The Merits of Being Old-Fashioned

There are people who accuse the Church of being old-fashioned, and mean it in a bad way. It is sad that "old-fashioned" and "bad" seem to have become semi-synonymous. However, people seem to have forgotten the old saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Just because something is old doesn't mean it isn't useful. Chesterton in What's Wrong with the World devotes a considerable time to this. Here, I'll link to the Gutenberg version of the book on the De Montfor University website because there's too much to quote.

But anyway, those who try to use "old-fashioned" as an insult ought to just stop breathing. And eating. And drinking. No sleeping either. Actually, they ought to do everything possible to just stop existing. After all, these are some of the oldest activities ever. To breathe and exist is to be old-fashioned. It is to give in to tradition, what Chesterton somewhere called "the democracy of the dead." So yes, often enough it is good to be old-fashioned. Especially with the existence thing.

So, you see, not everything that is old is bad is bad merely because it is old. Obviously, some of the oldest features of human existence are good. And obviously again, some of the newest products of human civilization are terrible. New weapons capable of killing tons of people, traffic jams, and, some might argue, the United States Congress, are all bad things that are nevertheless new (even Congress is new when considering all of history). So, in conclusion: no condemning old things just because they are old, and no using "old-fashioned" as an insult!