywood is off.  The media is off.  Universities are off.  We see these anecdotal examples.  But we don't really have the data.  

And I wanted to really put that data out there and sort of show that there's this triangular dominance and sort of what I call this progressive privilege that has existed in these areas for too long.  And, yes, we've got to complain about that, like I said.  But we have to figure out how to tell the stories and do it in a way that reaches people and shows them, not just tells them, the message.

STU:  There was a video that came out, it went viral, Billy, right after the -- after the election, that I saw a lot of people posting.  And it was -- you know, a lot of the left was kind of coming out and saying, how could this have happened, Donald Trump won.  Here's a guy who, you know, said he was going to grab women in ways and look how crass he is.  How is this -- the culture allow this.  The culture is getting so much more crass.

And this person pointed out, hey, wait a minute.  Have you guys noticed that every piece of our culture -- forget the president -- every piece of our culture has become more and more crass over a long period of time, and it's been cheered on by the left.

And you really go through that in the book, in that the development -- as we've gone through on television and movies, has become much more advanced to that -- the anti-faith sort of side.  And many people haven't even noticed it.

BILLY:  Well, and that's why, you've got to look at the numbers, from like 2007, 2002, to 2014 and 2016.  When you look at what Gallup has measured and others have measured.  I mean, moral acceptability on so many issues.  

Even -- even polygamy, you go down the line, it's insane, because of the relativism, what people are now willing to accept.  We've got, you know, 67 percent of the country saying that having a baby, you know, outside of marriage is morally acceptable.  Seventy-two percent, saying divorce is morally acceptable.  

And these numbers have changed dramatically, even within the last decade, decade and a half.  And we have been pushing -- we have allowed this to be pushed out.  We haven't been effective in our messaging.  

And I think, you know, Fault Line really kind of leaves people convicted a little bit.  And I hope, you know, it has us thinking, how can we do this?  Not all of us can be directors, actors, you know, professors.  But, you know, we have to figure out how -- how we can at least encourage people, good people who have their values in check, to enter into these arenas.

GLENN:  I have to tell you though, Billy, the answer really is living it ourself.

Look, Donald Trump -- you can blame Donald Trump on a lot of things if you want to talk just about him to the left.  You know, they try to, "Well, you take responsibility for him."  You know who Donald Trump is?  Donald Trump is the first Howard Stern president.  That's what he is.

PAT:  Hmm.

GLENN:  He's a guest on Howard Stern that loved Howard Stern.  Played hard.  And we all laughed.  And we all thought it was great.  And some stood against and said, "No, this is immoral.  This is wrong."  And those people were driven out of society because they have sticks up their butt.  But this became the mainstream culture.

And, look, that's just how guys talk.  Yes, they do talk that way.  On Howard Stern.

And now we seem to have a problem.  The left does.  Because they don't -- they don't like that.

Well, okay.  But you -- you were fine with it.  You were totally fine with it in Hollywood.  If anyone dare says like clean films -- or clean pure flicks, whatever that is, where they want to edit and make things less crass, how dare you don't touch my art.

BILLY:  Well, they've created this environment.

GLENN:  Right.

BILLY:  They've created this very environment, which is so fascinating to me.  Everything that Donald Trump has represented and everything that both candidates represented in the general is basically what they have created.

And so they're kind of relishing in that and trying to figure out, you know, well, how did we get here?  Well, turn on prime time TV, and you'll figure out how we got here.  There's nothing you can watch with your kids outside of The Middle and maybe a couple of other shows.  So...

GLENN:  We tried to say that this is why character matters in the '90s when the women's organizations were defending Bill Clinton as just a rogue.

No, that's like saying what Donald Trump said, well, that's all the way men -- no.  If that is the way men behaved, men shouldn't behave that way.  Those are boys that behave that.  Men do not behave that way.  But it requires us to be consistent.  And I like this about your book.

You know, you talk about how most people can't even tell you what they believe.  95 percent of Christians, according to Billy in his book, cannot tell you what they believe.  Well, that's a real problem.

The first thing we need to do is figure out what we believe.  And then live it.

BILLY:  Absolutely.  Living it out.  That's the example we set, right?  So we've got to do that.  And we've got to encourage other people, particularly millennials, because that's the generation this most impacts.  Although, I'm sure the generation behind them will be hit even harder by this.  We've got to figure out how to have that presence.  But doing it by living it first, I think is the most important.  And that's what I encourage in Fault Line.  And people can get more information at HallowellFaultLineBook.com.  

GLENN:  Billy Hallowell.  The name of the book again is Fault Line.  Billy wrote for TheBlaze for a long time.  And I'm so proud of you.  And proud of your success and to see where you're going.  Thank you for everything you're doing.  Billy Hallowell.

BILLY:  Thank you, appreciate it.

GLENN:  The name of the book again is Fault Line.

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Glenn wrote this essay on September 12, 2001. Are we the same people now?

ED JONES / Contributor | Getty Images

Twenty two years ago today on September 12th, 2001, Glenn wrote an essay called "The Greatest American Generation." These were his visceral thoughts immediately following the 9/11 attacks. This beautiful essay calls upon the American spirit to rise to the occasion to pull us through what was one of the darkest days in our nation's history. He called us to unite around the common vision that unites us as Americans.

Yesterday, Glenn revisited this essay, wondering if we are the same people who could have pulled through that dark hour. Do you still believe the things that he wrote in this essay? Or have we become a people too divided to overcome a tragedy of the magnitude of 9/11? Consider these questions as you read Glenn's essay below, "The Greatest American Generation," published on September 12, 2001.

I've always believed that the greatest American generation is the one that's living, in the here and the now. The question is not if this is the greatest American generation. The question was when were we going to wake up? I remember staying at my grandparents' house in the summer when I was small. Every morning my grandmother would open the attic door and call up, "Kids, time to wake up." For me she'd have to do this a couple of times before I'd lumber out of bed and cross the cold, squeaky wooden floor. But finally, I would. And she'd be there in the kitchen ready with breakfast. My grandfather was already outside in the henhouse because there was work to do. They were hardworking, good and decent people. Seemed to me that they were from not only a different time but a different place. They weren't.

The spirit of our parents and our grandparents isn't from some foreign place. It hasn't died out. It's a flame that flickers in all Americans. It's there and it's ready to blaze to life when we're ready to face the challenges that now lie at our feet. It's what sets us apart. It's what built this country. It's why our borders still teem with the poor and the tired and those yearning to be free, burned with zeal in the hearts of millions of immigrants from every corner of the Earth who came here in search of a better way of life. The flame that Lady Liberty holds is the American spirit which burns deep within all of us, no matter what our race, gender, our religious background. And today the world is watching us. It's really nothing new. It always has.

Since the dawn of man people dreamt of a better life, dreamt of a better way, of freedom. But it was Americans that finally found a way to build it. And out of all that we've built, the powerful machines, the computers, the weapons of mass destruction, hardware and software that we spent millions on every year to protect and keep the plan secret, our biggest seeming secret, the one the world wants most of all, isn't a secret at all. It's something we freely give to the rest of the world. And while it seems self‑evident to us, for some reason it can't be duplicated. Yet it can be passed on from person to person, torch to torch. It's the American spirit.

If you weren't trapped in one of those towers or on a plane or in the Pentagon, then you have great reason to humbly give thanks today, not for our lives but because we're the lucky ones. God hasn't forsaken us. He's awakened us. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, he's gently called out, "Kids, it's time to wake up! We've been given another chance."

Thousands of years ago in Babel, the great civilization in their arrogance built a tower that reached the sky. It crumbled and they were scattered. Our heart and steely symbols of power and wealth may have crumbled, but we have not been scattered. Americans aren't ever going to scatter. Let the world recognize through our actions today that those firefighters in New York are not the exception. They are the rule. Americans don't run from burning buildings. We run into them. It was a beautiful fall morning on the edge of the land created through divine providence. Coffee shops were open. Children were on their buses and people easing into another typical workday when America's greatest generation heard the voice: "Kids, it's time to wake up."

Several times we've ignored the voice. We've drifted back into twilight sleep muttering, "I know, I know, in a minute." But finally we are awake and out of bed, for there is much work to do. The task before us is much more daunting than what our grandparents and parents faced, but we are stronger, a more prepared nation. The torch has been passed. We are the greatest American generation. The American spirit is alive and well. Our flame has not burned out. It had just been dimmed while we were asleep."

Remembering 9/11: A call to unify as Americans

Robert Giroux / Staff | Getty Images

Glenn often harkens back to September 11, 2001, as a pivotal day for the American spirit. When American Airlines Flight 11 hit the South Tower at 8:46 a.m. that sunny September morning in Manhattan, there was no question that September 11 would become one of the most consequential moments in American history. However, in that moment, the outcome of that day was yet to be determined.

How would September 11 be remembered in history textbooks? Would it be the beginning of the end of our Republic? Many thought so and for just reason. Our country was under attack. Planes hijacked by our enemy were headed towards the buildings that represented the institutions that comprise the fabric of our republic. If there was any day that called into question our nation's future, it was September 11.

New York City firefighters and a photojournalist work at Ground Zero after two hijacked planes crashed into the Twin TowersRon Agam / Stringer | Getty Images

But the American spirit had a different narrative in mind. Instead of caving to the narrative that the hijackers attempted to write, the American people rose to the occasion that duty beckoned. As Glenn wrote in an essay the day after the September 11 attacks, "Americans don't run from burning buildings. We run into them." And we did. Many remained there as their final burial place.

The American people rose to the occasion that duty beckoned.

As New York Governor Pataki remarked, "On that terrible day, a nation became neighbors." We weren't Democrats. We weren't Republicans. On that day, we were Americans. We chose to write a different narrative in the history books following 9/11, one of resilience, bravery, brotherhood, and the triumph of the American spirit.

As Glenn so poignantly wrote on September 12th:

The spirit of our parents and our grandparents isn't from some foreign place. It hasn't died out. It's a flame that flickers in all Americans.

And that flickering light turned into a roaring fire on that pivotal day, one that not even the fires in the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, or the empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania could consume.

We chose to write a different narrative in the history books following 9/11, one of resilience, bravery, brotherhood, and the triumph of the American spirit.

But can we say the same about the American people today? Do we still carry the flickering flame of the American spirit that has been passed down to us from generations past? As Glenn reflected today, 22 years after penning those words, he isn't so sure. And I'm not either.

A candlelight vigil for the victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attack is held at Union Square in New York City.Evan Agostini / Contributor | Getty Images

The same American spirit that we relied upon to pull us through September 11 seems to be a waning flame in a torch that few are clinging to. We are increasingly losing sight of what it means to be an American. Common principles that we traditionally shared across party lines are now being vehemently contested, both by the ruling class and in the public square. This is not the same America that triumphed over September 11.

We are increasingly losing sight of what it means to be an American.

This raises the troubling question: Could we endure another attack of a similar magnitude? Would the triumph of the American spirit dictate the narrative of that day, or would a foreign enemy steal the pen from liberty's fingers? These are the tough questions we must wrestle with in our pivotal moment as a nation.

But these questions aren't devoid of hope. There is still time to recall those timeless principles that transcended party lines on September 11 and united us as Americans. There is still time to nurse the waning flame for those who are committed to holding liberty's torch. There is still time to view our political opponents as, in the words of Pataki, "neighbors," whose livelihood and future depend on the survival of our great nation.

There is still time to recall those timeless principles that transcended party lines on September 11.

But that window is short. We must strive towards unity now if our nation hopes to, as Lincoln said in his own time of division, "endure."

As Glenn wrote in that essay on September 12, 2001, we must be, "awake and out of bed, for there is much work to do. [...] Our flame has not burned out. It had just been dimmed while we were asleep."

Acouple cary the American flag down a lower-Manhattan street a week after the September 11 attacksRichard Baker / Contributor | Getty Images

Flames cannot flicker forever. If they are not nursed, they will flicker out, leaving darkness in its wake. It's time to wake up. We must be attentive and awake, nursing the remnant of liberty's flame until it is blazing like it did 22 years ago today. We cannot let it die on our watch. Too many people have sacrificed too much for us to drop the torch.

Is your wallet ON FIRE? You can thank Bidenomics for that.

Biden has been touting the alleged success of his economic plan. But why are 61 percent of U.S. consumers living paycheck to paycheck? In Wednesday's Glenn TV episode, Glenn showed you all the ways that the Biden admin has been skewing economic figures in their favor to boost their PR campaign. But one thing is for certain: the Biden admin's reckless spending continues to drive up inflation. You feel this every time you go to the grocery store or fill up your car with gas.

What's worse? The Biden admin doesn't even factor in groceries and gas into their inflation rate! Don't be fooled when they boast that they've brought interest rates down. The prices of products the average American consumes every day remain nearly doubled to what it was under the Trump admin.

See for yourself. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the most popular grocery items priced under the Trump admin and the Biden admin.

Cost of 1 Dozen Eggs

Price of 1lb. Ground Beef

Price of 1lb. Chicken

Price of 1 Gallon of Milk

Price of 1 Liter of Soda

Price of 1 Loaf of Bread