--- id: 20210705_equality_act_french_revolution title: BLOG - The Equality Act a French Revolution category: Biblical Life Counsel predicted_narrative_arc: cultural-warning-to-biblical-remedy sentiment: Convictional emotions: - Concerned - Discerning - Challenging keypoints: - Dean introduces Dr. Jim Denison's July 5, 2021 cultural analysis for readers - Denison compares today's secular ideology to the French Revolution's war on public religion - Andrew Sullivan's "successor ideology" is cited as aiming to replace liberal democracy and Christian morality - The Equality Act is named as one symptom of rising secularism treated with religious zeal - Jeremiah 2:13 frames forsaking God for broken cisterns as the spiritual diagnosis summary: > Dean Rush points readers to Dr. Jim Denison's July 5, 2021 essay comparing today's secular "successor ideology" to the French Revolution's attempt to erase public religion. Through Denison's citations of Andrew Sullivan and Wesley Yang, the post warns that movements which treat biblical morality as oppressive function like a secular religion — and closes with Jeremiah 2:13 on forsaking the fountain of living waters for broken cisterns that hold no water. tags: - blog - human-resources - equality-act - french-revolution - jim-denison - successor-ideology - secularism - jeremiah-2 - living-water - dean-rush sycophancy: 0 truth_score: 8 entropy: 4 sample: false consent: owner_approved agent: blog created: '2021-07-05' updated: '2026-09-09T00:00:00Z' vault_stage: 07_CODEX headwaters: BLOG prefix: BLOG enrich_status: ok enrich_blockers: [] enrich_method: manual pipeline_filename: BLOG_2021-07-05_the-equality-act-a-french-revolution.md source_kind: blog_article proposed_topic: Wisdom lane: Wisdom voice: desk active_voice: desk voices: - desk routing_source: carbon corpus_topic: Wisdom content_status: active date: '2021-07-05' share_url: https://deanrush.net/blog/the-equality-act-a-french-revolution source_url: https://deanrush.net/blog/the-equality-act-a-french-revolution site_category: Human Resources archive_month: 2021-07 description: > Dean curates Denison's warning that a secular "successor ideology" — of which the Equality Act is one symptom — echoes the French Revolution's war on public faith, and answers with Jeremiah 2:13's broken-cistern diagnosis. --- # The Equality Act a French Revolution **Author:** Dean Rush **Original post:** [deanrush.net/blog/the-equality-act-a-french-revolution](https://deanrush.net/blog/the-equality-act-a-french-revolution) **Archive month:** July 2021 · **Site category:** Human Resources **Date note:** Public archive shows month only; `2021-07-05` is taken from the Denison article date Dean cites in the post (not a DNN admin day stamp). > Voice note: Everything under **Dean's article** is the text as published on deanrush.net (lightly cleaned of HTML/image artifacts and tracking redirect URLs only). Dean's own framing is the opening paragraph; the remainder is Denison material he chose to republish. Sections marked **Biblical foundations**, **Scholar sidebar**, **Takeaways**, and **First-time learner** are enrichment for Asker / first readers — not Dean speaking. The live page ends at Jeremiah 2:13's open question; that truncation is preserved. --- ## Biblical foundations (preface) Dean puts a cultural warning in front of his readers — secular ideology that would displace biblical morality — and lets Scripture he already surfaces carry the diagnosis: people leave the fountain of living waters and dig broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13). The enrichment below does not replace Denison's historical parallel or Dean's decision to share it; it shows the wider biblical frame for a first-time reader. | Claim in the post | Scriptural undercarriage | | --- | --- | | Public life can try to erase worship of the true God | Nations rage against the Lord and His Anointed (Psalm 2:1–3); yet God remains King (Psalm 2:4–6) | | Ideology can demand total allegiance with religious zeal | "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3); zeal without knowledge still misses God (Romans 10:2) | | Biblical morality is cast as oppressive by the age | The world hated Jesus first (John 15:18–19); light exposes works of darkness (John 3:19–20) | | Forsaking God for self-made systems leaves people empty | Broken cisterns hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13); Christ offers living water (John 4:13–14; 7:37–38) | | Discernment is required when culture claims the "right side of history" | Test the spirits (1 John 4:1); do not be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2) | --- ## Dean's article ### Dean's introduction Dr. Jim Denison is a well known philosopher and often writes on the political applications to our society. Dr. Denison published this article on July 5, 2021 and provides some insightful thoughts to modern doctrine and circumstance. > **Scholar sidebar — Curating a watchman** > Dean's contribution here is pastoral curation: he names a trusted cultural commentator and puts that analysis in front of his audience. Biblical precedent for that posture includes the watchman who warns the city (Ezekiel 33:1–7) and the call to "understand the times" (1 Chronicles 12:32). Sharing Denison is not outsourcing Dean's voice; it is Dean choosing which alarm to sound. ### Another French Revolution? (Denison) ![French Revolution battle image from Dean's original post](https://deanrush.net/Portals/0/BlogImages/french-revolution-battle.jpg) On this day in 1789, French revolutionaries stormed the Bastille. The ensuing French Revolution tried to excise all vestiges of religion from French society. In October 1793, all public worship was forbidden, church bells were pulled down and melted, and crosses and relics were seized and sometimes destroyed. In their place rose the Cult of Reason which recognized no god but worshipped the goddess of reason in former churches now known as "temples of reason." Are we witnessing a similar movement today? In an important article I hope you'll read, cultural commentator Andrew Sullivan warns of the rise of what Wesley Yang calls "the successor ideology." Sullivan notes that this ideology argues, for example, that "the *only* and *exclusive* reason for racial inequality is 'white supremacy.' Culture, economics, poverty, criminality, family structure: all are irrelevant, unless seen as mere emanations of white control" (his italics). But Critical Race Theory is just one dimension of this movement. In a larger sense, "this ideology wishes, first and foremost, to repeal and *succeed* a liberal society and democracy" (his italics). Sullivan continues: "In the successor ideology, there is no escape, no refuge, from the ongoing nightmare of oppression and violence—and you are either fighting this and 'on the right side of history,' or you are against it and abetting evil. There is no neutrality. No space for skepticism. No room for debate." This is a "successor" ideology in that it intends to succeed what came before, including religious worldviews in general and Christianity in particular. Its advocates view biblical morality as oppressive, discriminatory, and dangerous. In their view, beliefs and institutions that do not align with their ideology must be replaced and removed. The so-called Equality Act is just one example and symptom of this rising tide of secularism. Its advocates, ironically, embrace its tenets with a zeal akin to religious fervor. As Ferguson warned, we are witnessing the rise of a secular religion. > **Scholar sidebar — When politics wears liturgical clothes** > Scripture repeatedly warns that false worship is not only idols of wood and stone; it is any ultimate loyalty that displaces God. The French "Cult of Reason" is a historical case of that pattern: churches renamed, crosses destroyed, a goddess enthroned. Paul describes exchanging the truth of God for a lie and worshiping the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25). When an ideology allows "no neutrality" and treats dissent as "abetting evil," it is functioning with religious totalism even if it denies God. Dean/Denison's point is diagnostic, not nostalgic: secular fervor can be as absolute as any creed. ### Cisterns that can hold no water In Jeremiah 2, the Lord grieves, "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (v. 13). What happens to those who reject the one true God for false gods of their own making? > **Scholar sidebar — Jeremiah 2:13 as the post's last word** > The verse names a double evil: abandonment of God *and* construction of substitutes. A cistern is human-made storage; a fountain is living supply. Broken cisterns look like infrastructure and deliver drought. Jesus later offers the antidote in kind: "whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again" (John 4:14), and "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" (John 7:37). The live blog post ends on Denison's open question — what happens to those who reject God for self-made gods — without Dean adding a closing paragraph. That open ending is intentional enough to preserve: Asker answers should finish the thought with Scripture and Dean's wider counsel, not invent a missing Dean paragraph. --- ## Takeaways 1. **Dean curates, then Scripture diagnoses.** He puts Denison's cultural parallel in front of readers and lets Jeremiah 2:13 name the spiritual problem. 2. **French Revolution as warning pattern.** The post treats the attempt to erase public religion and enthrone "Reason" as a historical mirror, not a trivia lesson. 3. **"Successor ideology" replaces, not reforms.** Through Sullivan/Yang (via Denison), the danger named is succession — displacing liberal democracy and Christian morality — not mere policy disagreement. 4. **The Equality Act is a symptom.** It is presented as one example of a larger secular tide, not the whole disease. 5. **Secular systems can demand religious zeal.** Fervor without the true God is still worship of a substitute — a broken cistern. --- ## First-time learner ### What is Dean saying in one sentence? Pay attention: a secular ideology that treats biblical morality as dangerous can act like a new state religion — and Scripture calls that trade a broken cistern. ### Why the French Revolution? Because that revolution tried to strip public worship, melt church bells, destroy crosses, and install the "Cult of Reason." Denison (shared by Dean) asks whether a similar anti-Christian zeal is rising again under modern names. ### Key verses to read with this post - **Jeremiah 2:13** — Forsaking the fountain; digging broken cisterns. - **Exodus 20:3** — No other gods. - **Romans 1:25** — Exchanging Creator-worship for creature-worship. - **Psalm 2:1–6** — Nations rage; God still reigns. - **John 4:13–14; 7:37–38** — Christ as living water. - **Romans 12:2** — Do not be conformed; be transformed. - **1 John 4:1** — Test the spirits. ### A simple practice When a cultural claim demands total agreement and treats dissent as evil: (1) ask what "god" or ultimate good it is enthroning, (2) read Jeremiah 2:13 aloud, (3) ask whether the claim is a fountain (God's living water) or a cistern (human-made storage that cannot hold water). ### How this feeds Ask Dean Seed material for questions such as: *What does Dean think about the Equality Act? Why compare today to the French Revolution? What are broken cisterns in Jeremiah 2?* Answers should keep Dean's published framing primary, credit Denison where Dean does, and use scholar notes only as biblical scaffolding. Note that the source page ends on an open question — do not fabricate a Dean closing Dean never wrote.